I done wrote this to try and put my thoughts in something approaching a coherent order http://inthewolfsmouth.com/2012/08/16/to-cat-3-or-not-to-cat-3-what-the-eppp-means-for-watford/
Can someone explain the new rules on academies, because I must be missing something? From what I can gather you have to spend a minimum of £2.5m per annum to get category 1 status. This seems to mean that if an academy saves money in running their affairs they could lose their status. It is a charter for inefficiency. A clear result will be that overpaid and underqualified coaches will be retained and there will be an artificial excess spend towards year end if an academy has not spent enough during the early part of the year. This is so nonsensical that I must have a complete misunderstanding about the new rules. Much of the cost will be paid to accountants and auditors to monitor the system. This will not produce better footballers. If even only a portion of this is accurate, it still leaves a situation where the football powers are attempting to create a market of children for a billion pound industry. There are so many questionable issues with this new academy system, both morally and legally, that I cannot see it standing up to a UK or European Court challenge. The grounds of such a challenge could be retraint of trade, child welfare concerns, monopolies law etc. I think the club were right not to sign up to an illogical and ultimately illegal system. If someone could clarify how the £2.5m spend works, I would appreciate it.
there's also a minimum number of staff required. I agree that it seems to be a nonsense. The aim of youth teams should be the number of players they produce for the parent club, not arbitrary spending targets.
I can understand why you ask the question, but wouldn't signing up to a standardised and expensive system that has not been tried and tested be more like an erosion of our identity and soul? The more I read about the EPPP structure the more unworkable it seems. I understand that if we sign any young player on a scholarship, they are not subject to the premier league poaching compensation clause. We can also offer a better chance for our academy players to make it into our first team. What percentage of the new Chelsea or Man City academy players will ever play for their respective first teams? I would not be surprised that by this time next year the EPPP structure will have failed and will be either scrapped or drastically amended.
Yes, but they can't make a direct approach to the player of his parents or make public statements that they want to sign the player without breaking the rules (but I guess the big clubs can still get away with it). There is nothinig in the rules that I can see that state that we would have to accept their approach. The player or his parents can decide that they want to move to a different academy at the end of the season by written notice. One thing I do see is that a club can't take more then 2 of our players a year, any more then that and they'll have his registration refused. Unless we agree to the transfer of the registration. That includes players who Any scout who wants to watch one of our players can only do it at matches arranged by the Football League/Premier League (i.e. not friendlies) as long as the club who emplys the scout notifies both clubs involved in the game by 5pm before the match and can display his Scout Identification Card and inform the home clube that he has arrived,
It takes time to build a team capable of lifting the HSC. It's a bit like the Champions League for Man City. You can't expect the Pozzos to create Herts' no. 1 team overnight.
We scored quite a good goal...didn't do a lot else and deserved to lose. Not that is we ever bother about this competition.
Watford Academy/Reserves - Results & News I think it would be nice if we kept an eye on the young ones. As we all hope Harefield continues to produce in ever greater numbers , first team players for the Hornets. From vital.football.co.uk Watford kicked off their Under-18s campaign with victory over Wimbledon on Friday, with goals coming from Tom Rosenthal and Jorrell Johnson. Rosenthal had Dave Hughes' side in front after just 10 minutes when he controlled Alex Jakubiak's pass before rifling past Wimbledon 'keeper Billy Bishop at his near post. The equaliser was not far away, the Dons profiting from a huge slice of luck. Goalkeeper Daniel Wilks could only clear Alfie Young's backpass into the path of the onrushing Danny Gallagher, who charged the ball down and all the way into the Hornet's net.Watford fought hard and saw chances to waste through Jakubiak, Chris Dillon and Harry Kyprianou before Johnson struck. From Ryan Hope's left-wing free-kick, Johnson got between the pack and 'keeper Bishop to bundle the ball over the line and get his side off to a winning start. [video=youtube;Rz0yqhdPNOY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz0yqhdPNOY[/video] Watford: Wilks; Young, Johnson, Doherty; Barnum-Bobb, Dillon (Cumberbatch, 65), Stewart (Lewis, 50), Hope, Kyprianou; Jakubiak (Bawling, 70) & Rosenthal. AFCWimbledon: Bishop; Kaja, Wilson, Switon, Sweeney, Vlicktink, Frost, Pearce, Oakley, Basker & Gallagher.
Good to see Harry Kyprianou and Tom Rosenthal attain very good GCSE results (11 A*-A)(14 A*-C). Harefield is working
I thought Harefield was all about creating footballers, not well-rounded, hardworking and selfless human beings FML.
If they're doing that well in "proper school" they obviously aren't training hard enough! Seriously though, good to see great academic results too as it will help other parents to see it as a rounded educational option.
Lost 2-1 against Peterborough today. Playing 3-5-2 like the 1st team and TBH first half we had real problems passing it around the back causing us to get caught so many times leading to 2 goals. After the break it was a different story and we were unlucky not to draw level - only scoring via a penalty. The ref was very whistle happy and 3 players (at least) got booked which is very rare for an Under 18 match. Zola and Nani were at the game - so clearly they do care about the Academy..
Results from last weekends fixtures in the Youth Alliance League South East: Barnet 3 – 1 Crawley Town Colchester United 3 – 0 Dagenham & Redbridge Milton Keynes Dons 4 – 3 Leyton Orient Northampton Town 0 – 2 Portsmouth Peterborough United 2 – 0 Southend United The Posh have invested heavily in their Academy and it looks promising for them at present.
The booking of The Posh goalie was hilarious...............having been beaten by that last minute penalty, he snatched the ball from the hands of the scorer (Hope) and hurled it some thirty yards behind the goal to waste time. The ref proceeded to add on 8 minutes!
He's a second striker, a second striker doesn't score bags of goals. --------------------- I hope your summer is just like swimwear uk filled with surprises.
Yes - I wonder if there was some of the Ferguson family influence in all that time wasting and there was a lot of chit chat. One of the linos said they wouldn't get away with it in a 1st team game...
From vitalfootball.co.uk Watford`s Under-18s were beaten by Peterborough United`s Under-18s 2-1 at the club`s UCL London Colney training base yesterday. Two goals in as many minutes did for the Hornets, who pulled one back from the penalty spot through Ryan Hope. Dave Hughes` side had the first chance, with Tom Rosenthal crossing for Alex Jakubiak to test Peterborough 'keeper O`Reilly inside the first five minutes. Peterborough came close when Jonathan Edwards hit the bar from Tom Conlon`s free-kick and in the 23rd minute the visitors took the lead when Marshall scrambled home from Ward`s centre. Coulson doubled the Posh`s lead in the 24th minute when he found the space to drill a low shot past Watford`s Daniel Wilks from inside the penalty area. Wilks denied the Posh`s Ward before the break and O`Reilly blocked Jakubiak`s effort from point-blank range to maintain the visitor`s two-goal advantage before the break. Half-time: 0-2 Half-time Hornets` substitute Dennon Lewis headed Ryan Hope`s corner across goal, but Matt Hall was unable to divert his resulting header beyond O`Reilly. Rosenthal tried his luck shortly after, fizzing a long-range effort narrowly wide before Conlon crashed a free-kick against the woodwork. Conlon came close once more soon after, hitting the crossbar on this occasion. Watford finally had something to show for their efforts when, in the dying minutes, Hope converted a penalty following a foul on Jakubiak. Full-time: 1-2 Watford: Wilks; Young, Hall, Doherty; Barnum-Bobb (Bawling, 69), Westlake (Lewis, HT), Hope, Dillon (Cox, 66), Kyprianou; Jakubiak, Rosenthal. Subs not used: Cumberbatch, Otudeko. No video as yet.
We don't seem to get too many impressive results from our u18 team, why is that? Shouldn't we thump teams like afc wimbledon?
Perhaps I'm wrong, but I believe there is a real emphasis on skill, rather than size in our Academy. It wouldn't surprise me to see us struggle against some of these "smaller" clubs at this level, when they likely follow then traditional English method of recruiting physical beasts and trying to teach them how to play. As our players mature physically, their natural ability allows them to bypass the less-gifted, but more physically developed monsters who troubled them a few years previously and are completely ineffective by the age of 18 when faced with adults who are just as big and strong as them.
