Bournemouth’s academy has officially been upgraded to category two status.
As confirmed by Bournemouth’s official website, the club’s youth academy has been granted category two status following an assessment by the Professional Game Academy Audit Company.
This judgement means that as a category two academy, Bournemouth will receive greater funding towards their youth facilities and more youngsters than ever before will be integrated into their system.
Bournemouth development squad boss, Alan Connell, has espoused the virtues of having a category two academy, saying, “to be the development squad manager going into our first league campaign with the teams we’re going to be playing against is a game changer. There has been an element of frustration in previous years at not having a league programme. You are constantly chasing friendlies and that can be difficult…in the long term, we’re going to be in a much better place for it…with a new training ground on the horizon…it’s a big moment.”
He summed up the change as being “monumental for the football club.”
Bournemouth’s academy impact
Bournemouth have achieved real success with developing players in-house in recent years. Jaidon Anthony has become a first-team regular in the last two seasons, having joined the club’s academy in 2016. Mark Travers also spent time in the youth set-up at the Vitality Stadium before ever donning the gloves for the senior side. Both are now part of new boss Andoni Iraola’s squad, that currently is adapting to his methods in pre-season training.
With the Cherries still on a high from last season’s successful Premier League survival mission, this is yet more welcome news. The future looks bright for Bournemouth.
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