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As a parent of a boy in the youth academy at Torquay, and with the time for reviews and new contracts fast aproaching, I would like to hear from a board member what intentions you have should the club be relegated.

The damage to the clubs name the last time the club closed the youth I would hope you will have learnt from, but many parents like myself are at the moment worried about signing anything when we could well be needing too ring up Plymouth and Exeter to try and help our children continue with their football.

I dont want to go into too much detail, but I think it is only fair with the commitment you have recieved from players and parents, over many years in he academy. That you or another board member makes a public statement about our futures.

http://mobile.torquayunited.com/news/ar ... 3710000000

Doesn't answer all question but with such positives coming from the youth department, it's understandably an integral part of the future

That article also quotes Geoff Harrop as saying, " I am constantly talking to the parents and players" So how come Mickey mouse and other parents seem to be in the dark. Relegation will mean the loss of the ring-fenced youth funding , that article clearly states the club wish to continue with the youth set up as it is, a good thing of course, but I wonder if it will result in parents having to pay a monthly training fee to help fund it.

Mickey Mouse wrote:As a parent of a boy in the youth academy at Torquay, and with the time for reviews and new contracts fast aproaching, I would like to hear from a board member what intentions you have should the club be relegated.

The damage to the clubs name the last time the club closed the youth I would hope you will have learnt from, but many parents like myself are at the moment worried about signing anything when we could well be needing too ring up Plymouth and Exeter to try and help our children continue with their football.

I dont want to go into too much detail, but I think it is only fair with the commitment you have recieved from players and parents, over many years in he academy. That you or another board member makes a public statement about our futures.

Just FYI, Andrew Candy is not a member of the Board.
He may be able to answer, but it won't be from the Board itself.

Just thought I'd clear that up.

Wrexham and Hereford both seem to be part of the EPPP so I'm not even sure relegation will affect the youth team...

Relegation will effect our youth set up, the club will lose the funding it gets through being a football league club. Some clubs upon relegation seek charitable status for there youth set ups, some do charge training fees to fund their youth set ups, as Torquay did when last in the conference, some like Aldershot choose to close theirs all together.

You're SO bothered, you've logged on to a completely unofficial forum to ask a question which can't be answered of a man who wouldn't know even if it could. I'm glad I had proper parents.

This is the sort of thing you need to discuss in person with the right people. Call the club and ask to speak to Tim, the Operations Manager. He'll point you in the right direction, which might well be the direction of wait and see what happens after next week's Board meeting.

Matt.

The article says Geoff has met with the board. Has he ? as already said, it also states Geoff is constantly talking to parents and players. is he? Has Geoff been miss quoted or is he not done/doing what he says he has.

Matt my friend, you have understand a couple of things here, not every parent is a Torquay fan, these kids come from Cornwall, Plymouth , North Devon and a further a field, the information that Mickey Mouse is after, is vitally important information, that NO parent of our any of our academy should have to go and find out, it's information that should be supplied to them.

The plan for relegation will be enormous. The u8s are going to be a VERY long way down the list of priorities for the Board to consider. This information won't be communicated for weeks or months yet, but this chap clearly wants to know now. Ignoring the fact that the decision won't have yet been made, asking on the internet isn't the right way to go about this; hence my advice to call the club and ask.

Matt.

Not everyone will always comprehend the thinking behind your posts, Matt, but no doubt they will appreciate your courtesy, good manners, and consideration for others, in the way you express yourself in your comments. Eh, Matt..?? Hmm...?? Hmm...??

(Note: sarcasm intended.. )

Get what your saying Matt, but Geoff Harrop is quoted in, in Roars linked article as saying ‘’We have an audit approaching in May for us to remain as a Category 3 Academy. If we manage to pass in early May, we then have three years at Category 3.

That sounds to me as decisions have already been made, so the club must already have a plan of how they are going to fund this with out the ring-fenced funding, which is halved and then lost altogether upon relegation from the football league , so all academy parents should have been/be told, as said a parent who travels down twice a week from Taunton may not know the who's who at the club or what number to ring, the parent has to consider the fuel costs of driving their son down to training twice a week, the kit they have to buy as well.

As MM says, the end of season reviews are due at Easter, this is important information they should have given to them, it's their right to know before the reviews. can imagine a review. Coach says, your son is progressing very well, he's on target in all aspects of his development we would like him to stay for another year. Parent, it costs me £150 a month in fuel to travel to and from, the kit costs £135 relegation is now looking certain, how do you plan to fund the academy , charitable status, am going to be faced with an additional training fee, is the club going to fund it. Coach, to be honest I cant answer that I don't know myself..hmmm, some parents are going say, well until you can answer it sonny isn't re-signing, effectively making the young player we've spent money developing a free agent.

Matt, surely you are intelligent enough to express your opinion and advice WITHOUT insulting someone.

I have surprisingly little patience with idiots. My advice comes with a side order of barely veiled contempt, which is precisely what I receive when I say dumb shit. It's the way of the interweb. Still, at least there's advice in there... Somewhere.

Matt.

Well that can depend on what advice you give and what subject you give it on. See in this case MM is currently, one, a parent, and two, an academy parent, I'm, one, a parent, and two, a former academy parent.

As far as I know matt, you are neither a parent or ever had anything to do with our academy in any capacity what so ever (of course I could be wrong there) So maybe, just maybe, in this case, you could be, well, just, plain wrong, see.

So funding for EPPP is still the same now (based on Football League status) as it was before EPPP?
Is it possible that the club have outline financing plans for the youth setup for a few years going forward regardless of first team performance and league placing? I would assume that the costs involved with the youth setup are fairly constant. Perhaps we have taken relegation into account when budgeting and can afford to keep it going for at least three years regardless of Football League membership or not?
To follow on from the OP and to annoy Matt(!) it would be nice to have some official word on this from the Board...