The million pound cost of running the Posh Academy, a dramatic rise in the rankings and a 'significantly better team' compared to the last one to win promotion

The confirmation of Posh receiving Academy Two status was finally signed off by the EFL earlier this summer after the club passed a rigorous audit of their approach to and development of young players.

The construction of a training dome was a big plus for the club as was the development programme put together by Academy director Kieran Scarff and his team.

The long-term aim of the club is to have several Academy graduates playing regular first-team football which would save Posh money on transfer in the long run.

Posh co-owner Dr Jason Neale is a big driving force towards that aim.

"We are Peterborough United not Manchester United,” Dr Neale said. “We can’t write a big cheque for a player. We have to grow our own and get them through the Academy.

"Our Academy is not cheap. It costs about a million a year to run, or a net loss of about a million pounds a year. It’s a substantial investment, but we think it’s the way to go forward. It enables us to grow our own players rather than buy them.

"Achieving category two status was important and it wasn’t just a case of putting a dome up. That was key and we received great support from Peterborough City Council to make it happen, but just as important was the work done by Kieran and his staff in designing and implementing an impressive development programme.

“We are currently ranked 16th best EFLAcademy and considering we were ranked 67th, out of 72 clubs, that’s an impressive rise. We have also recorded the biggest rise in English eligibility among our players,

"Any kids in Peterborough really should be excited about a category two Academy on their doorstep. They get to play against the likes of Leicester City, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa at age group level and there is a clear pathway to our first team.

"One unfortunate side effect of having a really successful academy programme is other clubs notice our kids. Some don’t make it to the end of our programme and get snapped up by other clubs. We do fight tooth and nail to keep them, but if we can’t we are usually compensated pretty well for them.”

Seven of the 24 Posh players who travelled to Portugal for a pre-season training camp had tasted Academy life at the club.

"That’s almost 30% of the squad which is impressive,” Dr Neale added. “And the first goal in the first friendly was scored and made by Academy graduates in Ricky-Jade Jones and Harrison Burrows.

"It was a great experience for me to be out in Portugal with the team. It’s the first time I’ve been able to go. The manager, who did a fantastic job at the back end of last season, put on some really impressive training sessions which were interesting to watch.

"The players worked hard, they looked happy and they had some fun. We have a very good team shaping up, significantly better than the one that won promotion 13 months ago.”