With Yeovil Town's Centre of Excellence set to be downgraded for next season, this week's Western Gazette has published some of the financial figures surrounding the club's decision-making. At the time that the Elite Player Performance Plan was voted through, it wasn't clear how Huish Park officials had voted on the issue - the article states that the club voted against it, as part of 22 Football League clubs who were opposed to the Premier League proposals.
Although we highlighted earlier this week that much of the controversy surrounding the EPPP was in the fixed tariff fees that clubs would pay for player transfers, the club have indicated that their major issue with the proposals related to the minimum standards required to reach the four EPPP Academy Categories.
In the club accounts published last month, the Centre of Excellence generated a turnover of £196,000 for the 2010-11 season. The latest figures given indicate that the club are receiving a grant from the Football League of around £180,000, with the club contributing only an additional £30,000 for the running of the centre. The new requirements for an EPPP Category Three Academy (the closest match to a Centre of Excellence) are for clubs to invest £105,000 per season. Category Three clubs receive a £210,000 grant on top of that, but the Glovers were not willing/able to do so.
The other factor that has materialised is that the club's Centre of Excellence facilities at Alvington were believed by the club to not meet the Category Three requirements, with a club statement saying that they fell short in such a way that this could not be rectified for next season, explaining that "the facilities that are available to the Club in the Yeovil area do not meet all the criteria required by the Premier League's EPPP template and there is no prospect of that situation changing in the immediate future."
The club are already required under their Food Store plans to find two alternative community training pitches, plus first team facilities to replace the existing Top Pitches behind the away end at Huish Park. If they are finding the procurement of facilities for a CoE set-up difficult, then it stands to reason that providing these may also prove tricky.
Link: Elite Development Centre Planned.
Link: Centre Of Excellence Under Threat.
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3 May 2012 : 
