Sunderland’s bold standard and EFL’s search for ‘utopia’

On a number of levels, Sunderland’s promotion to the Premier League this summer was impressive.

In his first season of English football, a Regis Le Bris head coach defied the idea that a significant amount of time would be required to adapt to the Championship’s fundamentals.

A club who had only returned to the second tier in 2022, without parachute payments to boost spending on transfer fees and wages.

However, the team’s incredibly young starting age, which was the division’s youngest, and the consistent core of academy graduates, all contribute to this. Their average starting age was 23 years and 316 days.

With Brighton &amp, Hove Albion having previously agreed a £10 million deal for him, goalkeeper Anthony Patterson, midfielders Chris Rigg, and Dan Neil all made over 40 league appearances, while forward Tommy Watson scored the winning goal in the play-off final.

The quartet have helped set a template for which the English Football League (EFL) hopes other clubs can follow, or the very least take notice of as a proof of concept.

At the conclusion of EFL Youth Development Week, Darren Wassall, head of youth development, said, “There were many clubs that were entering the play-offs and getting promoted that were the epitome of youth development.”

His responsibilities are varied, but they essentially consist of leading a group of 12 regional managers who assist clubs in adhering to the rules and standards set out in the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) for general academie management.

It’s all part of an overarching desire to grow a culture of investing in youth development, not just at the early stages, but all the way through to senior level.

With Bath schoolmates Max O’Leary and Zak Vyner playing every match of the last season, Bristol City won their first play-off spot since 2008. This is a squad that was partially funded by the previous sales of academy graduates Alex Scott, Lloyd Kelly, and Antoine Semenyo, who were also paid by Bournemouth.

Although Sydie Peck started out at Arsenal, he moved on to Sheffield United’s academy at age 17 to form the foundation of their midfield, which would have included Ollie Arblaster if not for injury. Andre Brooks and Femi Seriki were also heavily involved for the Blades.

Rubin Colwill, Ronan Kpakio, and Dylan Lawlor, all members of the club’s academy, have spearheaded the club’s rebuild and revival in League One this term.

One academy player per game for every gameweek is the current average across the league. The hope for Wassall is that number can be doubled – “utopia, from a youth development point of view”.

Wassall continued, “There are clubs that are really doing it well, and there are other clubs we think can improve.”

What’s the point of investing in youth development if you’re not going to use it, according to our principal, “is to try to get the message out to everyone”?

” It’s easier said than done, and we know that if it was that easy everybody would be playing five or six academy graduates every week – but we just know it’s possible. “

In reality, given the demands on EFL managers whose average shelf life in the Championship is just a little over a year, it is decidedly more complicated. In theory, having a constant stream of homegrown talent is a simple idea.

How and why should a manager who is constantly under pressure and needs immediate results have the necessary patience and exhibit youth inconsistencies?

Sunderland may be the example for others to follow, but they are one of 29 clubs in the top four divisions of the English game whose academies have been graded ‘ Cat 1 ‘ – a measure of the work undertaken but also something which requires significant investment in staff and facilities.

Running an academy costs money, with clubs across the pyramid dealing with significant losses as a result of the EFL’s three divisions’ annual expenditures of around £150 million.

” There’s no real correlation between experience and success, or youth and not being successful, “Wassall said”. We are aware of the enormous rewards that come with playing young players if players have the bravery to do so.

“It’s just encouraging more chair people, owners, CEOs, and managers to take that plunge,” the statement reads.

The EPPP was introduced in 2012 in the wake of England’s continued failings in international tournaments, and not just at senior level.

The most obvious result of the initiative is the classification of club institutions from Category 1 to Category 4. It is a long-term plan to essentially modernize and standardize methods of operating academies.

Of the 72 clubs that go from the Championship to League Two, 11 are rated as “Cat 1,” 18 as “Cat 2,” 34 as “Cat 3,” and four as “Cat 4,” while five are -Accrington Stanley, Tranmere Rovers, Crawley Town, Barrow, and Harrogate Town – as having no formal academies.

The EPPP was not without opposition given the scepticism around various Premier League clubs ‘ intentions, but Wassall believes it has been a “watershed” moment.

Wassall continued, “The space is much more regulated and governed than it needed to be.”

Its combination of coaching, performance support, and individual and team analysis has never been better.

Beyond the chance to discover a Rigg or Semenyo that will have a significant influence on the pitch, it makes more sense as a result in the age of profit and sustainability (PSR).

Spending money on youth facilities does allow for some discount in PSR calculations, but also when the opportunity arises to sell a club-developed player, it represents pure profit on the balance sheet.

According to Walsh, “It’s probably your club’s biggest asset value.” The amount of sales profit made is incredible when you see all the successful academies that have developed players and recruited them into their first teams.

“It also saves money long-term on wages because apprentices and first-year pros simply don’t cost as much as the players that you transfer in.

Once you get the right culture, vision, and environment, you can create a path that is truly lucrative, not just for your own academy but also for the game as a whole.

It’s generating a return on investment while also creating the sense of community that’s “one of our own.” It’s cliché, but it’s true and it brings people together, and it inspires.

Do you know what? When Will Hughes made his Derby debut at age 17, all the other academy players were inspired to leave. I had the opportunity to train with him two weeks prior.

It is not just first-team ready players, either, as Brighton and Aston Villa are two Premier League clubs who have been particularly aggressive in supplementing existing academy talent with those acquired from the EFL.

Four years after Bristol Rovers paid a six-figure fee to sign England Under-18 international Bradley Burrows, he made his Villa debut against Crystal Palace in August.

The Premier League always has a big impact because 19 of the 23 players in the England Under-21 squad that won the European Championship had previously played in the EFL, many of whom had been loaned from Premier League teams.

Top-flight clubs continue to use that market in the lower tiers as a finishing school, something which can, in turn, block the pathway of homegrown talent from within.

Wassall said, “It just shows you how important the EFL is in developing the talent. The senior leagues of the Championship, League One and League Two, where those clubs believe their players would be most beneficial, are of enormous value to those clubs.