Hereford United manager Simon Davey has vowed to snap up talented young footballers in a 60-mile radius of the city.

“It’s a bugbear that children from the local area are signing for other clubs,” said Davey.

“We don’t want them going to Shrewsbury or Cheltenham or bigger clubs like Manchester United. We want them to sign for Hereford United.

“We have to make sure that the best nine or 10 year olds in a 60-mile radius of Hereford are coming to Hereford United’s Centre of Excellence and playing in our first team in eight or nine years time. It’s paramount that we have an elite programme to produce the next generation of Hereford United players.”

United were due to meet Football League officials this week to discuss plans to re-open their Centre of Excellence.

United lost their Centre of Excellence in 1998 and new boss Davey wants to revive it in the summer of 2011.

“When I came in and sat down with David Keyte and Tim Russon that was one of the things that was big on our agenda,” said Davey.

“I have been an academy manager and a Centre of Excellence manager and worked with nine,10 and 11 year olds.

“I have run a youth development programme at two Championship clubs and I am in the right place to recruit people to make sure the job is done properly.”

Davey says he will be recruiting a Centre of Excellence manager with previous experience in the role.

“We need UEFA A Licence coaches to run the Centre of Excellence and we will also have to recruit an under-18 coach who has coached at that level.

“We would need two staff per age group, a Centre of Excellence manager, an assistant centre manager who could double up as under-18 manager and a physiotherapy department. The staff have to be right and that’s the process we will be going through over the next six or seven months.”

Davey said United would be running a Football Development Centre this season.

“In the first year we will probably run half the age groups and the plan would be to push towards running the full programme next year from 9 through to 18.

“The Development Centre this year will act as a feeder into the Centre of Excellence.”

Davey said United would need a facility where the young players could train two to three nights a week and an area with two pitches.

“When it is fully operational we will be picking up children at seven and eight years old and running teams at under-nine through to under-18 levels,” he said.

“We will also have a scouting network looking to recruit young players in a 60-mile radius of the city.

“We won’t discard anyone who writes in to request a trial and, if we can find the next David Beckham in Hereford, it would be fanastic.”

l United’s Football Development Centre will run teams this season from under-eight to under-16 levels. Teams will play six matches this term.

For more details, call 01432 341065 or e-mail: communitytrust2@herefordunited.co.uk