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Academy Category 1, 2 and 3 status
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2 League One now Leicester City have been relegated.1
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So, despite being unable to crack this Cat 1 status, we consistently outperform Premier League clubs for academy productivity & development. Were ranked 7th for all 92 Prem & FL clubs and 1st for the 72 FL ones. Sometimes feels that we’re being blocked, so Cat 1 clubs can try and take advantage of us.18
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Methven talked about on the financial podcast he did about Leicester that they will likely have to downgrade to Cat 2 to start cutting costsLargeAddick said:2 League One now Leicester City have been relegated.0 -
LargeAddick said:2 League One now Leicester City have been relegated.I did define current as being 25/26 but you have to include Burnely and Wolves as Championship clubs if we are talking about next season
**- Post states current as 25/26, from 26/27 Category One would beJustFloydRoad said:
Adding Brentford* to the list 30 clubs now operate at Category One: 19 Premier League, 10 Championship and 1 League One. AFC Bournemouth now are the only 'current' (25/26**) Premier League club not to have Category One status.
*- Yes I understand Brentford's status doesn't come into effect till 2026/27 season.Crispywood said:
Methven talked about on the financial podcast he did about Leicester that they will likely have to downgrade to Cat 2 to start cutting costsLargeAddick said:2 League One now Leicester City have been relegated.
***-Appreciate that, but nothing has been confirmed as of yet. If that were to happen Reading would remain the only League One side to have one.
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Fair play to Reading for maintaining top tier status.5
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Two League One clubs there.0
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How have Brentford gone from just having a B team to Cat 1 status so quickly?1
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Throwing money at it presumably.killerandflash said:How have Brentford gone from just having a B team to Cat 1 status so quickly?3 -
They only got Cat 2 in June 2024. Seems ridiculous that you can go from zero to Cat 1 so quickly, just because you have lots of money to hire coaches and build facilitiesaliwibble said:
Throwing money at it presumably.killerandflash said:How have Brentford gone from just having a B team to Cat 1 status so quickly?
It's not just us, Millwall also in Cat 2 have a way better record than many of the Cat 1 clubs.
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All based on facilities and staff etc rather than who’s actually got better academy outcomeskillerandflash said:How have Brentford gone from just having a B team to Cat 1 status so quickly?4 -
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Interesting to see Watford have withdrawn from the u21 league.
u21s will either train with the first team or go on loan.
https://www.watfordfc.com/news/2026/may/27/news--academy-update/
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I wonder if they have a couple of decent lads we can hoover upScoham said:Interesting to see Watford have withdrawn from the u21 league.
u21s will either train with the first team or go on loan.
https://www.watfordfc.com/news/2026/may/27/news--academy-update/0 -
"As a result of the Under-21 fixture programme withdrawal, the club have been mandated to downgrade their academy from Category 2 to Category 3."Scoham said:Interesting to see Watford have withdrawn from the u21 league.
u21s will either train with the first team or go on loan.
https://www.watfordfc.com/news/2026/may/27/news--academy-update/0 -
The Watford idea, has risks for them and the young players. If after 18 you will have to get a loan place, but what happens if you are not wanted. It would be difficult to have them train and play training games with the first team.
For the club there better under 18 players likely not to be available when wanted, as most clubs tKing loans will look for season long one. For young players it will presumably mean thatmore U18 players will be released on average.
I think this smells of cost cutting, reduction of training ground staff for example.1 -
Having travelled to see the under 21s play at Watford recently it was clear that they were better than us. Strange budget cut.msomerton said:The Watford idea, has risks for them and the young players. If after 18 you will have to get a loan place, but what happens if you are not wanted. It would be difficult to have them train and play training games with the first team.
For the club there better under 18 players likely not to be available when wanted, as most clubs tKing loans will look for season long one. For young players it will presumably mean thatmore U18 players will be released on average.
I think this smells of cost cutting, reduction of training ground staff for example.0 -
I can't find it now but I saw someone say that players from their academy rarely progress onto the first team, I assume because of their owners. So for them, that last stage of the academy must feel expensive and for little benefit0
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Their academy was closed down when money was needed to build what is a magnificent stadium.fenaddick said:I can't find it now but I saw someone say that players from their academy rarely progress onto the first team, I assume because of their owners. So for them, that last stage of the academy must feel expensive and for little benefit
It is a requirement of the Premier League to have an academy. Presumably it was easy to re-instate the academy.2 -
It can be argued, that in the Championship if a youngster is regularly playing just u21 football, when aged 20/21, they probably won't be good enough for the first team anyway.
You will get the occasional late developer, but if by 20/21 you're not around the first team squad, or on loan at a decent level, you are unlikely to become good enough for an incredibly tough 2nd tier now.
We've got used in L1 to having lots of academy players in the team, but in the Championship the reality is that sadly most won't be good enough .4 -
Watford a good stadium? Really???AtfCrusty54 said:
Their academy was closed down when money was needed to build what is a magnificent stadium.fenaddick said:I can't find it now but I saw someone say that players from their academy rarely progress onto the first team, I assume because of their owners. So for them, that last stage of the academy must feel expensive and for little benefit
It is a requirement of the Premier League to have an academy. Presumably it was easy to re-instate the academy.2 -
Didn't even say good but magnificent. Doubt it's ever been called that before. I'd say adequate.bolloxbolder said:
Watford a good stadium? Really???AtfCrusty54 said:
Their academy was closed down when money was needed to build what is a magnificent stadium.fenaddick said:I can't find it now but I saw someone say that players from their academy rarely progress onto the first team, I assume because of their owners. So for them, that last stage of the academy must feel expensive and for little benefit
It is a requirement of the Premier League to have an academy. Presumably it was easy to re-instate the academy.2 -
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it did have a very good walk, through the allotments, to help boost your cardio though.LargeAddick said:
Didn't even say good but magnificent. Doubt it's ever been called that before. I'd say adequate.bolloxbolder said:
Watford a good stadium? Really???AtfCrusty54 said:
Their academy was closed down when money was needed to build what is a magnificent stadium.fenaddick said:I can't find it now but I saw someone say that players from their academy rarely progress onto the first team, I assume because of their owners. So for them, that last stage of the academy must feel expensive and for little benefit
It is a requirement of the Premier League to have an academy. Presumably it was easy to re-instate the academy.1 -
Biggest laugh I’ve had from a post in ages. Watford with a magnificent stadium. Too funny.Crusty54 said:
Their academy was closed down when money was needed to build what is a magnificent stadium.fenaddick said:I can't find it now but I saw someone say that players from their academy rarely progress onto the first team, I assume because of their owners. So for them, that last stage of the academy must feel expensive and for little benefit
It is a requirement of the Premier League to have an academy. Presumably it was easy to re-instate the academy.2 -
It all comes down to money.True story this - there was a girl who joined my son’s team several years ago when she was 10 or 11
i remember watching her in her first training session and within seconds could see she was different. The way she ran, her footballing brain. She was obsessed with the game.I spoke to her mum and said I was going to introduce her to Charlton - which was good because the family are fans too.
the club came back to me and said “we aren’t interested in kids that age. Thanks but no thanks”
a few weeks later her mum took her to s half term course there and the club snapped her up immediately. She played for us for either 1 or 2 seasons.
she then got approached by Chelsea 2 years ago. Offered a contract, she’s now in a private school in Tonbridge, scholarship paid for my Chelsea. She just got offered a 2 year deal and won u14s player of the year.As much as some people slag off Chelsea’s academy - they DO invest in players. And that is the difference between cat 1 and Cat 2. We can’t compete with that at the moment and will continue to lose our best players until we can.
I have no doubt she’ll go far in the game and will monitor her progress at Chelsea. She lives near me so I stay in touch with her mum but that’s just an example of what we are up against.
same happened with the lad who went to Everton last season. Wealthy family, extremely intelligent and flying high at Dulwich College do the offer to take him up to Merseyside must have been seriously tempting to him and his parents because they were happy enough where he was with us.We are punching well above our weight as things stand and that’s why I will ALWAYS back players to have come from our academy because it really does epitomise Charlton and has been an immense source of pride for so many years17 -
Cat 1 will improve things a bit, but the giants can offer more money, better coaching and way better facilities. The training grounds of the PL giants have facilities way beyond what Sparrows Lane can offer.
Plus "playground/parent" cred too. Being a Championship club helps a lot, as while we can't compete with the Big 6 clubs in terms of name recognition, the Championship is a "proper " league with "proper" opponents that people have heard of, and big crowds too. We're not a one club town, and few of our youngsters will support us, so we need the higher profile to sell ourselves to them.
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We can only dream of having a magnificent stadium like Watford.2
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The thread is about Brentford and their stadium is magnificent.bolloxbolder said:
Watford a good stadium? Really???AtfCrusty54 said:
Their academy was closed down when money was needed to build what is a magnificent stadium.fenaddick said:I can't find it now but I saw someone say that players from their academy rarely progress onto the first team, I assume because of their owners. So for them, that last stage of the academy must feel expensive and for little benefit
It is a requirement of the Premier League to have an academy. Presumably it was easy to re-instate the academy.4 -
AFC Bournemouth are appealing after the club’s application for Category One academy status was rejected by the Professional Game Academy Audit Company.I understand there were issues around the number of pitches at #afcb’s Performance Centre in Canford Magna.0
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Crusty54 said:
The thread is about Brentford and their stadium is magnificent small.bolloxbolder said:
Watford a good stadium? Really???AtfCrusty54 said:
Their academy was closed down when money was needed to build what is a magnificent stadium.fenaddick said:I can't find it now but I saw someone say that players from their academy rarely progress onto the first team, I assume because of their owners. So for them, that last stage of the academy must feel expensive and for little benefit
It is a requirement of the Premier League to have an academy. Presumably it was easy to re-instate the academy.
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Really? The spectator facilities are the best.gringo said:Crusty54 said:
The thread is about Brentford and their stadium is magnificent small.bolloxbolder said:
Watford a good stadium? Really???AtfCrusty54 said:
Their academy was closed down when money was needed to build what is a magnificent stadium.fenaddick said:I can't find it now but I saw someone say that players from their academy rarely progress onto the first team, I assume because of their owners. So for them, that last stage of the academy must feel expensive and for little benefit
It is a requirement of the Premier League to have an academy. Presumably it was easy to re-instate the academy.0 -
Isn't that pretty much what the categories are based on though?killerandflash said:
They only got Cat 2 in June 2024. Seems ridiculous that you can go from zero to Cat 1 so quickly, just because you have lots of money to hire coaches and build facilitiesaliwibble said:
Throwing money at it presumably.killerandflash said:How have Brentford gone from just having a B team to Cat 1 status so quickly?
It's not just us, Millwall also in Cat 2 have a way better record than many of the Cat 1 clubs.
Our location definitely helps us and Millwall though because London and it's surrounding areas is an absolutely huge catchment area. Top clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea have around 200 kids in their academy across all age groups. Naturally if you think how many decent kids there must be across the capital/Kent, these kids can't all be signed up to Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, West ham, Palace, Fulham etc, so we benefit from that.0
: 19 Premier League, 10 Championship and 1 League One. AFC Bournemouth now are the only 'current' (25/26**) Premier League club not to have Category One status.
