How will Hartlepool United’s relegation from the Football League impact the club’s academy?

Whether you’re a player, part of the backroom staff, part of the office staff or even those who make up part of the ground staff, there is an element of uncertainty when a club is relegated – not least into non-league.

But another area of potential concern for Hartlepool might be with the club’s academy and how much relegation from the Football League will impact the work which has gone on in that regard over the last 12 months.

Ahead of the start of the 2022-23 campaign, former chief operating officer Stephen Hobin helped reintegrate the club’s academy structure having been granted a Category-4 status – a late development model operating from the under-17 age group upwards.

Hartlepool appointed former FA and Middlesbrough academy coach Andy Lowe to oversee the club’s new academy operations with the hope being to progress towards a Category-3 programme in years to come whereby Hartlepool would be able to register players from the under-9 age group through to a professional level.

Lowe has been keen to get to work in establishing the club’s new academy and has seen a selection of players handed first-team experience this season with the likes of Louis Stephenson, Campbell Darcy and Joe Kitching all being involved in first-team squads or earning their debuts at some stage this year.

But after the club lost its youth system the last time the club was relegated to the National League should there be concern this time around?

“My remit has been to establish Cat-4, maintain Cat-4, and growth for Cat-3,” Lowe explained to The Mail.

“But there’s been a clear remit where, if we weren’t a Football League club, the academy still exists.

“Years ago when they went out of the league the academy went. So my task has been to put a strategy in place where that doesn’t happen, which isn’t easy by the way.

“To go from a Cat-4 or a Cat-3 funded programme off the EFL, where you get ‘x’ amount of money, to then, potentially, not having that money is a big challenge.

“There’s a lot of clubs who, if they haven’t got back into the league after three or four years, don’t have that funding and support. So my task is to try and make sure we put something in place where we’re a sustainable model where the academy remains.

“The academy would still be here,” he adds.

“My challenge to put to the board is based on different scenarios and I certainly think we could do that.”

But while Lowe remained confident the academy set-up will continue, he admitted there are plenty of challenges that lie ahead.

“There’s still some more challenges in terms of we’ve got to get some more staff in the building for different roles for example, but we’re under no illusions that it’s not easy,” he said.

“The key for me is, the boys are out there having the best experience with the staff. The strategy and the structure, the finance, the funding, the health and safety, all the stuff that people don’t associate with football academies are integral and that’s where all of my work comes from.”