Roddy leaves Premier League by mutual consent
Roddy joined the Premier League as Director of Youth in 2009
Written by Simon Austin — September 26, 2017
GED RODDY is leaving the Premier League after eight years following a mutual decision that his role of Director of Football Development “will no longer be required in the medium to long term”.
Roddy, 54, is the architect of the Elite Player Performance Plan, which was introduced in 2012 with the intention of producing more and better homegrown players.
The Plan has been under pressure recently, with Brentford closing their Academy last season and Huddersfield deciding to downgrade from Category Two to Four earlier this month.
However, the Premier League insists Roddy’s departure does not mean EPPP is under threat and that they remain committed to the scheme.
An email issued to Premier League staff yesterday read: “Following a review of the Premier League's entire football function, it has been mutually agreed with Ged Roddy that his current role, Director of Football Development, will no longer be required in the medium to long term.
“Given Ged's renowned passion and commitment, quite understandably, he has decided that he does not want a prolonged departure and will therefore leave in the next few weeks.
“There is nothing about this decision that can in any way detract or diminish from his outstanding achievements, having completely transformed youth development and coaching provision within English professional football since his arrival eight years ago.
“Most recently Ged's role in securing the employment of Heads of Coaching across the majority of professional clubs and developing a new integrated coaching strategy with our partners at the EFL, FA, LMA and PFA leaves the game ideally positioned to produce an ever increasing number of better home-grown players and coaches.
“We thank him and wish him continued success in the next phase of his career.”
Roddy first made his name as Director of Sport at the University of Bath.
After taking on the role in 1992, he oversaw a huge investment in sports facilities, masterminded the creation of Team Bath and played a prominent role when the city hosted the European Youth Olympics in 1995. He was awarded an MBE in 2000 and inducted into the University of Bath's Hall of Fame at the start of this year.
He joined the Premier League in October 2009 as Director of Youth and quickly set about planning the EPPP system, which was introduced in 2012. Last year he took on the new role of Director of Football Development.
In an interview earlier this year he said: “I think the first five years of EPPP have brought a lot of good things but we’ve still got a huge amount of work to do to reach the next level. It’s not perfect and we didn’t get everything right but the lessons are being learned.”
