STOCKPORT COUNTY have been awarded Category Three Academy status for 2022/23 after returning to the Football League for the first time in 11 years.

JACK WILSHERE has returned to Arsenal as Under-18s Head Coach, with Mehmet Ali promoted to U21s lead.

ALL Premier League clubs must have at least a Category Three Academy by the start of the 2024/25 season following new regulations.

JOHN EBBRELL has taken up the new position of Player Development Senior Coach at Everton's Academy. The former Toffees midfielder has held the dual role of Head of Academy Coaching and Under-23s assistant at the club since November 2020.

THE Premier League has launched pre-Academy regulations aimed at “clearly distinguishing” this age group from the official Academy programme that starts at Under-9s.

ALL Premier League and EFL clubs have been asked to give a three-year “commitment of support” to released Academy players under new rules passed by the Premier League.

JUAN FLORIT, the Head of Projects at La Liga, tells TGG about the 10-year plan to improve Spanish Academies, which are already regarded as among the very best in Europe.

BURNLEY'S Academy is set to be demoted to Category Two status and West Brom's placed into 'special measures' following a meeting of the Professional Game Board last week - but Nottingham Forest have been granted a one-year Category One licence pending a further inspection by auditors.

GARETH PROSSER has been appointed as the new Academy Director of Everton. The move reunites him with Director of Football Kevin Thelwell, with whom he worked at both Derby and Wolves.

JAY SPEARING is returning to Liverpool after nine years to become a player-coach with their Academy.

PREMIER LEAGUE 2 will change to an Under-21 competition from next season. PL2 has been for U23s since the start of the 2016/17 season, but the Premier League said the rule change would “reflect the reality of the players in the competition”, whose average age is 19.

MARK DEMPSEY will lead Manchester United’s Under-23s next season, with Paul McShane as his assistant in a ‘flexible’ new coaching structure.