Another impressive addition to this team. And you can see him, Dan Rice and Matt Bloomfield all being peas in a pod. Forward thinking, hungry, enthusiastic. Exciting times.
Also good to hear about the process of CAT 'f all' through to CAT1. CAT3 achievable in the short term CAT1 beyond 5 years. Hopefully that allows us as fans to enjoy the journey.
Loved the bit where he talked about looking after the players that don't make it and their responsibility to make it a positive experience for everyone
I find the amount of money being pumped into football increasingly alienating, though if I had as much money as god/Lomtadze and spent it on WWFC, I don't think I'd be doing it any differently. Getting people in who care about our great club being a force for developing young people as much as seeing pound signs when players are moved on after graduating is a very positive sign.
Goes to show how much work and how much time it is going to take to get this dream a reality. Season 25/26 to get to a position of polishing players, like an enhanced version of what Sam Grace does now. Can't wait. I used to go to reserve games would love to have that again some day.
Interesting too to see Fleetwood somehow afford a category 2 academy. The much vaunted Exeter model is only category 3. Perhaps the rating is not the be all and end all.
Given the length of time to fruition of this dream, it’s likely cost and the likely tenure of an overseas owner with no previous link to the club, have to say I am pretty sceptical we will ever get beyond level 3 at best. Sorry to be Eeyore.
Our previous academy was category 3 and we did pretty well out of it. It’s generally what a club of our size might be expected to have.
Category 4 is really a formalisation of the current development squad with us taking on enough players in the 16/17 to 18/19 age group to field a team in the EFL youth competition.
Undoubtedly a step forward. The challenge obviously will be recruitment as you’re left picking up players who’ve been at other PL/EFL academies as schoolboys but haven’t been offered an apprenticeship or players that have hitherto been missed by the system altogether.
Very happy to place my faith in Sam Grace, however.
That is a real commitment to spend that that sort of money per annum. Didn’t realise Birmingham had lost their Cat 1 status @wwfcblue , I do remember them making a big fuss when they originally got it.
At £2.5M per annum, It really makes you wonder how Reading have managed to do that over the last few years. They must have come close to losing that status surely?
Yes I understand that but my point was how long could they get away without paying such bills and still maintain that status. However, thank you for the lesson in economics 👍👍.
It is impressive but they have it all on a plate, a bit like them winning the league, talent isn't very easy to find and develope you still have to do it but... they have the first pick of staff and players, best facilities, group clubs for loans, no rush for any single player to be ready to any timescale...and if they aren't the best players or group they can replace them all immediately.
Money doesn't do all the work but it really does help.
ML ia also a member of Harvard Business School's Middle East & North Africa Advisory Board. So maybe we'll really copy Man City and have a few teams dotted around the globe playing in the blue quarters. Or the red and white of Kaspi.
I'm just trying to think of a way in which this will work for ML.
Maybe we're doing quantum entanglement football, where Wycombe march up the league and everybody in Kazakhstan gets inexplicably better at football at the same time.
Given how condescending 99% of the RGS were to WWFC when I was there, the thought of us marching up any league would have been the source of much mirth and hilarity.
If someone has the vision, expertise and finally the readies to make it happen, I don't see why you couldn't set up a cat 2 academy from scratch within 10 years.
The point about the "likely tenure of an overseas owner" is showing a level of cynicism it'd be hypocritical for me to criticise (others may feel free to). What I would be most concerned about is what plans are in place to enable a "soft landing" for WWFC's finances should ML decide it isn't for him and aborts his mega academy project.
All this long termism has robbed me of the excitement of feeling that the dream - Championship matches with fans present - might happen in my lifetime. But I look forward to a steady climb up the table and many beautiful performances.
Wow is it Friday 13th already? All the negativity on this thread is amazing. We have a a gentleman in Mr Lomtadze who is putting his money into a loss leading League 1 outfit with a core supporter base of circa 4,000. We should be glad someone like that who wishes to build for the future stability actually sees something in Wycombe Wanderers at all.
I agree. It’s not his fault that he is ostensibly in it for the longer term and that I and a good few others are in what my son-in-law charmingly describes as God’s Waiting Room.
Comments
That’s one very impressive interview.
Great to hear the amount of emphasis on the importance of culture and heritage.
Another impressive addition to this team. And you can see him, Dan Rice and Matt Bloomfield all being peas in a pod. Forward thinking, hungry, enthusiastic. Exciting times.
Also good to hear about the process of CAT 'f all' through to CAT1. CAT3 achievable in the short term CAT1 beyond 5 years. Hopefully that allows us as fans to enjoy the journey.
Loved the bit where he talked about looking after the players that don't make it and their responsibility to make it a positive experience for everyone
Really good to hear
The video has disappeared from the club website @bluntphil, so only just watched - thanks for the link @Shev.
Impressive stuff from Jeremy. Talks well and with a huge amount of passion for the project, which is great.
Can't wait for the team of 2034 - filled with home grown talent.
This has clearly been well planned and resourced and with a focus on player welfare and maturity bodes very well.
We live in very interesting times.
I find the amount of money being pumped into football increasingly alienating, though if I had as much money as god/Lomtadze and spent it on WWFC, I don't think I'd be doing it any differently. Getting people in who care about our great club being a force for developing young people as much as seeing pound signs when players are moved on after graduating is a very positive sign.
Unfortunately I can’t wait either!
https://www.wwfc.com/news/2024/september/02/wycombe-wanderers-submit-plans-for-category-4-academy/ next step in this process has been taken. exciting times.
Just saw this simple academy category explanation.
Apparently there are 26 or so clubs with category 1 academies, Birmingham and Reading are two of those.
Watford have a category 2 academy and Wrexham have a category 3 academy.
Goes to show how much work and how much time it is going to take to get this dream a reality. Season 25/26 to get to a position of polishing players, like an enhanced version of what Sam Grace does now. Can't wait. I used to go to reserve games would love to have that again some day.
Interesting too to see Fleetwood somehow afford a category 2 academy. The much vaunted Exeter model is only category 3. Perhaps the rating is not the be all and end all.
Given the length of time to fruition of this dream, it’s likely cost and the likely tenure of an overseas owner with no previous link to the club, have to say I am pretty sceptical we will ever get beyond level 3 at best. Sorry to be Eeyore.
Our previous academy was category 3 and we did pretty well out of it. It’s generally what a club of our size might be expected to have.
Category 4 is really a formalisation of the current development squad with us taking on enough players in the 16/17 to 18/19 age group to field a team in the EFL youth competition.
Undoubtedly a step forward. The challenge obviously will be recruitment as you’re left picking up players who’ve been at other PL/EFL academies as schoolboys but haven’t been offered an apprenticeship or players that have hitherto been missed by the system altogether.
Very happy to place my faith in Sam Grace, however.
Hopefully the new management will too.
Birmingham are the only club to have Category 1 status removed. They lost it in 2022 and only had it for one season.
They are hoping to get this back for the 25/26 season.
That is a real commitment to spend that that sort of money per annum. Didn’t realise Birmingham had lost their Cat 1 status @wwfcblue , I do remember them making a big fuss when they originally got it.
At £2.5M per annum, It really makes you wonder how Reading have managed to do that over the last few years. They must have come close to losing that status surely?
Because they haven't paid their bills hence why they are losing £1m a month and are around £100m in debt. Basic economics.
Yes I understand that but my point was how long could they get away without paying such bills and still maintain that status. However, thank you for the lesson in economics 👍👍.
£500m profit in 8 years from City's Academy
https://www.skysports.com/football/story-telling/11679/13208341/man-citys-elite-development-squad-has-developed-some-of-the-best-talent-across-europe-so-why-is-it-so-successful
It says £500m generated, so that's not necessarily profit. Even so, it's an impressive amount of revenue, which is probably what matters.
It is impressive but they have it all on a plate, a bit like them winning the league, talent isn't very easy to find and develope you still have to do it but... they have the first pick of staff and players, best facilities, group clubs for loans, no rush for any single player to be ready to any timescale...and if they aren't the best players or group they can replace them all immediately.
Money doesn't do all the work but it really does help.
ML ia also a member of Harvard Business School's Middle East & North Africa Advisory Board. So maybe we'll really copy Man City and have a few teams dotted around the globe playing in the blue quarters. Or the red and white of Kaspi.
I'm just trying to think of a way in which this will work for ML.
Maybe we're doing quantum entanglement football, where Wycombe march up the league and everybody in Kazakhstan gets inexplicably better at football at the same time.
Christ, that's an RGS joke if ever there was one.
Given how condescending 99% of the RGS were to WWFC when I was there, the thought of us marching up any league would have been the source of much mirth and hilarity.
If someone has the vision, expertise and finally the readies to make it happen, I don't see why you couldn't set up a cat 2 academy from scratch within 10 years.
The point about the "likely tenure of an overseas owner" is showing a level of cynicism it'd be hypocritical for me to criticise (others may feel free to). What I would be most concerned about is what plans are in place to enable a "soft landing" for WWFC's finances should ML decide it isn't for him and aborts his mega academy project.
All this long termism has robbed me of the excitement of feeling that the dream - Championship matches with fans present - might happen in my lifetime. But I look forward to a steady climb up the table and many beautiful performances.
Wow is it Friday 13th already? All the negativity on this thread is amazing. We have a a gentleman in Mr Lomtadze who is putting his money into a loss leading League 1 outfit with a core supporter base of circa 4,000. We should be glad someone like that who wishes to build for the future stability actually sees something in Wycombe Wanderers at all.
I agree. It’s not his fault that he is ostensibly in it for the longer term and that I and a good few others are in what my son-in-law charmingly describes as God’s Waiting Room.
Better than being in the Devil's waiting room!