Some good news...........
Addicks retain Academy status
Charlton's renowned youth set-up will retain its academy status despite the club's relegation from the Championship, the club announced on Tuesday.
Players such as England international Scott Parker and current starlet Jonjo Shelvey have been produced by the Addicks in recent years.
And after previously pledging that the club would strive to keep the academy intact, football club chairman Richard Murray has now confirmed it will retain its Premier League academy status, even though Charlton will play in League One next season.
"We feel the academy is vital to the future of the club,” explained Murray.
"Over the years, there has been a conveyor belt of homegrown talent produced for the first team, with a number of notable successes in recent years, and we didn't want to turn that conveyor belt off."
He added: "Charlton fans, and the club itself, take great pride in players who have come through the ranks to represent the club, as Rob Elliot demonstrated when he was voted the player of the year runner-up on Sunday night.
"In a difficult time financially, homegrown players take on even greater importance, and while we may be one of the few clubs outside the top two divisions that has an academy next season, a player such as Jonjo Shelvey is the perfect example of why we are putting our faith in our youth set-up."
Of the club's current first-team squad, 11 players started their careers in the Charlton academy, including Jonathan Fortune, whose last year as a youth player coincided with the establishment of the academy system.
Earlier this month, 17-year-old striker Tamer Tuna became the ninth former academy player to climb through the ranks and make their first-team debut since May 2007.
And that tally could soon reach double figures, with versatile 18-year-old Chris Solly selected in Phil Parkinson's squad for the club's last match against Derby County, when he was an unused substitute.
The news was welcomed by academy manager Steve Gritt, who said: "This sends out a clear and positive message about the club's commitment to developing youth talent.
That message not only goes to supporters and our current players and their parents, but to the players and parents of boys we are trying to bring to the club, other clubs, other players and scouts. It shows we are still serious about youth development."
Gritt admitted the uncertainty regarding the academy's future had caused some problems.
"Parents of our boys in particular have been concerned about rumours they have been hearing on the circuit, some of which were probably put out by scouts from other clubs unscrupulously trying to convince parents and boys into believing that we would become a centre of excellence and perhaps trying to entice players away," he said.
"Obviously, we don't want to lose any of our players, and this news will hopefully allay those fears and put everyone's minds at rest."
"He added: "Of course, there will be cuts to our budget, in line with the measures that are being taken in all areas of the club, but maintaining our academy status is the most important thing and we are confident we can continue to produce players for the first team."
The news means that Charlton will be one of the few clubs in League One to have Premier League academy status.
Of the current division, Leicester City, Leeds United, Milton Keynes Dons, Crewe Alexandra and Huddersfield Town - three of which are currently in the top five in the league - all have youth academies.
Charlton's academy is backed by supporters through the Valley Gold scheme, which has donated more than £500,000 to the club's youth set-up over the past few years.
Membership offers regular cash draws, Superstore discounts, greater ticket priority and exclusive events for just £10 per month - and more than £5,000 is up for grabs at the special end-of-season grand draw at half-time of Sunday's match against Norwich City.
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Comments
on second thoughts maybe you have a point. Perhaps we should scrap it and award Parky a pay increase for the remarkable job he has done.
However, i think it is vital that we continue as an academy. We are already handicapped in that there is so much competition in London, and dropping to a centre of excellence would impact greatly on us. Millwall have a good record of bringing home players through in the last five years, and switched to a centre of excellence 12 months ago. It will be interesting over the next three years to see how our two clubs compare in what comes through.
Acadamy status is all well and good. Having the right scouts recruiting the right kids and having the right coaches to nurture them is of far greater importance however.
Would be interested in knowing how mucgh the academy costs to run in relaionship to the sums spent on loan players this season, bearing in mind that many of the loans havereturned and we are now getting motivated, young and talented players coming through and getting their chance.
Does that count the 16 or just the starting 11?
As you can add Wagstaff, Basey and Solly to that.
And Randolph...
Were it not for Elliott and Youga then it's likely that Basey and Randolph would have seen a lot more first team action, but the last few years have been a bit barren regards youth team players stepping up.
No...
And is Carl Leaburn still on a YTS?
Next year I hope to see a few more make the step up to around the first team squad, and few more given a chance in the first team. Hopefully appearances from Solly/Mambo/Tuna/Stavrinou
Potentially next year we could concievably have 9 members from our academy start, unlikely thou;
Elliot
Solly CB Mambo Basey
Sam Shelvey Wright/Arter Wagstaff
Tuna FW
Solly Fortune Mambo Basey
Sam Shelvey Wright Arter Wagstaff
Tuna
Play 4 - 5- 1 and you have a whole team
Who's to say we won't anyways?!
I realise that is a pretty lightweight starting 11 with possibly not the highest level of ability, but first round of the FA Vase or maybe in the last few games once we've already been promoted as champions 3 or 4 games early!!
Have to fit in Youga, Racon, Bailey, Spring, Butterfield, Burton, McLeod, Dickson and Kandol somewhere.
exactly what I was thinking.
We won't see all of that team break through as regulars, but we're making progress compared to the last 7/8 years. Between Fortune and Sam coming through, apart from the odd debut like Sankofa and Campbell-Ryce, we haven't produced any first team players. At least now it looks like we'll carry on producing a few first team players along with several that will make their debuts and go on to play somewhere in the Football League, even if it's not for us.
We can just buy in the players we need.
Just need to convince them to come to the new stadium in Kent.