Turf Titbits

Some news about the Clarets that you may have missed amongst all the transfer rumours

Look out for the Fixtures

These will be coming out on the 16th June. We will link to the full list on the Official Site as soon as they are available. Silly copyright laws prevent us from providing you with the full list on our own site (Yes,I know it's pathetic!) but we are able to give you an indication of an opening game or two and the dates when we play out local rivals (Preston & Blackpool)

Youth Policy is changing at Turf Moor

Brendan Flood has been speaking about the John Cofie affair and how it has now changed his thinking on the youth policy at Turf Moor.

'Our best prospect is to focus on the 16 upwards age group, both here and abroad, because with under-16s we are always going to get them stolen off us. The John Cofie thing certainly made me aware of what the risks are in relying on that pipeline.'

This explains the thinking behind the club going to America and the appointment of Billy Bingham in Ireland to look for young talent over there.

'The USA got into the last eight of the World Cup in 2002. Give it another few years, they'll be in the final. I've no doubt they are going to be one of the leading nations in soccer in the next decade, and if we're in with the right people, we might all look back and think this is a blessed decision. We've got to try things and think beyond Lancashire.

'We're trying to get the strategic youth planning, and we're not quite finished yet after this, but probably by the start of next season we will be, and we hope then that should produce a conveyor belt of two or three players a year coming through, as opposed to one every few years.

'Short-term fans might just want to win every game and go up, which we all do, but you've got to look realistically from our position as board directors, we've got to be long-term thinkers. If we don't prepare for the next decade, we'll find somewhere halfway through that we fall behind, and we'll suffer for it.

'So I think we've taken a view that we've got to invest in conduits for good players to come out of, and good relationships for us to learn as a club, and then that might make it easier to compete with the very big clubs, who've got much more resources. And this might make us more attractive as a club.'

Flood on the US Tour

'When we're on tour, we will be looking. There are three players who will be playing against us that the guys over there think are Championship quality, so we'll be seeing how they perform, and if they do well and impress Owen Coyle, we might bring some back.

'It's being open-minded about prospecting like that. If you've got a lad playing against Chris McCann, who's one of the great young hopes for Burnley in the Championship, and he outplays Chris, you might say he's one we've got to take back. By going on these tours we get a real measure of the quality.'

All about the Reserves!

The Clarets will again have a Reserves team in the Central League Division One West and look set to continue playing their home games at Stanley's Fraser Eagle Stadium.

There will however be two fewer teams in the League with Chester & Wrexham no longer involved.

The League will therefore comprise of nine other teams, Accrington Stanley, Blackpool, Bury, Carlisle United, Manchester City, Morecambe, Preston North End, Rochdale and Tranmere Rovers.




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