Academy outcome signals way forward for club
The AFC Wimbledon Academy has been given the green light to focus its efforts on producing more first-team players with news that an EPPP re-audit will not be required for three years.
in the summer, the Dons achieved category three status under the Elite Player Performance Plan, but often clubs are required to be re-audited during the next season to check that requirements are being met.announcedAs we
However, Academy Manager Jeremy Sauer revealed that this procedure will not be required. It will therefore allow his coaching team to concentrate on bringing more players through the ranks after academy products Ben Harrison, Tom Beere, George Oakley and Ryan Sweeney all made the first-team squad this season.
Jeremy said: “Most clubs that pass the EPPP often have mandatory requirements outstanding that auditors need to check at a later date. But with a high pass score and only four missing mandatory requirements out of a possible 171 auditors contracted by the Premier League concluded that we do not need a re-audit. We are therefore a complete category three club under the EPPP. We had been preparing for a re-audit in December, but this means that we can put our action plan in place now to build on being a category three club.
“We can look ahead to the next three years with confidence. I can sit down with Neal Ardley and Erik Samuelson and start putting strategies in place that will enable us to produce players for the first-team. We cannot be complacent though because regular spot checks are carried out and in three years’ time there will be a lot of data for them to assess. We have embraced the improvements that have been required for the EPPP and it gives us a solid platform to build on.”
The Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) is a process that determines eligibility to run an academy with funding based on what level a club is operating at.