ASFC Academy

[AccyMad]

Just been announced that we are closing our Academy to save costs - the lads who are part of it must be devastated, sad sign of the times

[Haggis316]

ForzaAccy says they've heard from sources they've been told to find other clubs.

[VALAIRIAN]

https://www.accringtonstanley.co.uk/...-board-update/

Wow....

[Exile on Spencer St]

Very sad but, given recent National and local decisions, not even Stanley can defy the onslaught on businesses and jobs.

https://www.pmi.spglobal.com/Public/...46111d268a1314

[AccyMad]

So in the space of a season we've gone from promoting our Gen X as the future to this - sad & very short sighted imho

[accybeme]

very sad for the young lads of accrington, our council should be helping our club not
Penalising it

[VALAIRIAN]

Did I see/hear the top Academy bloke speaking at the Fans' Forum?!??!!?!?

[VALAIRIAN]

Originally Posted by AccyMad

So in the space of a season we've gone from promoting our Gen X as the future to this - sad & very short sighted imho

Correct............

[Chewbacca]

Originally Posted by VALAIRIAN

Did I see/hear the top Academy bloke speaking at the Fans' Forum?!??!!?!?

He said they had just expanded in staffing numbers to 11 and had 100 players on the books with 10 available to the senior squad.

He said the were looking to improve next season and become the top Cat 3 academy.

Why make him say all that if the plan was to sack the lot? Seems a mad decision which 2% employers NI rise won't be a key factor or they wouldn't have increased staff this year costing far in excess of any NI increase.

[MikeA]

Council statement:
https://www.hyndburnbc.gov.uk/news/h...cR4e4udUmKOgfg

[VALAIRIAN]

Originally Posted by Chewbacca

He said they had just expanded in staffing numbers to 11 and had 100 players on the books with 10 available to the senior squad.

He said the were looking to improve next season and become the top Cat 3 academy.

Why make him say all that if the plan was to sack the lot? Seems a mad decision which 2% employers NI rise won't be a key factor or they wouldn't have increased staff this year costing far in excess of any NI increase.

Thought I have heard something like that, thanks for that

[NORTHERNSOUL]

Makes no sense whatsoever

The club will receive 500k a year from the EFL to fund the running of the Cat 3 academy and Stanley are in a much better place than most in that they have use of a fully eqpt facility for what you would imagine would be a reasonable rent in comparison to other clubs who will be paying full ad hoc charges here and there to rent facilities.

If the yearly deficit is a reasonable amount which it must be as there arent dozens of other lower league clubs going down the same path why couldnt Andy Holt or one of his companies have agreed to fund the deficit with a reducing amount for say 3 years giving the club time to find alternative sponsorship to cover the required amount.

There looks to be a lot more to this decision than first meets the eye and the clubs fans deserve more than a short statement saying the deed has already been done with absolutely no figures whatsoever for christs sake AH used to tell you how many cups of coffee the away fans bought on a match day. And you have to wonder why the club can afford to lose 150k by limiting the away allocations for the last 3 home games and how that money couldnt have been used towards funding the Academy for the next year.

If i were you guys i would be asking whats next because since this new guy took over its been nothing but Bad News and cuts and as has been said it seems very strange that this action has been taken so quickly after the head of the academy had stood up at the forum with clearly not an inkling of what was to come.

Currently the Official Club website is in contravention of the EFL rules in that it doesnt name the current board members or indeed who is the ultimate owner and why do you no longer hear a peep from the likes of Dave Burgess.

[mab]

Taken off podcast... On Friday I had a very frank, open and honest conversation with Warren Eastham CEO of Accrington Stanley regarding the events occurring at the club since he hosted the Fans Forum on Apr 28th.

What was presented then was accurate with regards to the Academy and the Hyndburn Borough Council but everything changed the following Tuesday when a club meeting was held on the budget for next season.
Everything changed then when Andy Holt advised that his financial contribution to the club wouldn't exceed £250,000.

With no income coming in from Coley's this meant expenses far exceeded income so something had to give. Other than first team players salary the Academy was the next biggest expenditure so then it becomes what is the return on investment from the Academy. The income from players sold this past season was £126,000 which is not enough to move the needle really. In March the Academy lost £27,000 and April was set to lose over £30,000.

The next determining factor was how many players would make the first team in the next two seasons or could be sold to justify financing the Academy and the answer was none. There was potential for three players in three to four years to make the first team or be sold for around £1m but only if they reached their full potential and that's a big if. In the meantime losses per month would continue.

With the limited financing from Andy Holt, and you can understand his position, on top of a canceled revenue stream from Coley's something had to give and that was the Academy.

Then in steps HBC, due to public push back, and they offer to help finance the Academy to the tune of £140,000 which sounds good but doesn't cover the losses when you see it is losing over £25,000 per month. Also it doesn't address the main problem and that is the lost revenue from the bar. If HBC had the best interest of the community at heart and really wanted to help the club then agree to put the funds towards a new roof on the main stand so an important source of income can return. Then you could look at keeping the Academy.

It looks like a good move on the part of HBC but in the light of day it was reactionary and it boils down to a political move in response to public pressure and came only after the announcement the Academy was closing.

Regarding contracts, we as fans only see the tip of the iceberg and if a player doesn't sign we have a tendency to blame the club. What we don't know is the player's demands and how it fits the wage structure and the teams budget. When the team can't meet a player's expectations and he leaves fans may look unfavourably at the club when that's not actually the real story.

Social media allows everyone to have an opinion even without having all the facts, yours truly included, and to be fair the club can't respond to each and every person especially when things change on a daily basis.
We need to have faith in the people making the decisions and trust they have the best interests of club at heart.

Accrington Stanley is a community club but first and foremost it's a business and you can't continue to operate when your expenses are more than your income, especially when an important revenue stream is taken away. Offering to partly finance the Academy isn't the answer, sorting out soundproof roof on the facilities is.

Tough decisions have been made over the past two weeks and I have faith in Warren making the right ones.
Tough decisions have to be made or we won't have a club and no one wants a repeat of March 1962.

Cheers
Tony Robinson
On Stanley On !!

[VALAIRIAN]

With the utmost respect, I know not how much of that is true.........

[VALAIRIAN]

And that is NOT a slant on you mab!!