PREMIER LEAGUE

STAFF
General
43. Each Club which operates an Academy shall establish a staffing structure for its Academy
which shall:
43.1. subject to Rule 44 include the mandatory posts required by this section of the Rules for
the Category applicable to its Academy; and
43.2. have regard to the guidelines and best practice set out in the Elite Player Performance Plan.
44. Save for the Academy Manager and the coaches described in Rules 63 and 64, a Club need not
employ those Academy Staff whose employment is mandatory for the Category of its Academy
pursuant to these Rules provided that the Club is able to demonstrate to the reasonable
satisfaction of the League, the ISO or the PGB (whichever body is appropriate), that its staffing
structure includes the same expertise and achieves the same results as if all the mandatory posts
required by this section of the Rules were filled.
Guidance
The functions covered by the mandatory posts must be delivered by all Clubs operating an Academy. However, the
League acknowledges that Clubs should have flexibility in the organisation of their staffing structure provided that the structure
that is adopted delivers the same outputs and results as if the mandatory posts were filled. By way of example only, instead of
appointing a specific Coach Developer, a Club may instead decide to appoint extra coaches above the mandatory minimum,
and task more than one coach so appointed to spend a certain proportion of their time carrying out the functions of the
Coach Developer.
The exceptions to this are the post of Academy Manager and the coaches set out in Rules 63 and 64: a Club must employ a
Full Time Academy Manager in accordance with Rules 51 to 57 and coaches in accordance with Rules 63 and 64.
45. The Club shall document its staffing structure in an organisational chart which shall:
45.1. show the reporting lines of each member of Academy Staff; and
45.2. be made available to Academy Staff, the League and the ISO.
46. The relationship between a Club and each member of its Academy Staff shall be appropriately
documented by way of:
46.1. an employment contract; or
46.2. a statement of terms of employment pursuant to Section 1 of the Employment Rights
Act 1996; or
46.3. in the case of a non-employee, a contract for services.
47. Each member of Academy Staff shall be given:
47.1. a written job description (which may be contained in the document referred to in Rule 46); and
47.2. an annual performance appraisal.
48. Each Club which operates an Academy shall:
48.1. provide Continued Professional Development to members of Academy Staff where required
to do so pursuant to these Rules; and
48.2. take all reasonable steps to ensure that each member of Academy Staff who is required
by these Rules to undertake Continued Professional Development does so.
Guidance
It is envisaged that CPD will be delivered partly by Clubs and partly externally (e.g. by the Football Association).
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YOUTH DEVELOPMENT RULES