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And still the row over Academies rumbles on, but now it’s
getting serious. We’re now reaching the point where Crewe Alexandra,
pound for pound the most successful producer of young footballing
talent in the country, are actively discussing winding up their
Academy for lack of funds.
You might argue that given the amount of money Crewe have made in
transfer fees down the years, that’s something of a false economy,
but at a time of dwindling attendances and escalating costs, it’s
an economy they might simply be forced to make.
And the villain of the piece? Yes, once again, step forward the
Premier League. Awash with more money than they know what to do
with - other than give some more of it to Chelsea - the grant to
the lower division Academies is still ridiculously small.
From those immense riches, the Premier League see fit to distribute
a whopping £4million per year to the 68 Football League clubs
who run academies or centres of excellence, a grant, an average
of around £60,000 per club with a maximum ceiling of £138,000,
a sum that barely scratches the surfaces of the costs necessary
to run a youth programme worthy of the name.
Those lower league programmes are the source of much of the talent
that currently parades in the Premiership, often taken away from
those clubs at scandalously low prices - Gareth Barry, England left-back
a couple of weeks ago if you recall, was eased out of the Brighton
set up for next to nothing for example.
Huw Jennings, youth development manager at the Premier League argues
that, “The difficulty we have is the notion that everybody
is entitled to the same figure. We shouldn’t underestimate
the varying levels of compliance with the programme. Inevitably,
some clubs invest more and dedicate more, while some pay lip service
to it. We want to promote quality.”
It’s a reasonable point, but you cannot promote quality on
the cheap, whatever field you’re working in. Whether England’s
“golden generation” of Gerrard, Cole, Carrick, Lampard,
Ferdinand, Terry and the rest were ever as good in world terms as
the hype suggested is one thing, but what isn’t in any doubt
is that they are top class club footballers. And what do they all
have in common?
They came through expensive academy programmes at big spending football
clubs.
There is £2.7billion coming into the Premier League in media
rights alone over the course of the next three years. The Premiership
clubs spend around £23million between them each year on youth
development. How can they not allocate a similar amount to the Football
League every year over the next three years, putting in the necessary
stipulations that the money goes into youth development - that would
be less than 3% of the total media rights take, and a terrific investment
in the future of the game.
If we want to host the 2018 World Cup, the players that will make
up that side - a side that we want to see make an impact in a competition
where we’d have our best chance of winning in 52 years - are
almost all currently in football academies somewhere. If we stop
trying to groom the talent we have in this country, then what’s
the point trying to compete? For a ha-porth of tar.
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