Blues’ Academy; One Of The Best

I have been boring you all for weeks with how great our academy is; not only do we scout some great players, we also make the transition into the first team very easy. Now, my words have been backed up with awards as it has recently been ranked one of the best in the country.

The Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP), are professionals who are able to compare easily differing youth systems and see which ones are working best. Out of the entire nation, our Blues Academy came fifth for productivity in the past 3 years. This is an outstanding achievement for everyone associated with the club. This plan only occurs on a 3-yearly cycle and it enables the clubs to see how well they’re doing in relation to other clubs.

Blues Academy Manager Kristjaan Speakman was delighted with the current system as it has gone from 32nd to 5th in a very short space of time. She spoke to the official site and stated, ‘the reason why it is so good is that you’re judging the Academy programme on…First Team appearances and also going on to make appearances in other tiers of the league – Jack Butland, for example.’ So it is a very in depth survey and one that shouldn’t be taken as a joke.

She also believes that this status will help in player recruitment. If a club is known for enabling graduates to push through into first team football, whether it be at Birmingham City or elsewhere, then it will attract more trialists to the club. This gives a better standard of applicant and will boost the academy even further.

‘We certainly don’t spend the fifth most, so the return on the investment for the Club is significant.’ This point is very potent. We get very good returns from our young players because we focus on the work ethic side to it. Both Spooner and Beale who manage the development squads have said that if they can replicate the drive to succeed at this early stage, then the effort will be there throughout their entire career. It’s not all about finance, it’s about philosophy.