All drills had an emphasis on technique, protecting the ball , playing keep ball in small areas and making space like you see the first team do before a game. Much more challenging that the Brighton drills of passing and shooting (which most kids at a good level should be able to do )

Brought my son up to new Malden for the past 2 weeks for some U8 pre academy training. The other academy age groups were training (one sock white, one sock blue, there is a reason for this !!) The standard is increadibly high. I have seen Brighton U8 - U9 trainjng as well and ours is of a higher standard in terms of quality of the training and drills and the actual players involved. Indeed it was lovely to see all age groups and parents were there all watching. Coaches were top class and really welcoming ... at Brighton you have to stand well away from the training and are distanced from it with coaches not giving you any feedback .

It's great having an Academy and it's doing very well on many fronts. But we haven't yet cracked managed to turn the 'best of the rest' into first team players.

Don't forget to add that the outputs of the academy can either a) pay for it for years if the right deal comes along or b) save money on wages and signing on fees by producing talent capable of filling roles in the first team.

Look at the buzz the majority of the home fans got in having Alfie Egan in our 1st team squad this season. I expect Anthony Hartigan to be the best yet from our acadamy and think we will do well to keep hold of him.

Stuart D - spot on!

Just going back to the discussion about the acadamy and its cost. Last season it was budgeted to cost just over £675k. Central funding from the Premier league was £340k and after all other income from DT and Dons Draw to name a few, the shortfall was £200k. For me the acadamy shows that we are in touch with our community and if you ever get a chance to go down to the training ground to watch them, there is no better feeling seeing kids up to 16 years old wearing our colours.

*did not

Amount going on player bonuses and the performance of players in the FA Cup definitely did. It correlate last season.

how dare you tu7or - we won 2 cup games last season - bury replay, and Curzon ashton , we won 2 in 2014/15 aswell to get to fac 3rd round :-)

Our budget assumes we only win one cup game (used to be none!) a season. Cup prize money maybe shared with players, but the attendance/match receipts are not. So all that is extra cash. However, that Sutton result was a right fucking pisser.

BD, yes you're right. I was just joshing...though I think half the prize money goes to the players. The TV and gate money doesn't, I may be wrong

That's true, a large amount of the prize money goes direct to the players.

Hash, only a proportion of the money made from Cup runs goes into the playing squad budget after expenses. Fairly sure around half of it goes on player bonuses as we don't pay top dollar L1 wages.

I think getting to the third round made us about 100k to begin with so a huge thanks and gratitude to Tyrone Barnett for that. If it wasn't for him we wouldn't have been able to sign Kelle Roos.

Wu, also worth remembering that we budget to get knocked out of the Cups in the first round we play. ;) Ardley knows that to increase his budget he must achieve success in the Cups or to sell players. Important that we increase our non-football revenue streams over time to allow us to invest more in the squad. This is unlikely to happen until we get to Plough Lane and improve our commercial operation.

Worth just remembering that losing to Sutton cost us at least 200k. That's a HUGE hit on this season's finances.

The wind is very much blowing in favour of safe standing. Check dis [Link]

SA - agreed. As with the Academy, it's the economies of scale. We basically rely on one big deal a year or so to balance the books. It's a calculated risk, but one which makes the club better and more fun to follow. I enjoy having a successful Ladies and Girls teams, as well as a (male) youth set-up to see how players develop and grow. Obviously that's not everyone's cup of tea, by that synergy is what makes this club a joy.

oxford don - "we have money to burn..." Sorry, but that is so far from reality that you may want to sit down have a glass of water.

Safe standing would also increase the capacity of the tiny home end (1.5k) so it would be good for revenue just not atmosphere

dondog, that's as the rules currently stand(or sit), but if clubs stasrt being allowed safe standing again, then that rule could be relaxed to allow us. there'd be no point penalising us for doing what others are now being allowed to do if indeed that happens

dondog - most of us will be in temporary seating at NPL for the foreseeable future. We won't be finishing the stadium any time soon, so we can quite happily earmark a section for standing/rail seating and (worst case scenario) leave that for last. By which point the authorities will have caught up, *if* they're pressed. Which is why it's vital we and other clubs amend the existing rules.

Will today go down in history as NEW SIGNING DAY?

I think the problem was we'd have to repay the funding we had had for Kingsmeadow. If safe standing comes in at other places then that may well have changed by "phase 2" and safe standing could be included then.