Reading FC regains top youth academy status
The club's youth academy had been downgraded
Reading football club has confirmed the Premier League have reassigned the club's Academy set-up as Category One, following a meticulous assessment of their entire operation at Bearwood Park.
Almost exactly a decade ago, the club’s Academy was awarded the highest possible rating of Category One – ensuring it was at the forefront of youth development in this country and beyond.
Last summer, the status was downgraded to Category Two – predominantly due to issues experienced during the complex and staggered transition of our Academy operation from Hogwood Park to its new Bearwood Park facility during a period of time in which football was still held tightly in the grips of the global pandemic.
The reapplied for Category One standing last season and committed to keeping high the expectations and demands they placed upon the Academy as it continued to run the vast operation to the very highest standard throughout the course of 2022-23.
This new categorisation recognises a number of major criteria including the level of our facilities, standard of coaching, education, safeguarding, sports science and medicine provision and the club’s ability to produce players for the first team.
It also means the Under-21s are now returning to the Premier League 2 in 2023-24.
With the fixtures for 2023-24 due to be released in the coming days, the Under-21s now know they will be swapping Professional Development League meetings with the likes of Charlton Athletic and Colchester United for Premier League 2 clashes against clubs of the calibre of Newcastle United and Aston Villa.
Academy Manager Michael Gilkes said:
“Within our Academy are a totally devoted team who rightly take immense pride in developing young footballers, both as people and as players. And on behalf of everyone involved in Reading Football Club and its Academy, I’d like to sincerely thank and congratulate every single person who has helped the Royals to regain this prestigious status. Now, we can all truly look to the future.”
Head of Football Operations, Mark Bowen, said:
“The greatest compliment I can pay to the outstanding staff who help our esteemed Academy tick every day is that the young players who have returned for pre-season training at Bearwood Park in recent weeks won’t have noticed any difference to previous seasons. We have continued to operate our Academy at the very highest standards and those levels have rightly been recognised as elite within the realms of youth player development in this country. I am delighted for our young players, I am thrilled for our talented staff and I am excited for Reading Football Club and its future.”
“We have continued to operate our Academy at the very highest standards and those levels have rightly been recognised as elite within the realms of youth player development in this country. I am delighted for our young players, thrilled for our talented staff and excited for Reading Football Club and its future.”