photo credit: adam.haworth

Clarets chief executive Paul Fletcher spoke out against the Premier League’s Elite Player Performance Plan this week, warning that it will stop fans enjoying the talents of home-grown football stars.

Fletcher spoke out after Football League clubs voted the plan through – a move which he personally voted against. Under the scheme, Premier League clubs will be able to obtain the best players for a fraction of the current rate, and the current tribunal system will be replaced with a less flexible compensation package.

He told the Lancashire Telegraph that he was “concerned about two things – firstly, kids who could have been professional footballers could end up on the scrapheap; secondly our supporters won’t see these kids coming through. Youth development has been an ethos and a brand at Burnley Football Club for many, many years and this threatens that.”

“I want these young players to be viewed by Burnley supporters for two or three years once we have developed them, not be cherry-picked by the bigger clubs who then may not even develop that player to play in their first team.”

Sadly, the vote was 46-22 in favour of the change, after the Premier League strongarmed clubs by threatening to pull the £5million-plus in funding that lower league clubs receive each year for youth development.

Daniel Coysh