Ipswich Town academy director Dmitri Halajko wants club’s youth set-up to achieve category one status

Newly-appointed Ipswich Town academy director Dmitri Halajko has stated that he views progressing the club’s youth set-up to a category one status as an area of priority.

The 44-year-old, who succeeded Dean Wright in the role last month, spent the last two seasons as sporting director at Colchester United, his hometown side, and has also plied his trade at Leicester City and West Ham United.

Halajko has previously worked with Town players Sammie Szmodics, in an earlier spell at Colchester, and Ben Johnson at under-21 level at the Hammers.

When asked what his main priorities at the club are, Halajko, speaking to TownTV, said: “I think one of the big areas will be the progression to cat one.

“That’s something the club have been quite public in saying that’s where they aim to get to.

“At the moment, it’s about establishing a timeline for that, assessing where we are currently.

“I know what cat one looks like, I’ve worked at that level for 10 years, so we’re having a gap analysis of what’s needed to be put in place and then we can put a timeline in place and implement a plan that gets us there.

“At the moment, it’s too early to say what that timeline looks like because I’m still working out where our baseline is, but I know what the destination looks like.

“I think if you work out where you currently are, then it’s quite easy to put the stepping stones in place to hopefully reach that destination.

“That’s the trajectory of travel, the timescale of how we get there and what we need to do at the moment isn’t totally established, but that’s what we’re working towards.”