Huddersfield Town trying to block elite young talent from leaving the club

Owner of the Terriers Kevin Nagle wants to deter local talent from looking elsewhere by pushing the soon-to-be-reinstituted younger age group program at the club’s academy beyond its previous level.

The decision to downgrade Huddersfield Town’s academy to category four status in 2017 has the consequence of removing all age groups younger than under-17s level from their youth system.

With Tommy Smith and Philip Billing and more recently with players like Kian Harratt and Brahima Diarra, they made the decision to focus on developing older possibilities.

When Nagle arrived in the summer, he made it one of his first priorities to bring back the younger age groups since he believed it would benefit both the club and the larger community.

The club has applied to be re-expanded to category three standard, and the chairman feels that by doing so, they may become the most alluring destination for young talents in the region.

“If we want to make sure we compete, we have to compete against Manchester, who has come down into our area, [which includes] all the other surrounding areas like Halifax,” added Nagle. Due to a decision not to proceed with investing in the academy, a few other major teams have encroached upon the Huddersfield region.

“We are immediately going to [spend], and we’re now going to see if we can get it back, and we have to do a better job persuading [young players and parents] than those others, which is also going to take more resources – and we know that.

“Those potential players are out there…We simply don’t want to suddenly enter the Manchester system and miss out on them only to learn that they were born in Huddersfield.

“The good news is that David Wetherall, who is knowledgeable about the area, is the appropriate man for the job right now. I believe we have a sound framework in place, but we’ll also strengthen it with the help of a few more folks.

Nagle went on to discuss the club’s efforts in the transfer market and their larger corporate ambitions while expressing his aspirations for the academy system.