We believe youth schemes should be judged on their quality, rather than the league in which their first team play.

To this end a group has been formed called Protect Footballs Future, and the mission statement is If a full time Football Club runs a Youth Development Scheme which meets Governing Body Qualitative Criteria, access to funding should be available and player registration should be protected.

The rules at present mean any full time professional club will lose their funding and protection for their youth scheme if their first team are relegated from the Football League. We believe this needs changing.