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.

JON HUNTER-BARRETT has been promoted to Academy Manager at Wolves, with Laura Nicholls as Head of Academy Operations.

TONY CARSS is leaving Blackburn Rovers after five years to become Under-23s Head Coach at Aston Villa. The Pro Licence Coach, who signed his first pro contract as a player with Blackburn, was appointed Head of Academy Coaching by the club in August 2017.

BOURNEMOUTH have started work on the first phase of development of their new training complex at Canford Magna as they gear up for promotion to Category Two. Work has begun on installing an outside 3G artificial pitch and indoor dome, along with temporary offices for the Academy.

ARSENAL Under-23 Head Coach Kevin Betsy has been appointed manager of League Two Crawley Town, with U18s boss Dan Micciche as his assistant.

SOUTHAMPTON Head of Technical Development Iain Brunnschweiler has revealed that the club use a former SAS solider to help train their young players to become elite.

ALEX OUZOUNOGLOU has left Burnley after a decade to become Head of Athletic Development for the Youth Development Phase (12s to 16s) at Manchester United.

BOLTON WANDERERS have made a number of key appointments as they look to “revive” their Category Three Academy.