A thought I had

[ConorQPR2000]

I wonder if being a Cat 2 academy is perhaps one of the biggest drawbacks for us in terms of producing players? especially in a crowded environment like London

Being a Cat 2 academy means we can only sign players who live 90 mins away and teams who are Cat 1 can simply pay a minimal amount of compensation, meaning we lose out on a potential asset later on ie: Sterling, whilst if your Cat 1, you can sign promising youngsters from across the country.

Surely if the club are serious about producing players, then surely one of the first things we need to do once Heston is fully operational, is to apply for Category 1 status.

[Abseits]

I would rather have no academy and just acquire an Eze or an Armstrong every now and then. Given footballers are inexplicably still thought of as "kids" or "raw" or "developing" when they're 21, 22 and even 23 I think Academies are an utter waste of time, effort and money. Much easier (and better bang per buck) to go out and buy a Willock or a Dozzell or an Amos and chuck them in first team.. no waiting 6/7/8 years for them to be ready and then discovering they are duffers.

Look, if we had a thriving Academy churning out 1 or 2 superstars every year I'd bite your hand off, but it seems you're very lucky if you get ONE semi-decent player via an Academy once a decade.

Brentford manage fine with NO Academy - we don't need one either.

[KevC59]

What sort of money are these kids on? What age do we have to start paying them any sort of salary? It does seem to me that it's an expense we could do without, and the point made that it's not exactly a conveyor belt of talent feeding into the first team is a very good one, do we need an academy at all?

[ConorQPR2000]

I would rather have no academy and just acquire an Eze or an Armstrong every now and then. Given footballers are inexplicably still thought of as "kids" or "raw" or "developing" when they're 21, 22 and even 23 I think Academies are an utter waste of time, effort and money. Much easier (and better bang per buck) to go out and buy a Willock or a Dozzell or an Amos and chuck them in first team.. no waiting 6/7/8 years for them to be ready and then discovering they are duffers.

Look, if we had a thriving Academy churning out 1 or 2 superstars every year I'd bite your hand off, but it seems you're very lucky if you get ONE semi-decent player via an Academy once a decade.

Brentford manage fine with NO Academy - we don't need one either.

Brentford are reopening their academy because the PL will have a rule from 2023-24 that you have to have at least a Cat 3 academy or above so Brentford basically were forced to reopen theirs.

[ConorQPR2000]

What sort of money are these kids on? What age do we have to start paying them any sort of salary? It does seem to me that it's an expense we could do without, and the point made that it's not exactly a conveyor belt of talent feeding into the first team is a very good one, do we need an academy at all?

A lot of the youngsters are on youth contracts, I dont think you can sign a professional contract until you are 16.

[LoftusRoadLad]

We need to....how else do we find the diamonds ? Think a lotta kids would rather be with us then no chance first team clubs.

[ConorQPR2000]

We need to....how else do we find the diamonds ? Think a lotta kids would rather be with us then no chance first team clubs.

One of the biggest drawbacks if you are Cat 2 is that teams from Cat 1 academies can basically buy a player for a very small fee as the EPPP system has fixed prices.

Also, as a Cat 2 academy, you can only recruit players who live 90 mins away, as a Cat 1 club, you have flexibility to recruit across the country.

[KevC59]

We need to....how else do we find the diamonds ? Think a lotta kids would rather be with us then no chance first team clubs.

That's the point we are not finding many diamonds, if any at all, the expense v benefit ratio doesn't add up

[ConorQPR2000]

That's the point we are not finding many diamonds, if any at all, the expense v benefit ratio doesn't add up

Like I say if we were a Cat 1 academy, then we would have a far bigger pool of players to recruit from.

Cat 2 means we are restricting ourselves to an already crowded London space.

[SheepRanger]

What sort of money are these kids on? What age do we have to start paying them any sort of salary? It does seem to me that it's an expense we could do without, and the point made that it's not exactly a conveyor belt of talent feeding into the first team is a very good one, do we need an academy at all?

Here you go....

https://salarysport.com/football/sky-bet-championship/queens-park-rangers/

[davieqpr]

A lot of backroom staff dealing with the youngsters are living on past reputation and have produced nothing for years. The only ones that have progressed have done so elsewhere whilst on loan.