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But it really is remarkable that with all the money poured into the Cat 1 academies, they don't dominate the competition. Perhaps at U18 level they just prefer to cherry pick from the lower clubs' players and then concentrate their resources on U21/U23.

It is, I agree, Mick.

Just gone through the results. Congrats 'C&P'. Great result.

I see Chelsea won 7-0 last night, but they are the Premier League rarities, looking at other results.

I do like the way they use the following phrase on the FA website :-

"AET, Blackpool FC won 4-2 on kicks from the penalty mark"
:smile:
 
Right, the final matches have been completed in the 4th Round and we have our last 16.

There was a shock win there for Bury, so a good mixture of lower division sides still left in the hat.

The 5th Round shapes up, as follows :-

Ipswich Town v Blackpool
Colchester United v Reading
Blackburn Rovers v Nottingham Forest
Plymouth Argyle v Fulham
Bury v Birmingham City
Middlesbrough v Arsenal
Norwich City v Newcastle United
Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea

So I make that :-

Division 1 = 4 teams
Division 2 = 7 teams
Division 3 = 4 teams
Division 4 = 1 team

Cheg on that, Richard Scudamore!
 
Right, the final matches have been completed in the 4th Round and we have our last 16.

There was a shock win there for Bury, so a good mixture of lower division sides still left in the hat.

The 5th Round shapes up, as follows :-

Ipswich Town v Blackpool
Colchester United v Reading
Blackburn Rovers v Nottingham Forest
Plymouth Argyle v Fulham
Bury v Birmingham City
Middlesbrough v Arsenal
Norwich City v Newcastle United
Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea

So I make that :-

Division 1 = 4 teams
Division 2 = 7 teams
Division 3 = 4 teams
Division 4 = 1 team

Cheg on that, Richard Scudamore!

I think it's possibly better to look at the Categories for each Academy rather than the Division their first team plays in. So, the last 16 is comprised of:

Cat 1 (9)
Arsenal
Chelsea
Blackburn Rovers
Fulham
Middlesbrough
Newcastle United
Norwich City
Reading
Tottenham Hotspur

Cat 2 (4)
Birmingham City
Colchester United
Ipswich Town
Nottingham Forest

Cat 3 (3)
Blackpool
Bury
Plymouth Argyle

There have been some stand-out results this season (Plymouth and Bury in particular) but, although Colchester's first team are in League 2 and MK Dons are in League 1, I wouldn't term the Fourth Round result an upset; with their Academy structure, the games programme and facilities, Colchester should beat MK Dons at youth team level.

I've long believed The FA Youth Cup should be structured regarding the strength of the Academy rather than what level the first team play at (Colchester entered at the First Round stage, where as a Cat 2 Academy they should, IMHO, be exempt to the Third Round. I think The FA have tweaked things slightly in the Qualifying Rounds recently, but I remember when Luton were in the Conference, they were thrashing non-league teams in the qualifying rounds whilst topping the league our U18s participate in.
 
Really great points 'exiled' and something I definitely hadn't considered.

I always worked on the basis that the bigger and more money a club has, the higher their category is at U18 level, but it's really interesting to see that sides like Blackburn, playing at our level, are cat (1) clubs.
 
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Let's not forget our younger age groups are regularly thumping a lot of the Cat 1 teams. Just recently our Under 15's beat a West Ham side that contained two lads training regularly with England 5-0. The week previous the same West Ham side had beaten Man City 5-0. I think it's accepted that if we had the facilities we would be a Cat 2 academy.
 
Let's not forget our younger age groups are regularly thumping a lot of the Cat 1 teams. Just recently our Under 15's beat a West Ham side that contained two lads training regularly with England 5-0. The week previous the same West Ham side had beaten Man City 5-0. I think it's accepted that if we had the facilities we would be a Cat 2 academy.

Absolutely. The EPPP Audit is based around a loads of stuff like players produced for the first team, access to 3G facilities, teaching space, number of players per coach, number of full-time staff, as well as finances. I'm fortunate enough to see a lot of our youth team at U18 level, but we do a really good job of promoting those younger players into the youth team environment to help them develop. After that win over West Ham you referenced, one of the players got an U18s call-up (and has appeared a couple of times) and another 3/4 came to a match at Dagenham to watch the U18s.

My favourite quote from our U18s coach and Lead Professional Development Phase coach, Dave Huzzey, this season is exactly what you said above: We're operating a Cat 2 Academy without the facilities that are required to actually obtain that status. It's why, if the new stadium does ever come along, it will be so important to augment all the hard work Ricky Duncan and his staff undertake.
 
Let's not forget our younger age groups are regularly thumping a lot of the Cat 1 teams. Just recently our Under 15's beat a West Ham side that contained two lads training regularly with England 5-0. The week previous the same West Ham side had beaten Man City 5-0. I think it's accepted that if we had the facilities we would be a Cat 2 academy.

It is definitely true that the Southend Utd Academy is a Cat 2 Academy in all but name and has a very good reputation, hence they get the opportunity to play many top Academies outside of their usual games programme, however it is also fair to say that when our Academy plays a top Cat 1 Academy the opposition might not necessarily be fielding their top team for that age group, it is likely that when the likes of Southend Utd play a Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City etc. the opposition will field a team that will very likely include a number from the year below (playing "up" being a common practice in Academy football) so that whilst the West Ham team that we played may have included two England lads it is also likely that the West Ham team that had played Man City the previous week wasn't necessarily the same!
 
You'd have thought they'd have waited until at least one of the 5th round matches had been played before they drew the sixth round and the semi-finals !!! I suppose the FA know best !!

6th round:
Plymouth Argyle or Fulham v Tottenham or Chelsea
Norwich City or Newcastle United v Bury or Birmingham City
Colchester United or Reading v Middlesbrough or Arsenal
Blackburn Rovers or Nottingham Forest v Ipswich Town or Blackpool

Semis:
Blackburn Rovers or Nottingham Forest or Ipswich Town or Blackpool v Colchester United or Reading or Middlesbrough or Arsenal

Norwich City or Newcastle United or Bury or Birmingham City v Plymouth Argyle or Fulham or Tottenham or Chelsea
 
After another enthralling 0-0 draw, our thoughts turn to the FA Youth Cup and yes, we've now reached the semi-final stage.

Just poring over the results, we see the demise of Col Ewe in the 5th Round, losing at home to Reading 4-1 .. But hold on, what's this? .. Col Ewe seem to be in the 6th Round, so what gives? .. Well, it seems Reading have been unceremoniously dumped out of the competition by the powers that be and Col Ewe advanced to the quarter-finals where they came a cropper 5-1 at home to Arsenal, anyway!

Indeed, all four quarter-finals went to the away side and using Mick's excellent guide, above, the semi-finals look like this :-

Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal
Birmingham City v Chelsea

One has to fancy Chelsea. In their quarter-final local derby with Fulham (1,500 in attendance) they romped home 6-0!

So, just one step now from Wembley (well, wherever the final is played) awaits those four teams above.

They are all definitely "Up for the Cup!" :happy:
 
After another enthralling 0-0 draw, our thoughts turn to the FA Youth Cup and yes, we've now reached the semi-final stage.

Just poring over the results, we see the demise of Col Ewe in the 5th Round, losing at home to Reading 4-1 .. But hold on, what's this? .. Col Ewe seem to be in the 6th Round, so what gives? .. Well, it seems Reading have been unceremoniously dumped out of the competition by the powers that be and Col Ewe advanced to the quarter-finals where they came a cropper 5-1 at home to Arsenal, anyway!

Indeed, all four quarter-finals went to the away side and using Mick's excellent guide, above, the semi-finals look like this :-

Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal
Birmingham City v Chelsea

One has to fancy Chelsea. In their quarter-final local derby with Fulham (1,500 in attendance) they romped home 6-0!

So, just one step now from Wembley (well, wherever the final is played) awaits those four teams above.

They are all definitely "Up for the Cup!" :happy:
It's played over two legs!
 
I wonder how many off those lads from CHelski will gone on to make the senior side ,IF LUCKY PROBABLY 1 .

There was a documentary about the Chelsea Youth team some years ago. Their Captain was on camera saying how he was going to get a pro deal and how good he was.
By the time it aired he had signed for us ....
Richie Hanlon then went on to have a distinguished career including 47 games for Peterbro 62 for Rushden and 37 for Cambridge in the conference before retiring through Injury.
 
There was a documentary about the Chelsea Youth team some years ago. Their Captain was on camera saying how he was going to get a pro deal and how good he was.
By the time it aired he had signed for us ....
Richie Hanlon then went on to have a distinguished career including 47 games for Peterbro 62 for Rushden and 37 for Cambridge in the conference before retiring through Injury.
For every player that makes the grade, there are thousands that don't.
 
Indeed, wasn't Conor Clifford captain of one of their most successful youth sides?
 
Indeed there are thousands that dont ,but CHelski for all there success in the youth ranks for a number off seasons now ,you would have thought a few would have progressed to their senior side,unless there youth team are made up of boys from other countries outside of great britain.
 
So, we have our finalists :-

Friday 27th April 2018 - Chelsea v Arsenal
Monday 30th April 2018 - Arsenal v Chelsea

Both live on ITV4.
 
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