Category One status at academy level not only confirmed Derby County's commitment to youth but has helped the club to attract the best young players, according to the club’s head of football operations. "We're trying to behave like a Premier League club now," says Chris Evans.
The Category One status came in July 2014 after an independent audit that assessed Derby's work in youth development.
The audit looks at the productivity of their academy, in terms of the number of players and matches played by graduates in the first team, the quality of facilities, coaching, education and welfare provisions. Derby committed £1.6million to the process which was then matched by an £800,000 grant from the Premier League.
"Derby County is a historical institution with a track record of excellence and has to be dining at the top table in everything we look to do."
By achieving the status, the club is able to compete in the top level of the Premier League's competitions at Under-21 and Under-18 level.
In the Under-21 Premier League they are already enjoying success in their inaugural season with the team lying second in the Division 2 table and facing a semi-final against Southampton on Thursday in the Under-21 Premier League Cup.
Evans believes the hard work that Darren Wassall, the Derby academy manager, and his team have done developing their academy and facilities was necessary to compete with other clubs for young talent.
"Derby County is a historical institution with a track record of excellence and has to be dining at the top table in everything we look to do," Evans said.
"Our objective at first-team level is to reach the Premier League. So you have to have the foundations in place.
"Coming from an academy background, I know the long-term good health of a club comes from the succession of players. We want to attract the best players and develop the best players. To have the best, you have to have something to offer.
"There are a many excellent clubs doing excellent work around the country, and we have to compete with them for players.
“When players and their parents look at our stadium, training facilities, systems and how our academy treats young people, we have an excellent chance of attracting them."
Evans, a former academy director at Wolverhampton Wanderers, arrived at Derby shortly after Steve McClaren was appointed head coach in 2013. He lays the credit for the club's commitment to youth and a playing style that is reaping rewards to Sam Rush, the president and chief executive, and to McClaren's approach.
"Steve McClaren works in a certain way, with a certain style, a certain brand," Evans says. "Any players coming through have as a minimum to be technical, to be able to handle the ball, play from the back, do it 'the Derby County way'.
"Players coming through have to be able to adapt to that remit. Steve and I drew up a player specification and players have to fit that. We think that's starting to work.
Evans says McClaren’s ability to help develop young players also helps to attract not only players at academy level but for the first team too, with Jordon Ibe, Tom Ince and Jesse Lingard the latest Premier League talent to join on loan.
"We can't always compete with what some clubs spend on academy players," Evans says. "But if we bring them in with the ability and the desire to fit in with our specification, even if they are not the finished article, we believe that by working with Steve they will improve.
"We think if we get a young player in, and Steve works with him on the training field for a few months, he will improve. I've seen that with Patrick Bamford, George Thorne, Andre Wisdom, Jordon Ibe.”
First-team schedules permitting, McClaren will be at St Mary’s Stadium on Thursday to witness the Under-21s' Premier League Cup semi-final against Southampton.
"Steve will watch the youth-team matches," Evans says. "Then he'll invite the likes of Callum Guy, Jamie Hanson to train with the first team. So he'll know them from a young age.
"To sustain ourselves for when we get to where we want to be, it is too late to start planning when you get there. In everything we do, facilities, coaching, manpower, the sciences, we're trying to behave like a Premier League club.
"In this way, if we get to where we want, the transition is not black and white."
Pete Lansley (@PeteLansley), a freelance football reporter for the Sunday Times and the Guardian, is a Level 2/Youth Module 3 coach working with Derby County Community Trust.
