- Burnley academy boss resigns after WhatsApp gaffe
- He reportedly sent a scathing report about players to the wrong group.
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Burnley’s academy director has reportedly resigned after fiercely criticising the club’s players and then accidentally sending his report to the wrong WhatsApp group.
Dave Longwell took over last November to guide the club’s young players as the first team played in the Premier League under Vincent Kompany.
But he has now left his post after less than a year because he inadvertently sent his scathing report, which criticises Kompany and the first team, to the Under-21s rather than an agent, as reported The sun.
A source told The Sun: ‘He wrote a report that was quite scathing about many members of the first team.
‘It seems like it was written for an agent because there was a lot of detail about how much he thought each player was worth.
Burnley academy director resigns after sending scathing report to wrong WhatsApp group
Dave Longwell’s report was critical of the players and also appeared to show his frustration with former manager Vincent Kompany (pictured)
Burnley were relegated from the Premier League after just one year in the top flight last season.
‘He sent it via WhatsApp but he sent it to the Under-21 players so that the first team and the manager would find out.
“It’s a rather indiscreet document, so I think he was arrested and the only possible way out was for him to leave the club.”
In his report, Longwell offered his honest assessment of the current squad, in which he criticised the players and also appeared to question some of Kompany’s signings. Kompany, a former four-time Premier League champion, left the club to join Bayern Munich, with Scott Parker replacing him in the dugout at Turf Moor.
Longwell wrote: ‘It’s not easy to number it as there are so many subjective parts – how much they cost, current injury, age etc.
‘There are a lot of players and Vinny signed a lot at the Champ and then more when they got promoted to the Prem and then he had more difficulties again in January and then more again in the summer.
“The big problem is that they can’t get players with the money they spent and they’ve become a mess with so many players and Vinny who signed them has left.”
Longwell then went into specific detail about each player, describing one as “lazy/bad attitude”, insisting another was a “big waste of money” and adding that one star was “too far away in the Premier League and too weak for England”.
Scott Parker is Burnley’s new manager, but Longwell is no longer academy boss
Three other players were singled out for their “strange athleticism,” for being “a crazy guy and a mess,” and for being “trash.”
Burnley’s director of football development, Paul Jenkins, wrote to parents of academy players on Monday to inform them that Longwell’s resignation had been accepted.
Burnley lasted just one season in the Premier League before being relegated under Kompany earlier this year.
Back in the championship, they have picked up six points from their first three games.
