What difference category one status will make for Burnley FC's academy

That’s one of the biggest advantages of the Clarets achieving category one status, three years on from being downgraded.

Following an audit, the Professional Game Academy Audit Company (PGAAC) recognised the very best environment for player development, including elite coaching, excellent performance support, high-quality facilities and strategically focussed development.

Earning category one status means the club’s professional development phase teams will now compete against the country’s best youth academies in PL2 and the Under-18 Premier League respectively next season.

The news was welcomed by academy boss Chris Casper, son of Clarets legend Frank.

"It’s a really big achievement for the club,” he told Clarets+.

"We’ll now be playing in the elite leagues of the Premier League and Premier League 2 and it gives us a chance to challenge ourselves against the best teams in the country.

"It’s an exciting time for everyone involved, the players, the staff and everyone at the club.

"You have to go through a very stringent auditing process covering all aspects of the club and the academy, so coaching, education, player care, safeguarding, performance support and it identifies that we’re at a level that is category one, which is the best in the country.

"That’s very significant for the club, because it identifies that what we have in place is very good at this moment in time.”

While regaining category one status is a huge step forward for the club, there’s still plenty more work to be done.

"Hopefully we can get more players into the first-team, that’s the main objective,” Casper added.

"We have to start developing more of our own players and raise that productivity figure.

"There’s some exciting players coming through and that’s what it’s about. We want to give the fans something to cheer about.

"Everyone wants to see homegrown players, because they’ve got a connection with the club and that’s what ultimately the fans want to see.

"I’m really positive about the future. Getting this category one is probably just the start of it. Now we’ve got to make sure we continue the good work and continue to build and move forward.”