Huddersfield Town boss David Wagner has backed chairman Dean Hoyle's decision to downgrade the club's Academy in the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP).
News broke over the weekend of the proposal to move from a Category II to a Category IV set-up meaning the current youth sides from Under-16 are to be phased out within the next month.
The announcement will see the club concentrate on developing talent from the age of 16 and over with development sides at Under-18 and Under-23 level only.
And although the decision was taken at boardroom level with head coach Wagner having little input in the matter, the German head coach believes the current set-up is unsustainable with the restructure making sense.
“It is impossible to work as a competitor with so many good Academies around us,” explained David Wagner.
“This football club is miles away from being competitive with all the big clubs in the area.
“Therefore we have to find another solution and our own way – sometimes you have to go against the mainstream to be competitive.
“Our circumstances are not strong enough at the moment so we have to make these hard decisions but I trust what Dean (Hoyle) has done.
“He loves this football club and he will do everything in its best interests and if he makes a decision it will undoubtedly be the right one.”
Wagner was also quick to reinforce the message that despite the loss of youth teams for children as young as eight-years-old, the club will still firmly be entrenched in the community.
“The reason Huddersfield Town have an Academy is to produce players for the first-team – that is the aim for every football club,” added Wagner.
“Another reason is to create value for the club as well as to help and support the local community.
“This football club already does so much good stuff with the Huddersfield Town Foundation and the connection between the club and community will continue without the Academy and through this instead.”
