THE Premier League big boys have been told to stump up cash to grassroots clubs.
A delegation from Didsbury-based Fletcher Moss Rangers have met with north-east outfit Wallsend Boys Club as they bid to ramp up pressure on the Prem giants.
Rangers count the likes of Danny Welbeck, Wes Brown and Marcus Rashford among their former players while Wallsend famously produced stars including Alan Shearer, Peter Beardsley and Michael Carrick.
Both clubs rely heavily on donations, sponsorship and constant fundraising to pay for what they do, while seeking grants to cover the cost of establishing and improving their facilities.
But Fletcher Moss development officer Dave Horrocks says there should be a system in place which rewards community clubs for the work they do in producing stars of the future.
Horrocks said: "Now if a club like Newcastle, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, whoever, if they have got a player as an Under-9, they should pay something back to that club.
“If they stay in the system as an Under-10, they should pay something again. Under-11, pay something again.
"That should stay there for as long as they are in the club system, until they retire from football all together because we have had the gumption to run the organisation and be out there all God's hours to develop these kids in the first place.
"At the moment, you have got the FA, you have got the Premier League, you have got FIFA, all these organisations are wearing blinkers.
"I know we are not giving them the Academy training, but they don't just appear on Academy grounds, they are here at the grassroots, they are here being worked with by people who are putting time in day in, day out within an organisation.”
Wallsend benefited from FIFA's solidarity payment system, under which clubs which developed players between their 12th and 23rd birthdays are due a share of five per cent of the fee in international transfers.
As a result of, Fraser Forster's return to English football when he moved from Celtic to Southampton provided them with a small injection.
But there is no cash relationship between professional and grassroots clubs when the former look to recruit from the latter at age-group levels, despite the fact that movement between academies can trigger payments running into thousands of pounds.
Ian Riley, football development officer at Wallsend, said: "With the money that goes into the Premier League, ideally what I'd like to see is every Premier League club have, say £1m, and each year, they would share that amount between local clubs.
"At the end of the day, I know Newcastle aren't producing players from the area, but they are still taking the best talent."
Wallsend fear they could lose six members of their current Under-11s team to Newcastle, while Fletcher Moss do not have an Under-14s team this season because Rochdale signed seven of last season's Under-13s after initially asking to take the entire squad.
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