Following a club review of the sustainability of the women’s and girls’ programme, Saints plan to drop class from Category One to Category Two.
The club’s Category One academy status in the men’s game is unaffected.
The move will reduce the number of full-time staff and players enrolled within the girls’ programme, eliminating some positions and teams entirely.
Girls, set to join or be retained by the under-12s, under-11s and under-10s for the new season, had offers made in May withdrawn via video call this week.
An email to parents, seen by the Daily Echo, said: “The club remains committed to women’s football and to providing opportunities for female players to develop and progress.
There will be fewer girls’ academy staff and teams based at Staplewood as of next season (Image: PA)
“These changes should not be seen as a step away from the women’s game, but rather an attempt to create a structure that can be supported responsibly and sustainably in the years ahead.
“We recognise this uncertainty may be difficult for players and families, and we are committed to communicating openly and directly with those affected as plans develop further.”
In the women’s game, Category One academies are required to operate under-21s and under-16s groups, while Category Two only require under-21s.
As part of the restructure, Saints are moving their existing under-16s, as well as under-15s and under-14s, into an Emerging Talent Centre set-up.
While under-16s teams in Category One academies are provided 8-12 hours of development time a week, ETCs are required to provide only 1.5 hours.
Saints maintain that the move is not linked to the performance of the men’s first-team, but is the result of a wider sustainability review at Staplewood.
Since 2022, the Premier League have provided funding for ETCs – initially £1.75million a year – shared among 70 centres to increase girls’ opportunities.
Ultimately, the funding is not enough to cover every age group.
Because of this, the under-12, under-11 and under-10 groups that were previously within the ETC have been scrapped, with players’ offers withdrawn.
Staff will be reduced as Category One academies must employ a full-time academy manager, operations manager, under-21s head coach and player care lead.
However, Category Two academies are only required to employ an academy manager full-time, with part-time positions satisfactory for the other three roles.
Category One academies are also required to employ a part-time under-16s head coach and assistant coaches, whereas Category Two clubs are not.
The news is a blow to the women and girls’ programme at Saints, following a string of homegrown talents recently representing the first team.
Since the reformation of the women’s programme in 2017, homegrown Lucia Kendall, Ella Morris and Kayla Rendell have received England call-ups.
England international Lucia Kendall is a product of the development pathway system at Saints (Image: PA)
All three have moved on to play for Women’s Super League teams, but Meg Collett and Milly Mott remain established first-team players at Saints.
Saints advertised trials to join the pathway as recently as March, with youngsters offered the places – that have now been withdrawn – in mid-May.
Players are free to contact other ETC’s to find a place elsewhere, with the FA registration period not opening until July 1, but many fear they may be left without a club due to missing trials in the meantime.
Concerns have been raised over the manner of the communication from the club to parents, with the news delivered via a short virtual call on Monday.
Saints say this was the most practical method to deliver the news to a large group of parents, with parent reps available to liaise with some age groups.
For ETC age groups where there are no parent reps, under-12s, under-11s and under-10s, a general email address has been made available for questions.
Parents were told they “may not receive a direct response”, with the plan rather to send out a group response with a selection of questions answered.