As was reported throughout last season and recently in the Chairman’s statement in March, our EFL academy licence would expire should we not gain promotion.
Following the conclusion of our play-off campaign, our academy can unfortunately no longer retain its EPPP licence and will not be able to operate as an EPPP academy going forward.
The Club is of course disappointed to lose its academy status and the impact is felt throughout, from our staff to the talented young footballers on our books. This loss of licence is one of the many consequences of our past relegation and having not regained a place in the EFL for next season – but we are proactively looking ahead.
We are immensely proud to have been one of the clubs leading the way in producing homegrown talent and giving young players a chance to flourish in our First Team. The opportunities which Barnet FC Academy has provided to these young players have been numerous and we have seen many go on to flourish in the EFL, and with the potential to go even further.
Most importantly, we have developed and nurtured good young people off the pitch, who regardless of their progression on the field, are a credit to themselves and the Club in all other aspects.
Despite the setback in our funding, we will maintain our ethos of producing talented young players, who can develop into successful senior pro’s.
Plans are already underway for our new academy structure and we will be self-funding these plans to ensure that we can continue to have an academy set up to be proud of.
These plans will ensure that we can provide a future to young footballers in our local communities and keep bringing through next generations of Bees. We will not let one setback stand in our way of continuing our fine reputation within youth football. We hope to be able to share full details of our new academy structure soon.
For a more detailed explanation into the EPPP structure and what it means, there is an excellent article that was recently published by The Guardian. Click HERE to see the article in full.
