The Football League - Reverse the Decision to Implement EPPP

On 20th October, 2011, The Football League (chaired by Greg Clarke) decided to go ahead with the implementation of EPPP (Elite Player Performance Plan). Whilst this will have great benefits to all teams lucky enough to be blessed with a Category One Academy, the rest of the teams (all 72 league teams + many from the Premier League) will suffer as the Category One's can 'buy' young, Academy players at a fraction of the current market value. Here's a snippet from Sky Sports which details the plan succinctly: "The deal will see the current Academy system scrapped in favour of each club's youth set-up being categorised on four different levels. Category One will the be the highest but to achieve this it will cost around £2.5million, must include 18-full time members of staff and there must also be residential provision. The EPPP will also see the current tribunal system, which is used when the buying and selling club cannot agree a fee for the transfer of a player aged under 17, scrapped in favour of a fixed compensation scheme. This will mean in principal a selling club will be paid £3,000 per year for every year of a player's development between the ages of nine and 11. The fee per year from 12 to 16 will depend on the selling club's academy status but ranges between £12,500 and £40,000. It means that for a Category One club to sign any player Under-17 it will cost at most £100,000. The ruling over a player not being allowed to join a club more than an hour's drive away has also been scrapped, meaning clubs can now sign any youngster from around the country. However, clubs in Category Three and Four can no longer sign players before the age of 12. The Premier League had threatened to withhold their current funding to the Football League's youth programme which equates to more than £5million per season. " We, the undersigned, believe this is not in the interest of the majority of Football clubs and their fans. Nor, despite it's initial promise, will it be to the betterment of the National game. The result will be richer clubs pooling the best talent at the expense of poorer, smaller clubs.