Developing and Encouraging Talent

Huddersfield Town has always had a rich history of developing young players from the community, but an important change in our Youth Development came in 1999 when the Club gained Academy status.

With the long-serving Gerry Murphy at the helm for the majority of its existence, the Academy has thrived over the past decade. Producing a seemingly endless line of quality home-grown players for the first-team, the majority of the cost of its running is covered by the fans.

An independent group -the Development Association -oversees the funding of the Academy through the Blue & White Foundation, the payments from Yorkshire Building Society through the Terriers Savings Account and through other fundraising methods.

Prior to the Academy, the Huddersfield Centre of Football Excellence was opened in 1986 by then-England manager Bobby Robson with a focus on developing the skills of youngsters in the Yorkshire area.

The major change of this school compared to the old system was a drop in the minimum intake age to eleven and this was to drop even further through the following years, with today’s Academy system seeing Town take on players as young as eight.

FA Premier Academy League

Town’s youngsters now play in the FA Premier Academy League and regularly face top-class opponents at the Storthes Hall Training Complex. As well as gaining an education in football, the lads also gain a valuable education -just in case their footballing careers don’t flourish as expected.

The future of the Academy was in serious doubt during the summer of 2003, when the Football Club went into administration following relegation to League Two.  Thankfully, the new Board -under the stewardship of Chairman Ken Davy and Chief Executive Andrew Watson -had the foresight to persuade the administrators to stick with the Academy and the 2003/04 season saw Town back on the up, with a promotion from League Two at the first
attempt.

That promotion-winning team was based around players who had graduated from the Academy -the most famous of these being striker Jon Stead, who made the move to Premiership Blackburn Rovers for £1.25 million in February 2004.

How your donations help

In order to maintain the Academy status, constant high levels in both coaching and facilities have to be kept up to standard -hence the building of the Sports Barn facility on Leeds Road and the current plans for developing the changing rooms at the Storthes Hall complex. It is also a necessity that a full educational framework is in place so that the scholars learn on and off the pitch and this is yet another area in which the Town Academy excels.