Steve Waggott says a Category One Academy remains integral to Rovers’ plans moving forward – with player development even more key following Brexit.

Waggott says there is space at the current Academy training base at Brockhall to incorporate the first-team as well as the Academy, with Rovers looking to consolidate both training centres into one.

That would see the current Senior Training Centre sold off for housing to help finance the development, with Rovers have submitted a screening opinion application to Ribble Valley Borough Council. The club’s chief executive says that is the first stage of the process in their plans to merge their two training bases.

A sketch of a design and access statement has circulated online, with Waggott describing that as ‘broad brush’ plans, mapping out the boundaries for which Rovers can work. The current Academy base is on greenfield land, which is why it is there, rather than the Senior Training Centre, where the one-size-fits-all training base is planned.

To facilitate the requirements of a Category One Academy, Waggott says the build would need to be two storeys, and as a result of losing the Senior Training Centre, he says there would be a loss of three training pitches.

The first-team have trained at the Academy base at times, on the main ‘show pitch’ used by the Under-18s for matchdays and by the Under-23s on occasion, though all their matches this season have been at the Lancashire FA headquarters at Leyland.

Asked about the plans, and loss of pitches, Waggott said: “We have got space down at the Academy but it's down to how we configure it.

“We have to configure it first of all is that it's a Category One requirement to do certain things. At the moment, the devil is in the detail with that but we'd also need the design of the building in square meters, which will probably be two storeys for classrooms, gyms and everything else.

“That's the detail that's got to be fleshed out. I think there is a way. We would lose some of the surfaces but it's also the timetable and the programme of different things. To maintain the Category One status, which is vital, we have to make sure we tick all the boxes for that, that's number one.

“So that's our aspiration, obviously a lot more detail will follow but this is first base. Can we get an agreement in principle which is what I would like so that as and when, when we're in an economic position to do so? It won't be tomorrow, it will be in the future.

“If we get into a higher level status, which is tough to achieve to get to the Premier League but that would trigger it with the money I think, if you get to that level you have to invest in your team of course to be competitive but the infrastructure is a real legacy.

“It's very similar to what Jack Walker did many years ago. I want to be optimistic for the club, I want to keep progressing the club and I'm going to be pushing on all fronts. I'll get knock backs, of course I will and there will be other things but I really want to start pushing the club forward to where we need to.”

Ryan Nyambe, Darragh Lenihan and Lewis Travis, as well as Joe Rankin-Costello, Scott Wharton and John Buckley have all graduated through the club’s Category One Academy.

To continue to be operate as a Category One Academy there are strict requirements centring around contact hours with players, facilities and coaching staff, all of which Rovers must be mindful of when submitting plans for a new training base. They include an indoor 4G pitch and outdoor floodlit pitch, all of which are currently situated at the Senior Training Centre.

Rovers have a productive stream of players coming through their Academy, but have also invested in European scouting during Tony Mowbray’s time in charge. That resulted in the signing of Belgian goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski in the summer from AA Gent, but overseas signings will now be based upon a points-based criteria after the United Kingdom left the European Union. 

And Waggott says that will see more clubs turn to their own Academies to nurture talent for the first-team.

He added: “We've got the coaching model now in place, we've been recruiting a certain level of coaches to accelerate the progress down to the Academy.

“Category One is really, really important to me and it's an integral part of this process and so all I've done now is two linked pre-planning applications which is trying to establish in principle with Ribble Valley Borough council and the parish council of Brockhall and Old Langho, if we were to build this new centre with all teams under one roof down at the bottom site where the Academy currently is, would it be possible to cross-finance that with a development of a residential site, up to 170 dwellings, but in principle could we agree that as a way forward.

“If you stand still in football you start going backwards. Through Brexit, we need to have a greater focus on local player development as the countries with the points system that we want to shop in, all of the Premier League are in there now so that market has contracted a lot for us.

“We have to try and move forward to try and bring in the best young talent we can. Be smart about it and then develop them as quickly as we can through to the first-team.”