Most Clubs Tapping into their Academy this Season

[Dave Thacker]

At the end of Season 4, the first players became eligible to be promoted to a club’s first team. The call-up period has not ended but the early numbers are showing that bringing the youngsters up has been very popular. The great majority of clubs have promoted, with some drawing deeply in their academy enrollments. As of November 30, this are the unofficial numbers for Academy call-ups.

Number of clubs that called up players	63 of 80
Players Called up	159
Highest Number of players called up	5 players (Two Clubs
Average number of players called up	2.59

It should be pointed up that that all of the players brought up for the start of Season 5 had just aged up to 20 years old, the minimum age for promotion. At this point no players that have been through the entire academy process and aged have been available. The recent drop in the minimum enrollment probably allowed more players to get called up, and saved a few clubs that were in roster trouble.

They might seem like a high number of players to being promote, but there are reasons for the numbers rippling through the Discord:

• The youth movement-Transfer list and Transfer list messages talk about clubs “wanting to get younger”. Players with re-rates are out of fashion, even if they are stellar performers.
• The caretaker phenomenon-I can personally tell you that there are neglected clubs that have has incompetent management or no management at all. This has led to clubs that have aged without fresh talent brought into the club. The academy system has given these clubs a cushion to soften the crash.

Seventeen clubs made no moves out of their academies and will. Some clubs want are taking the long game and are waiting until they absolutely need to pull and player up. Others are banking on multiple seasons of extended training with coaches will build high skilled players more quickly than playing through the season. It should be noted that players training in the Academy do not get injured. (Don’t get any ideas JB!)

My prediction is that this is a high point that will not be exceeded next season. We’ll see if I am right.

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