Closing academy

[iron insider]

EFL would fund 250,000£ for next season, down from this year when we got 500k.
Hilton would need to top up but it is about 70k ish by my reckoning AND He will have to do this anyway as it is mandatory whether he shuts it or not.
He Then has to pay first year contracts up as they are on 2 year deals, also contractually obliged to provide the second year of their education. Then there will be plenty of redundancy pay due. Tony Daws will be due plenty. There is Rob Watson, butler and the rest.
Then there is a claw back from the EFL. They can claim back circa 23k for a foundation coach we havent had all season and up to £40k for another role we have been given money for but not hired. Also disgrace he announced in this way & did not speak to staff face to face.
It will actually cost Him to close this year.

[Deereyme66]

What a way for them to find out all this via social media. Lovely eh? But hey, let’s all get behind the man! Honestly.

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[Siderite]

Well, that has damaged the good will I gave him from that interview. That is not on; I thought he had learned from the Nelson debacle.

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[Deereyme66]

Sad state of affairs Siderite

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[Anonymous]

From YouGov.Co.uk

Notice periods

You must be given a notice period before your employment ends.

The statutory redundancy notice periods are:

at least one week’s notice if employed between one month and 2 years
one week’s notice for each year if employed between 2 and 12 years
12 weeks’ notice if employed for 12 years or more
Check your contract. Your employer may give you more than the statutory minimum, but they cannot give you less.

Notice pay
As well as statutory redundancy pay, your employer should either:

pay you through your notice period
pay you in lieu of notice depending on your circumstances
Your notice pay is based on the average you earned per week over the 12 weeks before your notice period starts.

** Sun 25th June is the end of the notice period for employees with 12 years or more service **

Consultation

You’re entitled to a consultation with your employer if you’re being made redundant. This involves speaking to them about:

why you’re being made redundant
any alternatives to redundancy
If your employer is making up to 19 redundancies, there are no rules about how they should carry out the consultation. If they’re making 20 or more redundancies at the same time, the collective redundancy rules apply.

You can make a claim to an employment tribunal if your employer does not consult properly, for example if they start late, or do not consult at all.
Collective redundancy rules
If your employer is making 20 or more employees redundant at the same time, the consultation should take place between your employer and a representative (rep).

This will either be:

a trade union rep (if you’re represented by a trade union)
an elected employee rep (if you’re not represented by a trade union, or if your employer does not recognise your trade union)
Collective consultations must cover:

ways to avoid redundancies
the reasons for redundancies
how to keep the number of dismissals to a minimum
how to limit the effects for employees involved, for example by offering retraining
Your employer must also meet certain legal requirements for collective consultations.

Length of consultation
There’s no time limit for how long the period of consultation should be, but the minimum is:

20 to 99 redundancies – the consultation must start at least 30 days before any dismissals take effect
100 or more redundancies – the consultation must start at least 45 days before any dismissals take effect
Electing employee reps
If you’re an employee affected by the proposed redundancies you can:

stand for election as an employee rep
vote for other reps.

** If yesterday’s announcement was how staff have been informed of redundancies then there has been no consultation **

https://www.gov.uk/redundancy-your-rights

** Any unfair dismissal claims would add further to the closure costs. **

[ironfromafar]

It appears from DH words the academy hasnt worked and with funding being lost thought a hard decision its a no brainer to keep it going and would be a drain on funds that could go elsewhere.

[iron insider]

It will cost more to close it this summer thaN keep it opEn for another 12 months. Strange but true

[Anonymous]

How do you eat an elephant?
In small chunks.

Divide & conquer.

There are less ‘objectors’ the fewer people there are.

Less objectors = easier to railroad your ‘plans’

The Academy income stream from the EFL ends at the end of next season. The club have had its moneys worth out of the FL / EFL over the years.

They (SUFC chairman & board) didn’t invest in developing their own academy facilities.
If they’d sown some of the seeds they were given by the FL / EFL then the Academy would be harvesting the rewards of their industrious labour. It could also have had its own bricks & mortar and training facilities.
(Does ring fencing work?)
Instead, and in order to spend as little money as possible, it operated out of a portacabin at the back of a school with lumpy, bumpy weed infested pitches along with hand me down balls, kits and equipment etc.
(Living the dream eh?)
Why have Manchester City invested a fortune in their Academy set up?
To find the ‘one’ the Phil Fodens.
The others, they sell on.

PHIL FODEN JOINED MAN CITY AT THE AGE OF FOUR!

FOUR!

During last summers transfer window, Manchester City sold £170M of their academy products!

£170M in one transfer window!

Southampton alone spent over £40M on four of City’s kids.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11292877/amp/Manchester-Citys-academy-THRIVING-Southampton-visit-having-spent-40m-four-City-starlets.html

You’ve got nothing without the proper infrastructure.

You wouldn’t build a house without foundations… would you?

[Deereyme66]

Ah, stop talking that sense rubbish Rene. Join the flock, stick your fingers in your ears and shout ‘la, la, la-la la!!!’ all the way to Ilkeston.

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[Awaywego]

Is the Efl payment of 250.000 specifically for the academy iron insider or for the club as a whole?

[Anonymous]

iron insider wrote:

EFL would fund £250,000 for next season,
down from this year when we got £500,000

The Premier League have it documented that they gave SUFC (not the Academy btw) £975,000 in season 2019-20.

£450,000 to the Core Club
£430,000 to the Academy
£95,000 to the Community Club

I’ve not had a look for 20-21’s or 21-22’s figures yet.

Does our set up look like a £1M a season Academy?

Where has all the money gone over the years?

Are the financial auditors competent?

That EPPP process, the EFL Managers & Officers, the inclusion / diversity / LGBTQI / kick it out etc … the whole shebang is jobs for the boys.
It keeps ex players involved in the game and off the dole (remember the people employed in the roles are ex lower league players who still need a job).

It’s in no one’s interests for an auditor to annihilate an academy and expose the fundamental flaws. Especially when the auditors might be ex team mates of those that they are auditing.

Just like Ofsted, everyone is suited & booted, on their best behaviour with their ‘cheat sheets’ to hand.

Nobody really fails, as failure would mean the EFL / Prem / EPPP would run out of clubs to audit and would be laying their own people off.

Percentage of Premier League Players whom are English?
2021-22… 36%
2020-21… 42%
2019-20… 46%

It gets harder and harder each year for clubs to develop and produce home grown players.

https://resources.premierleague.com/premierleague/document/2020/12/16/c5444ab2-14bf-4073-81a9-399dba32664e/Premier-League-funding-to-EFL-clubs-Scunthorpe-United.pdf

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Awaywego

[Iron-awe]

iron insider wrote:

It will cost more to close it this summer thaN keep it opEn for another 12 months. Strange but true

How did you get on with DH iron insider when you confronted him about his lack of money? Guess he broke down and owned up yeah?

[TheJuryeffsOut]

Yes Jordan lad asking myself the same question. 7 years at the academy for my lad and we find out over social media 45 mins before we start an academy game. Coaches lost their jobs there in the car park https://t.co/tc6oFqKsSc

— Rory Breaker (@RoryBreaker420) April 3, 2023

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[Iron-awe]

Some people get sacked by text, it’s a whole new world out there thanks to mobile phone mania and social media. Apparently lots of people love this brave new technical world, so go suck it up and live with it.

[Awaywego]

There’s only one day I’m interested in and that’s match day is there a big attendance down there during the week? Not like the academy train or play down there, so the only thing on offer is players training 4/5 days a week for 3hrs at a time at best is it really that important when most other team’s go here their grounds during the week. So long as Daws and Turnbull get there marching orders it won’t be all bad. Needs must and all that.

[cassidystash]

Club shop, ticket office?

[Awaywego]

Thanks for that Cass remind me what the club shop sells on a regular basis to be open 4 days a week it’s been an expensive luxury, no need for a ticket office more than what it’s going to be now, you can pay on the gate, back to the good old days, f the Scousers.

[Anonymous]

@ the Twitter post above:

The club is at its lowest ever point.
Tactless & unprofessional.

[Anonymous]

Iron-awe wrote:

Some people get sacked by text, it’s a whole new world out there thanks to mobile phone mania and social media. Apparently lots of people love this brave new technical world, so go suck it up and live with it.

Empathy?

[Anonymous]

cassidystash wrote:

Club shop, ticket office?

Restaurant, conferences, stadium tours.

Will it continue to have a Facebook & Twitter output?
Will we be logging on to a ‘homemade’ website in future as opposed to the decent site we’ve currently got?
Will winter kick offs be at 1pm on Saturdays so as we don’t have to use the floodlights?
Will the players still travel to games together on a coach or will they have to make their own way to the venue?

[Awaywego]

Stadium tour I’m up for that, why would we want continue to have a Facebook and Twitter site they only advertise season tickets never any real info to be found there, and a decent website that’s a new one on me, or did it all magically change once Swanny sold the club.

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[Iron-awe]

Anonymous wrote:

Iron-awe wrote:

Some people get sacked by text, it’s a whole new world out there thanks to mobile phone mania and social media. Apparently lots of people love this brave new technical world, so go suck it up and live with it.

Empathy?

Reality, old people are dying from cold in their homes because they can’t afford to heat them, P&O sack 800 workers instantly and after 10 days of hand wringing and talking bullshit the Government of the day does nowt, these are the realities the citizens of this country are living with and more, yet someone moans and groans because their lad lost his academy place at short notice after seven years. He’s young, he’s probably living at home and provided for, chances are he has no big commitments in his life he can move on. Stop bleating and get on with your life and as for staff leaving and being let go, its called redundancy because the club can’t afford them and don’t need them all in the NLN. If you want to blame someone then think of a large flying white bird that lives on waterways in this country, then go figure. We still have club because of DH, be grateful.

[TheJuryeffsOut]

Dear oh dear.

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[Westyorksiron]

Shame about the academy closing given it was just starting to produce a number of players with potential and some local lads have now established themselves like Wilson.
Even if it costs more this year to close it down this year, presumably we will only get further funding after next year when we are back in the EFL, which could be some time.
Shame about how this seems to have been communicated.
Always felt a combination of not being patient enough and problems with the previous regime have prevented us getting the best out of the better academy players (on the pitch / financially) we’ve produced in recent years like Wooton, Godden, Dawson, Sutton etc

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Sanfran49

[SST]

Barnsley looking at Poulter
I think clubs will be taking a punt on a few of them tbh.

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[Cliff Byrne’s Right Peg]

I heard a couple of months ago that we were looking at 150k for foster.

Can’t confirm if that’s the case now.

[lesgeo]

Relegation to the NLN was never going to be pretty.
I had zero idea what would happen but, TBH, it was always gonna be horrid – and the buck must surely be placed at the feet of the former owner.
To me, the degree of financial naivety displayed was simply dreadful under Swann.
If Hilton has found ways to increase the playing budget – he has my attention.

[Richgy]

Whether its a good decision for the club is irrelevant really , Swann and Hilton can be put to one side .

From a human perspective its horrible i remember being a kid , I played for an academy side but was not good enough to make it but at least had the opportunity until 17-18 to realise i probably wouldnt make it and didnt really have the desire or ability to play at a decent level so packed it in .

But from that earlier age 7,8,10,12 to be told you wont be able to continue with what for most of them is probably their hometowm club doesnt sit right with me , to be dealt such a blow so early on when you should just be enjoying it is sad .

I just hope local clubs us ,Bottesford ,North Ferriby ,Clee town ,Barton,Hull etc step up and at least give these lads an opportunity to train with them maybe a trial or training so they at least get the chance to be fixed up with something and can continue to enjoy the game .

The same with all the staff that get let go they will have fsmilies to support so will be a difficult time,and the job market is particularly easy at the minute hopefully they all get fixed up quickly .

Its terrible that with all the turmoil it has now even affected the future generations of the club and peoples day to day lives .

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[SST]

The academy debate rumbles on. I actually believe some of what the OP said to be true.

There is some suggestion that the academy would not be eligible for funding next season. This is simply not true. Funding would drop from £500,000 to £250,000 next season. Hilton confirmed as much on the interview with James.

The crucial point here though is that the club did not spend the full £500,000 funding on the academy last season.

The funding is not ring fenced and can be utilised in other areas as long as the academy is run adequately.

The claw backs mentioned can happen to any club at any time but given Hilton has announced the closure of the academy we may come under more scrutiny.

At least two roles, including a Lead Foundation Phase coach and a player care role, were not filled despite the club receiving the funding. This leaves the club open to the possibility of a claw back.

Hilton was correct that the current set up does cost over £250,000 to run so keeping it would cost the club money that they clearly do not have.

However a stripped back academy could theoretically continue to operate for little or no cost next season with the £250,000 funding. They train up at the school and have offices up there, so the closure of the training ground and Glanford Park during the week would have very little impact.

The funding stops completely at the end of next season, so that would be a different situation entirely.

[Anonymous]

Iron-awe wrote:

ReneArtois wrote:

Iron-awe wrote:

Some people get sacked by text, it’s a whole new world out there thanks to mobile phone mania and social media. Apparently lots of people love this brave new technical world, so go suck it up and live with it.

Empathy?

Reality, old people are dying from cold in their homes because they can’t afford to heat them, P&O sack 800 workers instantly and after 10 days of hand wringing and talking bullshit the Government of the day does nowt, these are the realities the citizens of this country are living with and more, yet someone moans and groans because their lad lost his academy place at short notice after seven years. He’s young, he’s probably living at home and provided for, chances are he has no big commitments in his life he can move on. Stop bleating and get on with your life and as for staff leaving and being let go, its called redundancy because the club can’t afford them and don’t need them all in the NLN. If you want to blame someone then think of a large flying white bird that lives on waterways in this country, then go figure. We still have club because of DH, be grateful.

From the ‘Academy’ thread:

Most of the NLN understand the concept and importance of homegrown players.

Only 2 teams aren’t running U18 or U19 teams this season.

Those two teams are:

Banbury United
Peterborough Sports

Shame on you! Community Clubs… pah

[Author]

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