Orion1871WestYorksRoyalOrion1871 The academy should probably be scrapped completely whilst we remain at this level.
Thanks to the awful Elite Player Performance Plan we already lose promising youngsters to bigger category 1 clubs. There's no hope of keeping them at category 2 or lower sadly.
Tbf, EPPP has helped produce players for the national team on a different level to what preceded it, which was the point following our humiliation to Germany in 2010. We're still winning junior trophies and it seems like the pipeline remains strong.
Which yay for England, but doesn't adequately compensate clubs like Reading, and tbf we will have done it to other clubs at lower categories too, for the players actual potential based on their achievements at youth level.
couldn't give a shit about England I'm more concerned with Reading FC.