Cobh Ramblers have announced that the club is entering into a strategic partnership with Premier League side Burnley.
The SSE Airtricity League First Division outfit are one of four clubs to team up with Burnley.
Irish Premiership side Portadown, Scottish Championship club Ayr United and Welsh side Llandudno will also become partner clubs of the Premier League side.
The partnerships are set to support the development of young players and coaches, and help with the identification and progression of talent in the four regions.
The most talented young players from each club will travel to Burnley on a regular basis for football camps and assessment.
It could also see some of Burnley’s academy players move to Cobh Ramblers on loan in order to gain first-team experience.
Chairman of Cobh Ramblers, Bill O'Leary said: "This partnership with one of the founding members of the Football League in England is one we are particularly excited about.
"We, as a club, are ambitious and are positioning ourselves for growth and view this alliance as a key part of our strategy.
"Burnley are a club we admire greatly in terms of its ethos and performance both on and off the field, and there are learnings for us.
"Commercially and otherwise there are mutually beneficial opportunities which we can work on together in real demonstrable ways, and the timing is appropriate for many reasons."
"Poignantly, as we celebrate our Centenary in 2022, we remember those who founded our club and modelled our colours on Burnley’s league winning side of 1920-21."
🤝 Cobh Ramblers to enter into strategic partnership with @BurnleyOfficial https://t.co/HwDDolURQp
— Cobh Ramblers FC (@CobhRamblersFC) May 20, 2021
Alan Pace, Chairman of Burnley added: "This is an exciting opportunity for us to grow Burnley’s footprint and profile in every corner of the British Isles and benefit from working with some fantastic clubs on our doorstep.
"We look forward to developing a strong working relationship with Ayr United, Cobh Ramblers, Portadown and Llandudno which will no doubt benefit the clubs, the coaches and
their players for many years to come.
"This is very much the first step in our plans to expand the football network of Burnley, build the relevance of our club beyond the North West of England and ensure that Burnley’s academy continues to be a high-performance hotbed for future first team players and international footballers.
"The development of coaches will be central to Burnley’s work at the partner clubs – the club will provide hands-on support in creating best practice structures to implement professional coaching in line with Burnley’s Category 1 Premier League academy.
"Long-term, the goal of the strategic partnerships is to create player pathways into the Premier League for the best players."
