Sir Alex Ferguson's call for English academy changes

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has had his calls for
radical changes to the coaching of young players in academies approved
by the Premier League.

According to News of the World, the Elite Performance Plan was approved
by chairmen at an end-of-season meeting, and paves the way for top
English clubs to match and even surpass the so-called Barcelona model of
training youngsters.



The current system, where the coaching of players is limited to 2,000
hours between the ages of 10 and 18 has been amended to allow players to
be coached for up to 10,000 hours.

In addition, the rule that players have to live within 90 minutes of
their clubs has been scrapped altogether, although the issue of
compensation for clubs from lower divisions for their youngsters is
still to be resolved.

The changes proposed by Ferguson will come into force at the start of the 2012-13 season.

Fine Shagger wrote:So when Mourinho, Wenger and Benitez agree it needs to be changed nothing happens yet when Fergie says it must be changed it is.

paves the way for top
English clubs to match and even surpass the so-called Barcelona model of
training youngsters.

Fine Shagger wrote:So when Mourinho, Wenger and Benitez agree it needs to be changed nothing happens yet when Fergie says it must be changed it is.

Dan wrote:Liverpool fans might have got frustrated at the time by Rafa Benitez’s love of signing 16 and 17-year-old kids, but his policy will pay dividends in the long-term. That’s according to Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola.

The Champions League-winning coach reckons the Reds’ Academy could soon rival Barca’s own production line.

Guardiola is quoted as telling Catalan radio: “Liverpool Academy is the only one who can compete at "La Masia". If they can manage those lads, then maybe 20 star players can arrive from that academy.”

Filippo Inzaghi wrote:

paves the way for top
English clubs to match and even surpass the so-called Barcelona model of
training youngsters.