Huddersfield considering closing their academy

[Diane 500]

[url]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4855532/Huddersfield-consider-shutting-academy.html[/url]

Have a read but the main points are

• Philip Billing is the only current academy graduate in David Wagner''s first team
• Huddersfield believe it may be better to spend the academy money elsewhere
• Another option to shutting the academy is downgrading it''s status to Category 2
• Clubs have noted Brentford''s approach - who ditched their academy in 2016

Wonder if more championship clubs will think about this as I''m sure it costs over £2m to run ?

[Van wink 2,994]

What a sad decision.

I guess the option of downgrading to Cat 2 is not the end of the world. At least that way they will pick up local talent.

[Duncan Edwards 2,424]

I expect Huddersfield could consider downgrading because geographically they''re in a favourable position with so many big cities around them.

Likewise Brentford can still go after the talent in a city of huge population. Given we''re out on a limb, I''d suggest that the money it costs us to be Cat 1 is vital for as long as we can feasibly maintain it.

[Jim Smith 2,610]

At least nobody will be stupid enough to give another key job to the guy who has presided over an academy with such a dreadful record

[TIL 1010 5,246]

[quote user="Duncan Edwards"]I expect Huddersfield could consider downgrading because geographically they''re in a favourable position with so many big cities around them.

Likewise Brentford can still go after the talent in a city of huge population. Given we''re out on a limb, I''d suggest that the money it costs us to be Cat 1 is vital for as long as we can feasibly maintain it.[/quote][Y]

[Highland Canary 78]

Our academy will be financially unstainable next year I suspect so decisions such as that of Huddersfield''s might provide cover for such a degrading.

[SwindonCanary 457]

I''ve always said since it''s inception that at a cost of £2 a year for grade 1 statues that it''s not worth it.

[Hoola Han Solo 448]

£2 a year sounds like a bargain tbh.

In all seriousness though, my opinion is that we need to press ahead with cat 1. A few more sales in the Jacob price bracket and it pays for itself, could be a good way of raising funds by selling. Ideally though we''ll produce some good youngsters to have in and around the first team.

[Tetteys Jig 851]

well considering we paid for 7 years of it with one deal selling Jacob, I''d say it''s been a success so far.

[Iwans Big Toe 382]

Having owners that are unable to invest large sums of money for purchases to our squad and are unwilling to sell to "outsiders" that could provide that investment, a category 1 academy is essential. If we can produce two players of Josh and Jacob''s calibre every 5-6 years, selling them on for £12m+ we will be doubling our money. Add to that being able to produce players like Cam McGeehan, Carlton Morris, Harry Toffolo and Michee Efete over the same time period, and dispensing of cat 1 status would be catastrophic for our future.

[SwindonCanary 457]

Sorry, £2 million  

[Paul101 191]

The Academy has paid for itself

and has been completely self funding since the sale of Jacob

[westcoastcanary 173]

[quote user="Jim Smith"]At least nobody will be stupid enough to give another key job to the guy who has presided over an academy with such a dreadful record[/quote]So, having been DoF at Huddersfield for less than 2 years (starting June 2015) makes Stuart Webber responsible for HTFC''s academy''s "dreadful record"? Did you actually listen to Stuart Webber when he spoke at some length about the role of an academy at the time of his appointment at Carrow Road? Or did you just see an opportunity for yet another snide dig?

[Yellowfuture 71]

Surely the sale of Jacob and the contribution being made by Josh is more than enough to justify what we are doing.

It will take time for the full benefit of Cat 1 to play through but I think it will be a great asset to the club.

[Fuzzar 1,861]

A thriving academy is surely an essential part of what we''re try to achieve here.

[Lessingham Canary 108]

A successful Academy (CAT 1) is a must for us in my book, our geographical situation is a handicap, the relationship with Langley School on the other hand is a huge plus, if we made one good sale every other year, and managed to introduce 1 or 2 new academy graduates to the first tesam squad every other season then we would have a very successful academy, IMO.

[Norfolk Mustard 106]

Genuine question: What benefit is Langley School to Norwich City? I realise Darren Eadie is Head of Football there & they aspire to be the best academically and in sport, however other than that...

[Yellowfuture 71]

I''d be interested to know the answer to that as well NM.

I am guessing that our a academy boys, and girls maybe get the opertunity to being educated there? But that is only a guess.

[OldRobert 38]

[quote user="Diane"][url]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4855532/Huddersfield-consider-shutting-academy.html[/url]

Have a read but the main points are

• Philip Billing is the only current academy graduate in David Wagner''s first team
• Huddersfield believe it may be better to spend the academy money elsewhere
• Another option to shutting the academy is downgrading it''s status to Category 2
• Clubs have noted Brentford''s approach - who ditched their academy in 2016

Wonder if more championship clubs will think about this as I''m sure it costs over £2m to run ?

[/quote]I know this thread is primarily about Huddersfield Diane, but it''s interesting that Brentford should get a mention.  This snippet came up in my paper yesterday regarding a further form of downgrading:"Brentford owner Matthew Benham has changed his thinking over the club’s

new ground and is stripping out all non-football facilities.

The new planning application for the Chiswick site near their current

ground at Griffin Park will also see capacity reduced from 20,000 to

17,500. Benham, who has made his fortune in gambling, believes the only

sustainable football model is to be in the Premier League and that the

amount of TV rights money each club now receive makes attendance numbers

far less important.

So Benham plans to spend the money saved by building a cheaper stadium

on players capable of taking Championship Brentford to the top flight."So not only is their Academy ditched, but the new Stadium capacity is being reduced as well in the quest to reach the land of milk and honey, presumably at the expense of supporters'' facilities such as bars and restaurants etc.

[hogesar 10,765]

[quote user="westcoastcanary"][quote user="Jim Smith"]At least nobody will be stupid enough to give another key job to the guy who has presided over an academy with such a dreadful record[/quote]So, having been DoF at Huddersfield for less than 2 years (starting June 2015) makes Stuart Webber responsible for HTFC''s academy''s "dreadful record"? Did you actually listen to Stuart Webber when he spoke at some length about the role of an academy at the time of his appointment at Carrow Road? Or did you just see an opportunity for yet another snide dig?[/quote]

I feel that those two questions were completely unnecessary [:D]

[Mr Apples 1,407]

Who needs an academy when you can get bargains from the German lower leagues?Apples

[Fr. Chewy Louie 140]

Matthew Benham''s comments are a bit depressing. Sure the point of existence for football clubs is for the fans, but it sounds like he sees them as increasingly irrelevant, or even an inconvenience.

[Lessingham Canary 108]

@Norfolk Mustard;Genuine question: What benefit is Langley School to Norwich City? I

realise Darren Eadie is Head of Football there & they aspire to be

the best academically and in sport, however other than that...When youngsters come to our academy from London, they continue their education by attending Langley is my understanding. Which must be a great benefit when choosing which Academy when the choice is more than one.

[AJ 1,359]

The problem wit the academy, in terms of business, is that it currently doesn''t provide enough business for the club. Since inception in 2012 we haven''t produced enough players to make it a rousing success either in terms of business or to strengthen our current squad. Although obviously it takes a few years for the new status, the players coming through now are really the first to benefit from this. We''ve produced both Murphy''s, one we sold for a reported £12m profit (which equated to paying for the academy for 6 years I guess) which roughly means we currently have another potential £12 academy assist sitting in our playing squad. Not bad when you look at it that way.

Aside of the Murphy''s, it doesn''t look so great. In terms of existing assets (not including recent signings that haven''t progressed through the academy itself) we have Godfrey, Toffolo and Remi Matthews - with (IMO) only one of those likely to become a 1st teamer anytime soon (Godfrey).

We have sold the following players;

Rudd (Undisclosed, rumored approx £1m)

Murphy (rumored £12m)

Cameron McGeehan (Undisclosed, rumored 125k)

Jed Steer (approx 500k reputed)

We have let the following players leave on free transfers;

McGrandles (signed by us for approx reputed £1m fee)

Loza

Kyle McFadden

Rod Young (I know, who?!)

George Francomb

Tom Adeyemi

Josh Dawkin

Korey Smith

I''m sure I''ve missed a lot of others who haven''t had their contracts renewed and allowed to leave for free.

The current academy status agreement ends summer of 2019 so I''m sure it will get reviewed then. The thing is, if we find gems like the Murphys once every few years then the academy is worth it. It''s also great for the local community and youngsters coming in to have access to the potential of becoming a professional footballer. However, with teams now in the situation of preferring signing young players to blood them through the loan system instead of training up their own youths (look at Chelsea for example...), it will be interesting to see if other teams follow suit - for now, I certainly hope Norwich isn''t one of them.

[AJ 1,359]

Also, regarding Langley school, I''m sure Tom Adeyemi was one of those exact pupils who excelled academically during his time with us

[Woodman 92]

I believe Tom attended Norwich School - the Langley set up wasn''t in place then. But yes, the point stands about continuing their academic education alongside their football.

[cornish sam 1,040]

But AJ, you''re missing some vital points in that analysis. Over that period how many times have we loaned out academy players? For the better ones we will be getting loan fees, not huge ones but if we got 100k per year as a conservative estimate that''s another 500k. Also there''s the pulling power, we have recently signed a fair few international academy players, one of whom we have already sold for presumably a profit (that Artur lad from Iceland who has gone to brondby).

[Rogue Baboon 0]

But will be able to afford the £2million per year to run it?

For example, what if it came down to using the £2million to sign a player we desperately need (Hanley for example) or funding the Academy for another year?

Money is tight, and its only going to get tighter. £2million will be a massive chunk of our budget - is it really sustainable?

As already said we have only got our money back after 6 years. What if after another 6 years we have only produced 1 more £12million player?

[Woodman 92]

I guess the strategy is that more than one Murphy (irony acknowledged) will be developed. Hopefully some of this year''s academy signings will go on to become future first teamers and then sold at good money.

Ideally, players like Louis Thomson, Ben Godfrey, Remi Matthews. Morris and Jamal Lewis will come through. Would Maddison be considered one too? Then there''s Efete, Adams, Middleton, plus the signings this summer - Phillips, Fonkeu, Abrahams and Mourgas (who I notice is marked down as a first team squad member).

[Feedthewolf 5,885]

Would be surprised if Jamal Lewis isn''t in the first team squad once he recovers from injury. Middleton is an excellent prospect who I believe will go on to be a good professional. Anyone know what happened to Benny Ashley-Seal? He hasn''t signed for anyone else, so I''m guessing he''s hedging his bets and is currently without a club?