RUFC - Youth Team Under Threat

Rotherham United are going to have talks today with the Football League in an attempt to save the Millers Youth Programme.

Although the scheme gets money from both the Football League and the Football Association, it is also dependent on the club putting in a certain amount and the Football League may want assurances that the club can keep putting money into the scheme. If the Football League decides to stop putting money into the scheme then the Administrator will have to decide whether to pull the plug on the scheme or not.

Mick Priest, who is Head of Youth at Millmoor told The Advertiser,'It is paramount that Rotherham United keeps its Centre of Excellence. If it goes then we would lose one hundred and twenty good footballers with the majority finding other clubs.'

Priest also said that the club has shown its commitment to the Youth development by ploughing in money to plug the gap that funding delays have left in recent months. 'The clubs' owners continued to put money in to keep us going when the cheques from the FL and FA were late in coming. We are still waiting for two payments from them that were due at the start of the season and one at the end of this season.

'If I'm being honest, I wasn't hopeful about keeping our Centre of Excellence going but the Administrator came in and told us to carry on as normal.'

Mick is due to leave Millmoor at the end of the season but says it is nothing to do with the club going into administration saying, 'I put my notice in before the administration. I am commuting eighteen hours a week and my wife is expecting a baby. So, it's purely a family matter.

'I've loved my time at Rotherham and the Centre of Excellence is so important. It was here a long time before I came and I hope it will be here a long time after I've gone.'