Daily WHUFC News - II 28th July 2012

Academy granted Category One status
WHUFC.com
West Ham United have been awarded Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP)
Category One status
28.07.2012

West Ham United are delighted to announce that the club has been awarded
Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) Category One status. The Hammers have
been placed in the highest tier of Academies in English football following a
successful audit by independent assessors earlier this year. Proposed by the
Premier League, the EPPP is a new system aimed at improving all areas of
youth football provision, including coaching, education, child welfare and
medical care, with the aim of giving young players a greater opportunity to
be coached and developed into homegrown stars of the future. Vice-Chairman
Karren Brady and Academy Director Tony Carr MBE spearheaded West Ham's EPPP
strategy, with the Board investing more than £1m in helping the Academy of
Football to gain Category One status. The process of gaining Category One
status has seen a huge amount of hard work done by the Vice-Chairman, Carr
and his staff.

The Academy has grown with the addition of a significant number of full and
part-time coaching and medical staff. The facilities used by the Academy
have also been improved, with a stadium pitch and three training pitches
developed at Rush Green and the installation of a new gymnasium and
classrooms at both Little Heath and Rush Green.

Off the pitch, the club has forged a full-time partnership with Sir Paul
Grant, the headteacher at the Robert Clack School of Science in Dagenham,
whose superb team of teachers will look after all the Academy's educational
needs. These needs include full-time education provision for young
footballers in years ten and eleven, and hybrid provision for teenagers who
visit the Academy on day-release programmes during the school year. West Ham
United Joint-Chairman David Gold said: "We are pleased that the independent
auditors have seen fit to award West Ham United the top-rated Category One
Academy status. "Having played for the Academy as a youngster and then
followed West Ham United for my whole life I know only too well how
important it is to the club. So from the moment the new EPPP system was
confirmed, it was our Board's absolute priority to make sure our Academy
maintained its world-renowned reputation as one of the best in the business.
"The Board were quick to provide Tony Carr and his team with the appropriate
funding for the additional resource and facilities they required. I would
like to thank Tony and his team of staff, who all worked hard to ensure we
achieved our collective aim. "We will not be resting on our laurels now
though, as we will be continuing to invest and grow our Academy even
further."

Academy Director Tony Carr said: "I'm absolutely thrilled that we have been
awarded Category One status for the 2012/13 season, which is a culmination
of months of hard work by a huge team of people. I would to thank all of my
staff at the Academy who have put in countless late nights to make sure we
achieved the top standing. "I must also pay tribute to the Board, who have
demonstrated their unwavering commitment to West Ham United's Academy by
providing the necessary funding for the upgrades to our facilities and staff
at Chadwell Heath and Little Heath. "This award will ensure the steady
stream of talent we have coming through from our Academy will continue and
we can go on to produce more and more world-class players for West Ham
United."

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West Ham United statement
WHUFC.com
Vice-Chairman Karren Brady has spoken about the club's pride at hearing
'Bubbles' played in Stratford
28.07.2012

Karren Brady said: "We are delighted and honoured that the organisers of the
2012 London Olympics saw fit to include the West Ham United anthem 'Bubbles'
in the fantastic opening ceremony we witnessed on Friday night. We feel It
is testament to our standing in the community of the east end of London and
we are grateful that this has been recognised by Artistic Director Danny
Boyle and his team. "As I said earlier this week in my open letter to
Londoners, West Ham United is determined to ensure the legacy the Olympics
brings will live on in east London long after the last javelin has been
thrown and the final starting gun has been fired.
"We look forward to sharing more of our vision to help shape the future of
east London over the next few weeks and months."

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