One of the many tremendous benefits of having secured our historic promotion into the English Football League is that it renders us eligible to join the “Elite Player Performance Plan” (EPPP) system.
Accordingly, we applied for “category 4 “status for the coming season. At the end of last week, the Club was informed that this application has been successful and that we are now officially licensed to operate a scholarship academy programme. This marks a step change in our academy model and rewards many years of hard work and commitment as we continually strive for excellence, driven by Academy Director Marvin Williams and his superb team.
For the 2021/2022 season we will train, educate and develop an elite group of players aged 16 and over who we are recruiting from many of the category 1 and 2 academies in London and the South-East of England, as well as from our successful existing academy teams which have fast become a strong source of talent for Sutton United.
As a Club with an already very strong reputation for developing talented home-grown players, we are incredibly excited by this development and look forward to seeing this talent nurtured through to the first team and beyond. In response to our successful application, Marvin Williams is understandably delighted, stating: “This represents a huge leap forward for the academy and will create an environment designed for developing professional football players whilst enhancing our existing strong academy set up.
This year will be very much a transitional period during which we will also prepare for a category 3 application. This will see the academy grow to include registered players from the under-9s age group upwards. This will mirror many of the established EFL programmes, nurture our most talented young players and aims to ensure that the pathway to the first team is well stocked with some of the best young talent; talented people who are being prepared for a life in professional football”
For more information about the EFL Academy system click here.