NEW York City Knights chairman Clint Goodchild will meet with RFL officials this week to discuss his ambitions to set up an Academy.

Prior to York’s 32-10 pre-season friendly defeat to Castleford Tigers at the weekend, the club announced that Goodchild, an Australian with a background in business turnaround, had purchased the club from chairman Jon Flatman.

Speaking to The Press, the new Knights chief consistently spoke of his desire to “invest in youth”, believing that that will be the best route to long-term success.

“I think if you look at teams that have struggled to maintain success over a period of time, they’ve probably gone after quick fixes,” said Goodchild.

“I don’t want to fall into that trap, although it’s very enticing because you want that win and for the newspapers to like you and for the fans to go ‘Well done’.

“But if you fall in love with quick wins, you set yourself up for long-term heartache.

“I’d like to take a development approach, to invest in youth and get as many homegrown Yorkshire products in as we can, see what we’ve got in that batch and then add what we need.

“I really want to try and build the right way so that we can have a winning period of substance.”

Asked whether those plans would extend to launching an Academy, Goodchild replied: “That must be part of the process.

“How you take catchment of the talent that’s in the region, that’s something that’s going to need some work to get right.

“But we’ve got the right people to start that process and I think there’s a lot of support out there from the RFL.

“I’ve got a meeting with them this week and that will be one of the focuses, what systems they have in place and what they can offer.

“I’ve just got to learn how to do it because I’ve got a lot to learn.”

Goodchild also expressed his desire to continue the growth of York City Knights Ladies, one of the stand-out success stories of the Flatman tenure.

Last year the team’s fortunes were transformed by England boss Lindsay Anfield, who was appointed as director of rugby, and a number of high-profile new signings.

York went from a side dwelling at the bottom of the Betfred Women’s Super League in 2019 to reach the Super League play-offs and the Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup final last year.

“I think there’s a lot of growth to be had in the women’s game,” said Goodchild.

“It’s obvious that leading into the World Cup, we’d be silly not to look at the fact that there’s eight games here in York, including the two semi-finals.

“To be able to watch the women playing for the Knights in the national colours, for various nations, potentially in a semi-final, that’s a marketing opportunity and a good story to tell, on the back of the growth that the women’s game has already seen, and that’s an area I’m very excited about.

“They’ve done very well in the off-season with their recruitment and, if the bounce of the ball goes in the right way, I think they could go one step better this year.”