Just shut up and let the grown ups talk.

Surprised you've missed the point jonh.

He doesn't mean we'd disband it, he means it would get ransacked every years by SL clubs. Not having a go but your beloved Wigan would almost certainly be one. We could produce youngsters all day long but any who looked half decent would be off.

For a start the parasite club Salford who are so lazy they don't even have an Academy would see us as nothing more than battery farm doing what they should be doing.

Personally if we got demoted and there was no gangway back I'd disband the Academy as an utter waste of many. I'd just concentrate on helping local amateur clubs and hope that they can produce enough players to fill out our first team. It shouldn't be that way but if you were a farmer you wouldn't breed cattle in a field with no fences next to a motorway would you?

Not convinced that playing at 7 is working out all that well for him. I personally think Lino on this years form (apart from one game) is the worst overseas HB I've seen at the club in years and there is some stiff competition. If he can run a game I can run the Bank of England.

Clubs such as Newcastle, Bradford and London all run academy squads.

I suppose it also depends how many brownie points the club would get within any future restructuring.

With the exception of Bradford none of these have any realistic chance of playing SL. Also they have a geographical need to create their own players. Fundamentally their Academy team is an extension of their first team rather than a separate entity.

My point here revolves entirely around whether there will be a route into SL once the restructuring takes place. If there is then Academy all the way, but if there isn't I shouldn't think Bradford would bother any longer either.

You'd have to look at a slimmed down version where you offered the near misses a place to train and play some matches whilst playing with their junior clubs. It would have to be voluntary with no fees other than expenses. This may offer up some hidden gems and late developers.

The one I would keep up is the college team, that is a goldmine, especially for a part time club.

MC said “the only reason it’s the best pitch in SL is because it only has 13 SL games a year played on it”. The Hybrid pitch will provide 30/40 hours a week of use for other sports/organisations, communities.
I’m sure we also have an obligation to the council to provide these community facilities as part of council funding package. This would not be possible with a completely grass pitch.

Not missed the point at all.

Unfortunately you are speaking from a position of ignorance on this, I am not.

Wakefield don’t get the pick of local juniors as it is.

We have to cope with Wigan, Warrington, Saints, Leeds already raiding the local clubs. If they offer Wakefield juniors positions 99% of the time they go.

I can name a number of local juniors from the crop of 13s this year who have chosen to do so. Wakefield supporters too.

We develop players rather than bring in the stars.

The system works at Trinity.

If we go down the system will continue to work.

Being in the lower division probably provides an easier pathway to first team rugby however that becomes problematic if we don’t bounce back fairly quickly.

The statement last night, if it was made as being reported, is very dangerous and has already caused quite a bit of concern within our junior playing ranks.

The line as I recall was more like 10 years of work building the academy down the pan and linked with the fact that all our guys are on Super League contracts and that the club had already warned off approaches for some of our younger squad members.

Just going back to the East, West, North & South debate....
Yes defo East stand first.
Then for me (if we are in SL) it should be West before North.
I say that with the view of you only get one chance to make a first impression.
Away fans will first see the new East stand and then look at what they have to still put up with.
A refurbed West stand would look much better to me.
For me North & South can stay as they are.

I'm saying as are a few others that you missed the point but it seems you can't admit it as usual.

He didn't say he'd disband it he said it would go to pot and if you can't work out what that means then you mate are clearly the ignorant one.

The rest of it was what I'd do but I happily admit that I am not a self proclaimed expert, unlike yourself, so it's purely an opinion.

Sounds to me like you've got a vested interest way beyond the average fan, interesting.

However Chinese whispers has now kicked in and it is being reported that we won’t run an Academy.

Very dangerous, especially with a view to the next intake of scholars.

Hopefully the club nip that in the bud with a formal statement.

A point of note here, the elite academies come with a set amount of funding, they are not necessarily fully funded. Most clubs including us tend to ‘top up’ the funds with their own money which makes a big difference. It’s something i doubt we could afford to do if relegated so would have to run a lower standard academy using just the central funds, that is unless the rule still exists where you have match fund the monies given to you then this probably wouldn’t be possible either. We’d likely just run a development academy as teams like Leigh & Salford do now in that case. Either way all our top talent would depart.

I’d also imagine we’d cut the reserve team as well. It’s not a requirement to have one in the championship.

I didn’t miss the point I am responding to what was mentioned on here and is flying all round social media.

I was not there last night as I was out investing in the future of the game and club.

I’m not a self professed expert on junior development. I’m a qualified expert with many years experience in the field.

I’m also currently managing a damage limitation exercise because of how the comments were interpreted and are being reported.

300k and the west stand could be improved

I’d love to see how that looked on paper

If I ever get a lotto win I’d be happy to fund that

Brill that mc has at least looked in to it though

You cant do it that way because the North stand is a safety hazard and as we know has been closed once and has required numerous bits of remedial work. It also has a reduced capacity due to the above. The west stand even with a modest refurb will not make up for the loss of capacity o the North. When complete I'd guess the North stand will make up 50% of our capacity, all tip top and under cover (mostly).

I get what you mean from a viewing/how it looks perspective but economically its the North stand that needs sorting first.

I have a work mate who always fancies coming along but I won't bring him until the North stand is sorted regardless as to how we are playing. He's only ever been to top class Soccer stadiums and I know he just doesn't grasp how bad BV is and the the North stand terracing in particular. He will take one look at it as it is now, stifle his horror and never come again. I know it will hardly Wembley after the refit but at least it will be need and level and look like someone has actually cared about it.

Well that's great, and you may be right. But I think it's fairly obvious that any prolonged period of time in the Championship would see our academy suffer, especially if we had less prudent owners in the future. 3 years is not a long time, hell it's nearly that long since we played well! Once that funding comes up for renewal I wouldn't like to bet that we'd keep it, would you?

As for comments being misinterpreted, welcome to the modern world. People will do that these days with single syllable answers to the most innocent of questions. It's why the world is in such a mess. Nothing you can do, people will always say the odd gaff, but being human is no longer allowed.

It's a strange old world.

We are on the brink of having a new main stand, a re-vamped North Stand and still people aren't happy.
I know it's not the shiny new ground that was promised at Newmarket but, it's one hell of a lot more than we've had and will be a MASSIVE improvement on BV.
I get the issues about away fans and the need to do something with the Western Terrace but, as with Headingley, lets look after Trinity fans first
and foremost.
IF we can survive in SL this season, there should be a real feel good factor about the place.
It's the clubs 150th anniversary next season and we should all be celebrating this and with some 21st century facilities finally on their way, the club will be in better shape than its been for half a century.
This is why it's so important that we remain in SL. There is a real chance for the club to move forward and not languish at the bottom of the SL pile as also rans.

John, it seems you are closely connected to the Academy, perhaps you can contact MC directly by club email or on the telephone. MC may have given last night’s audience the wrong impression, but you clearly need the full facts. I certainly hope I’ve not caused concerns to anyone especially involved with the Academy.

If they just flatten the West stand and built a toilet block it would look better than it does now

The west stand shouldn’t take much doing, new terracing, extend the roof the full length of the terracing and have a proper gantry built for tv coverage. Easy.

I have the plans right in front of me for doing just that. A year ago it would have cost half a million which we might have been able to fudge from the 12 million. A year on it would cost nearer a million and we don't have a spare penny thanks to Putin and Covid.

Let’s hope we can find some investment once this east stand is done for that. It would transform the stadium no doubt especially from the east stand looking at the west.

Hopefully new dug out shelters and seating are included lol

Time will tell regarding the academy its somthing that i am concerned about due to my lad been first year academy and seeing him progress in last 12 months like he as i can only hope its keeps going and i say that cos lads do improve massively,i dont know what will happen nor will i ask the question i do know lads are signing on from end of scolaship.

If we stay in SL, there wont be a problem. Let's hope we can secure our spot a.s.a.p.