Academy League Standard

[churley1]

Quick question and not a dig, why does your Under 18's side play in such a poor league? I don't really have a bad word to say about Brighton's academy as they usually do quite well in the FA Youth Cup.

What I don't understand is why you continue to play in such a poor league. Palace's academy gets challenged week in week out against sides like Chelsea and Arsenal.

In the next division which includes Spurs, also has MK Dons ffs so why are Brighton playing in such a sub standard league??

 

[Philzo-93]

I'm not entirely sure but maybe it's because of the quality of the academy as a whole? Like Charlton is premier academy standard etc.

 

[honey boy zimba]

its because brighton is a center of excellence and not a acadamy the two arnt suposed to play each other but they do on the quiet.

 

[wahoo]

the albions u18 and youth set up is a school of exellence not an academy , i am not exactly sure what you need for an academy but its a lot more than brighton have at the moment

 

[northstandsteve]

£20 Million smackers from our chairman will soon change that !!!

 

[Working class pride]

Because we have not been in the top flight since 1983, the club was asset stripped n the mid 1990's and we ground shared 140 mile round trip from home, and then have been in the lowers leagues at an athletics track with no roof whilst playing clubs like Hartlepool and Yeovil in the lower leagues for the last 15 years. Simple really but you will understand all that shortly, especially i you lose to Shef Wednesday. As for Albion though, all that is about to change, who knows, anyone half decent at your academy might get an interview to work at our new one. Hope you lose against Wednesday, nothing personal like.

 

[BigGully]

To become an Academy you need to fulfil certain criteria, facilities being the most prominent part of this.

So they would need to have access to an inside training area and add another few things that are structural rather than the quality of the coaching etc.

It is a judgement call on which might be better for player development at present, especially if it might be deemed that Sussex with the travelling restrictions might not be able to recruit players that can adequately compete with some of the Academy sides, especially at the younger age levels.

There is a school of thought that feels maybe playing against Academy sides such as Palace that have a reputation for recruiting oversized players just to compete at that level might not offer the best environment for our players to develop.

So I don't think it is something that worries the youth team group, but it might be a problem further down the age scale, if our 8, 9, 10yr olds cannot compete with the physicality that some London clubs have to offer at these critical age groups.