BRAY WANDERERS have announced that they will receive major backing from Newcastle United for the club's `School Of Excellence programme' which is set for a major expansion over the coming month.

Launched by the club last year. the programme is aimed at developing young players from an early age through the use of high-quality coaching. Now Wanderers. with the aid of cash and expertise from Newcastle, intend to broaden the geographical area covered so as to attract youngsters from as far afield as south Dublin and Wexford.

"I know we've been relegated, but I can assure you that Bray are better off now than we have ever been," said Wanderers manager Pat Devlin, who along with Kenny Dalglish and Wanderers chairman Philip Hannigan launched the newly-extended scheme yesterday.

Dalglish said that Newcastle are delighted to be able to assist in some small way with something as worthwhile as this".

"We would hope to develop some goodwill with the players brought through so that if they were good enough. they would choose to sign with us, but nothing will be tied up and whether we get anything back out of it in terms of a few players remains to be seen" he said.

Three clubs, St Joseph's (Sallynoggin), Wolfe Tones (Bray) and Arklow have signed up to participate in the scheme so far with several others being considered. Wanderers plan to use the initial funding from Tyneside to expand their coaching staff to 12.

Around 60 under-10 players will be catered for initially with the programme concentrating on youngsters between that age and 16, although there will be some work done on helping older teenagers to develop their game as well.