The NPL Football Academy is delighted to announce that Evo-Stik League newcomers Widnes FC have joined the programme taking the number of clubs to fourteen.
Although clubs normally join 12 months in advance, due to an overflow of recent applicants, Academy officials are confident that the club can kick start a new programme in September 2018.
Chairman Ian Ross is delighted with the news “We were looking to join the NPLFA in September 2019 as one of their intake of new clubs, to get the chance to kick start a new programme this September is excellent news. The NPLFA programme has seen significant growth and we were delighted initially to have been chosen as one of the new clubs for the 2019/20 season. We know all about the NPLFA through their success and as soon as we were promoted to the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League we were interested in developing a programme at Widnes with the leagues education and football programme. After speaking to the organisation, they have been inundated with applications from around our area since September 2017 and we are now on the lookout to form our first group in just seven weeks, a tough task but we are excited to see if we can make that happen”
The newly promoted chairman added,“It suits our club and I would imagine most clubs at our level with the resources we have, to have an organisation manage the whole process and continue managing and dealing with all the requirements of setting up and maintaining such a programme, of course we will contribute and support along the way as we want to attract students to our club and develop a wider community involvement and hopefully potential first team players.”
The new programme will initially be based at the Prescot Soccer Centre and an NPLFA spokesperson said, “Normally we recruit for a full year with new clubs, however we have an overflow of students from that area who wanted to take part in the programme. We feel with those numbers we can kick start a new programme earlier than our normal procedure and the club are very enthusiastic and committed having originally signed up to start in September 2019. Widnes has an excellent catchment area and we are confident in the future they will have an excellent academy in place.”
With a maximum of twenty places available, there are trials taking place every Monday and Wednesday in August from 12pm – 1.30pm at Prescot Soccer Centre, Warrington Road, Prescot, L35 5AD starting Monday 30th July.
To apply, please CLICK HERE.
