Youth Academy remains a priority

Last updated : 09 December 2009 By Tony Scholes
Director of Youth Martin Dobson
This gave manager Owen Coyle the opportunity to speak and what he had to say left everyone feeling very positive about the future of our club.

He spoke at length about the policy regarding bringing in younger players at Turf Moor from the acquisitions of the likes of the 19-year-old Kevin Long to the younger players Joe McKee and Neil Yadolahi who have arrived from Scotland and the Republic of Ireland respectively to join the youth team.

Coyle said he felt it was his duty to create a long term policy to continue to take the club forward, that he believed that was by building a strong base of young players and he would continue to work closely with Director of Youth Martin Dobson in ensuring that long term future.

Asked about the potential for Burnley Football Club gaining academy status, operational director Brendan Flood took over and said plans had now been drawn up for the building at Gawthorpe and this was a policy that the club wanted to pursue with some urgency and hoped it would be completed within 12 to 18 months.

He said he considered spending available money on this was of a higher priority than the re-purchase of Turf Moor.

Last summer five of our youth team were awarded full time contracts and this season the youth team is recovering after a difficult start to the season cause mainly by injuries. And this further positive news came on the night when we were progressing into the next round of the FA Youth Cup.