FORMER Claret Graham Branch has hailed youth team chiefs Terry Pashley and Vince Overson as the unsung heroes of the club.

Youth team coach Pashley and head of youth development Overson are responsible for nurturing the likes of Chris McCann, Kyle Lafferty and Burnley's newest professional Jay Rodriguez.

And he believes staff such as the youth duo are the lifeblood of clubs like Burnley.

"Terry Pashley and Vince Overson are very important people.

"If they can keep bringing a couple of players along and blooding them into the first team it can keep a club going," said Branch, whose eight-and-a-half-year spell with the Clarets came to an end earlier this month.

"When I was at Tranmere, the youth team manager there brought through a lot of quality players, and people like that are worth their weight in gold.

"And that's a lot of gold for Terry and Vince because they're big people!"