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EDIT: It appears that the forum thread was deleted. Probably a similar situation to the kit leak photos where someone shared some pictures that they weren't supposed to share. You can still read what I think about our training facility and EPPP, though!
When the Elite Player Performance Plan, better known as EPPP, was approved, Tottenham Hotspur did not have one of the elite youth academies in the country. It's going to take a change in recruiting and coaching for things to turn around completely, but they're going to have a much easier time recruiting top-notch youth players and youth coaches with the construction of their new Bulls Cross youth academy and training facility.
Some academy players are already using the new facilities, while everyone else should move permanently from Spurs Lodge to Bulls Cross just before the start of the new Premier League season. A member over at the Vital Football Spurs forums got a chance to go there and take a ton of pictures, and I suggest you go check them out. The facility cost an estimated £50m, and the pictures make it look like it was well worth the money.
The long-term payoff from building something like this, especially considering the changes to youth development in England with the new EPPP rules, is almost certainly going to justify the money spent building it. Because of the abolition of the "90-minute rule", which stated that academies were only allowed to sign young players if they lived within 90 minutes of the training facility, Spurs needed to upgrade their facilities significantly to attract the best young players.
A lot of EPPP's rules are also absolutely ridiculous, but in a way that favors Category-A academies, which Tottenham will be in the very near future. It's very easy for the top-tier academies to poach young players from lower level academies without paying large fees in compensation. It's brutal for broke Football League clubs trying to keep their best youngsters, but enough of their member clubs voted for EPPP to put it into place. The other big clubs are probably going to be doing this. Don't hate the player, hate the game.
In any event, I'm really thrilled that the team is investing in bricks and mortar (and grass). If Tottenham want to compete with the big boys, they needed this.
