Premier League development chief Ged Roddy, responsible for bringing in EPPP, leaves by 'mutual consent'

Premier League youth supremo Ged Roddy is leaving his post as the league’s director of football development.

Roddy has overseen the introduction of the Elite Player Performance Programme (EPPP) across the top level of English football this decade.

But following a review of the Premier League’s football department, Roddy is departing, in a decision that the Premier League has described as mutual between itself and Roddy. Premier League staff and the 20 clubs were informed of Roddy’s departure on Monday afternoon.

Roddy, who was awarded an MBE in 2000 for his contribution to sport, had been trying to tighten up restrictions on transfers from one Category 1 academy to another as part of continuing reforms to EPPP system brought in in 2011.

EPPP was brought in to raise standards in academy football in England but has been criticised for making it too easy for the big clubs to sign the best youngsters. EPPP allows the Category One academies to sign youngsters from more than 90 minutes away, which many of the biggest clubs have taken advantage of.

This year there have been two very high profile cases of Category One academies illegally ‘tapping up’ boys from other academies. In April Liverpool were fined £100,000 and banned from signing academy players for two years for making an illegal approach to a youngster from Stoke City. Then in May Manchester City were given a £300,000 fine and a two-year ban from signing players between the ages of 10 and 18 who had been registered with another Premier League or Football League club over the past 18 months. The second year of that ban is suspended.