EXACTLY. I really feel sorry for the kids who have joined the academy only to find out that it's now a vestigial organ.
Looking at all the comments and taking everything into account i'm glad we're not going for cat 1 because we wouldn't have been able to pay the 2 million every year. However i'm annoyed that we are not going for cat 2 because this means we can't compete in the u 21 development league. One of the things I see happening is that we'll be playing in the lower leagues against opposition that would most likely not offer a challenge to our academy players thus stunting their development. Any star youngsters would be snapped up by the cat 1 or 2 clubs (I severly doubt they will be able to convince a 14 year old star in the making to stay at watford when arsenal et al come calling). Furthermore what's to say that parents will take their youngsters to our academy compared to say palace's when they find out that they won't be playing in the best development league in the country. It'd be a huge turn off. Of course our facilities will remain the same and that would still prove brilliant in the development and the attracting of prospective youngsters but that won't last for long as we are in essence reducing our academy budget. Has Harefield failed? To early to tell but we have to ask this question in 2 years time. All I'm saying is that the lifeblood of our club and an integral part of our identity could well have had its first nail in its coffin, or not. Rant over
This is a pisstake. EPPP is a pisstake. It is somewhat depressing tha the ultimate goal for all of the football league clubs is to get promoted and reach the premiership, a league many football league fans despise.
With Murray probably leaving within the next year, I reckon the academy will potentially have produced nearly 25m in revenue for the club in the past 5 years (Young, Sordell, Bouazza, Mariappa) So trying for Cat 1, which is 2.5m per year, isn't exactly out of the question in terms of making it work as a business. Cat 2 at just over 1mil is perfectly achievable, but Cat 3 at 300k looks like the club has well an truly decided not to bother with it anymore. We'll have to wait for the response, but I can't see how this is going to be beneficial to us
I only got up to post no 50, so forgive me if someone has already suggested this: - Could it be that the Pozzos are just boxing clever, and intend to ship our best young academy recruits off to Italy or Spain to nurture them over there? By doing that they would still be offering potential young stars an exciting prospect, and at the same time be keeping them out of the reach of the Premiership and other predators!!! Plus they would not have to put the large investment into Cat 1 status!!! Seems like a plan to me!!!
That's what I suggested earlier. That or signing the good prospects up with udinese and training and educating them here.
Personally as a 15 year old or whatever, i wouldn't be happy to move my entire life to Spain/Italy. Even more so if I knew I was good enough to join another club...
Yeah someone has already mentioned that. 2 counter points are can we force the youngster abroad if they want to stay in this country and the premier league in their all knowing and all powerful sense wouldn't let a loophole like this be used and will probably shut it soon
The whole point of our harefield acadamy is the school/football/life balance. Parents attracted to that will not want their kids shipped off to a foreign country to ruin all chances of a decent education to back up the football.
But part of the attraction of Harefield is that it is local and education is given equal weight to football. Given the percentage that don't make it, what sane parent is going to allow their 12 year old to be packed off to Udine? The only way it would work is if the academy became the Udinese academy and remained in Harefield. edit - beat me to it lm!
I very much doubt that is the Pozzos' plan, there really isn't that much of an investment to make, our academy is already done. You just have to be able to guarantee £2.5 million worth of funding which it sounds like we can't afford at the moment but that could change in a couple of years. They've invested lots of money in both Udinese and Granada's academies in the last couple of years, I fail to see why we would be any different.
It's not against any rules right now, so it saves money right now. By the time it becomes a problem, we'll likely be in a better financial position where deeper investment into the academy makes more sense. What is ruled against in a year or two doesn't matter right now. The simple fact is this: we don't need the academy to get promoted. Udinese, Granada and the Pozzo scouting network can essentially give us everything we need to get out of the division. Once we're out, the infrastructure will begin to be developed. Short term, however, it makes no sense to invest additional money that isn't going to achieve the primary goal of the owners: namely, a spot in the Premier League and a big slice of TV money. If/when we're there, the stadium and youth development will become much more of a priority. I doubt this decision is going to cost us much, if anything, but it will save money that we currently don't have.
Why are people saying english kids will move to italy? Just transfer the registration of their contracts and keep them here at harefield.
Just to clarify costs; Cat 1 is 2.5m, Cat 2 is 1.2m and Cat 3 is 315k How we couldn't make 1.2m is beyond me. The knock on effect for our current U-18's is that they will be playing other Cat 3 sides this season - so our current crop suffer as a result of this
We are no longer the same Watford FC. Once the Pozzo's, Nani & Duxbury bought the club then the supposedly revered 'Watford Way' would always fall by the wayside, no matter what was said by those now in charge. With the aforementioned triumvirate the supporters still have a team to support. The pay-off, however, is to become a limb of the Pozzo business model. The previous way of running WFC does not fit with the new regime so changes are being made. Harefield was a way for Watford to be able to coach youngsters for more hours than was permissible under normal academy rules. If it worked properly then Harefield payed for itself in transfer fees from the more gifted players when they would eventually be sold on. With any luck a few bob would be left over to help pay for an older replacement if the next gifted graduate wasn't ready or didn't play in the same position. But now we have a revered scouting system to tap in to, already paid for and proven. So the need for such an expansive academy such as Harefield isn't there anymore. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Harefield was scaled right back to an ordinary system, one without the schooling. As it stands it's very expensive to run and doesn't produce enough players good enough to hold down regular 1st team positions. It produces some at the moment but not enough. And definitely not enough (or any) of a standard higher than the Championship. This is no longer the Watford FC we grew up with and it's something every man jack of us will have to get used to. Players from Udinese & Granada will appear one season and disappear the next. Others will stay two, possibly three, seasons. But they won't be 'ours'. How we produce 'our own' is going to be different though and the new academy rules/laws b(r)ought in by the Premier League saw to that. A full blown Harefield, as it was, was never going to be sustainable or good enough. So forget the supposed ethos of the club, the tradition of bringing on our own. We are no longer on our own so why totally rely on a system that was set up when we were? Don't get me wrong, a youth system is still needed but just not in the current mode. As Heath Chester said in his interview with Prentice, Granada are investing in their youth set-up. What would be interesting is how exactly they're investing and if plans are already afoot in changing the emphasis on how youth is brought through at WFC. But remember, this is no longer Watford FC isolated just outside of London. This is Watford FC twinned with the supposed scouting network of all scouting networks. It's a Watford FC that's changing so be prepared to change with it.
Because Bassini paid off our initial debts when he came in and then didn't pay off the debts we ran up while he was in charge?
The EPPP is a farce. How on earth do the Premier League expect smaller clubs to keep running their academies is beyond me. It's a joke.
They have no contracts as youth players. They would need to be registered with the Italian FA. Are teams allowed to use foreign registered young players in the EFPP? Seems to defeat the object to me.
The attitude of "save money and cut corners until we get to the premiership" is dangerous. It's the cause for many clubs money problems. With the pozzos in charge I assumed we would be planning long and medium term.
Its a gamble to save a couple of bucks ,if we go up they have saved £2m if we dont it could become very damaging , remember in these sort of things its easy to go down or downgrade , not so easy to go up or upgrade. Zola at weekend saying 2 or 3 more players now we have finished , Pozzo first statement read well , now this! I think we are not being told the entire truth, now its the pozzos club and they can do what they want, however a good way of keeping paying customers happy is telling the truth.
Not if the wonderkid and his parents want to move up to Manchester. Nothing the Pozzos could do apart from look forward to their £3k.
The academy was important when we were a selling club, but we're not a selling club anymore. Ergo why is it still vital? Oxhey67 has the right of it.
Kurtis Cumberbatch @Kurtis_Benji Hopefully this is banter Expand Reply Retweet Favorite 36m Jazzi Barnum-Bobb @JazziBarnumBobb @Kurtis_Benji http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sp...5.Watford_Academy_to_downgrade_to_Category_3/ That aint banter....
Jazzi Barnum-Bobb @JazziBarnumBobb Don't even know what to say bout what I'm hearing!?! #StingyMove Collapse Reply Retweet Favorite 11:31 AM - 14 Aug 12 via Twitter for BlackBerry® · Details 51m David Lawless @lawless_david @JazziBarnumBobb it's a disgrace! What on earth are they thinking!!! Retweeted by Jazzi Barnum-Bobb Hide conversation Reply Retweet Favorite
I disagree, I personally think it's little more than the fact they've inherited a lot of debt and that the club is currently running at a minimum £4 million loss per season. The Pozzos haven't bought us so they can make a profit at Udinese and then plough it all into us to pay off our debts. I would assume that our current agreement with Harefield costs between £500,000 and a million per year, while we are losing money at the moment it seems pointless to just pour more away on something we don't need right this second. In a year or two when we are more financially stable I am sure that we will re-apply for a higher category status.
Jamie Calvin @jcalvs Don't even care who we play next season, a match is a match whoever the opposition. Nothing we can do but win some matches!! #wfc Expand Reply Retweet Favorite 20m Jazzi Barnum-Bobb @JazziBarnumBobb @jcalvs... Calvs winning aint everything right now! You don't improve by beating crap teams every week!! Hide conversation Reply Retweet Favorite 12:08 PM - 14 Aug 12 via web · Details
