THE only injury that the young players at Burnley will be fearing at the moment is trench foot as the dreadful weather of the past week caused more problems for Terry Pashley's players.

The youth team has not played a game since the middle of last month following the latest postponement, Saturday's home game against Rochdale being put back because of a waterlogged pitch at Gawthorpe.

The muddy and heavy pitches have forced Pashley and his players either inside or on to the artificial pitch as they try to battle against the elements.

The youngsters who have been making an impact in the reserves this season were also frustrated last week when the second string's game was called off.

The game against Oldham Athletic that was called off the previous weekend has now been rearranged and will take place at the club's Gawthorpe training ground on Monday February 18, kick off 2.15pm, weather permitting of course.

Meanwhile the subject of setting up an academy at Turf Moor was on the agenda at the Clarets Foundation Fans' Forum last week.

Manager Stan Ternent repeated his wish to see one established in the near future and chief executive Andrew Watson is backing him although he said: "It costs a lot of money but we would love to do it.

"Nowadays it is essential to get young players coming through, that is part of Burnley's tradition. We have done a lot of soul searching but you need a lot of cash to get these things going.

"Just running the academy for a year would cost about £450,000 and before that we would need £1million to develop Gawthorpe.

"We do feel having an academy is the way to go and we have done as well as we can as a club with limited resources. It is a question of balancing our finances.

"But it is hard to persuade kids to come to Burnley when we don't have the academy that so many other clubs do now."

Ternent had earlier told almost 300 members that if the club does achieve its dream of promotion to the Premier League, having a football academy is a pre-requisite.

"I'd love to have an academy, I'd love to attract better kids but it all takes time.

"The aim is to get into the Premiership, have an academy and get back to where the club was in the 60s."