Huddersfield Town academy faces assessment as upgrade application details revealed
Huddersfield Town academy faces assessment as upgrade application details revealed
The club have announced that they have submitted the paperwork to upgrade their academy status and reinstate the younger age groups that were abolished back in 2017
The Terriers have confirmed that they have formally applied to the EFL to upgrade their academy from its current category four status to a category three – meaning they would reinstate all all groups from under-9s to under-16s inclusive.
Huddersfield Town intentionally downgraded themselves down to category four in 2017 in a bid to focus their efforts more squarely on developing players from under-17s level and up, which included bringing in a new open-age B team in lieu of the usual under-23s side.
That system has enjoyed some notable successes, including current first-teamers Brahima Diarra, Jaheim Headley and Rarmani Edmonds-Green, while summer sales Etienne Camara and Nicholas Bilokapic both came through the B team setup; but new owner Kevin Nagle has made clear since arriving at the club that he wants to reinstitute those younger age groups.
That means that the club will now face a standard audit by the Professional Game Academy Audit Company over the course of the rest of the season. If successful, Town’s category three status would take effect from the 2024/25 season.
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Town chief executive Jake Edwards said in a club statement: “The future of the club’s academy has been right at the top of the priority list for our new owner, Kevin Nagle, even ahead of the completion of his purchase of the club in the summer, and this is an important first step towards our plans.
The board believes the expansion of the academy is of the utmost importance for the club, both in terms of player development and community engagement. We will take the best elements of the existing B Team player development model and begin to apply them at younger age levels, and I’m sure that will excite parents of budding footballers across our region.
“Although this process is challenging, we are committed to providing the resources to make this possible. This is an important first step towards our future vision for the club. We’ll endeavour to keep our supporters updated as we continue this process.”
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