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Burnley academy manager 'resigns after WhatsApp blunder'

Burnley's academy manager has reportedly resigned after fiercely criticising the club's players and then accidentally sending his report to the wrong WhatsApp group.

Dave Longwell took up his position last November to guide the club's young players while the first team were playing in the Premier League under Vincent Kompany.

But he has now left his role after less than a year due to inadvertently sending his scathing report - which criticises Kompany and the first team - to the Under 21s rather than an agent, as reported by The Sun.

A source told The Sun: 'He wrote this report which was pretty scathing about quite a few of the first team.

'It looks like it was written for an agent because there was a lot of detail about how much he thought each player was worth.

Dave Longwell's report was critical of the players and also appeared to show his frustration with former manager Vincent Kompany (pictured)

'He sent it on WhatsApp but sent it to the Under-21 players so the first team and the manager found out.

'It is a pretty indiscreet document so I believe he was hauled in and the only available outcome was that he would leave the club.'

Longwell's report saw him give his honest assessment of the current squad where he slammed the players and also appeared to question some of Kompany's signings. Former four-time Premier League winner Kompany has since left the club to join Bayern Munich, with Scott Parker replacing him in the dugout at Turf Moor.

Longwell wrote: 'This is not easy to number as so many subjective parts re - what they cost, current injury, age, etc.

'There are so many players as well as Vinny signed a lot in the Champ then more when promoted to the Prem and then as struggling more again in January and then more again in the summer.

'Big issue they can’t get players out for the finance they spent and it’s been left a mess with that many players and Vinny who signed them left.'

Longwell then went into specific details on each player, describing one as 'lazy/not good attitude, insisting another was a 'big waste of money', and adding that one star was 'miles off it in the Premier League and too weak for England'.

Three other players were singled out for their 'strange athletic shape', being a 'disaster - mad guy', and being 'rubbish'.

Burnley's director of football development, Paul Jenkins, wrote to the parents of the academy players on Monday to inform them that Longwell's resignation had been accepted.

Burnley lasted just one season back in the Premier League before being relegated under Kompany earlier this year.

Back in the Championship, they have taken six points from their opening three matches. 

Source: dailymail.co.uk

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