Tranmere Rovers chairman Mark Palios admits they're seeking closer ties with Liverpool and Everton to boost their squad plans.
Eager to make the most of their Merseyside links, loan deals for Everton and Liverpool's brightest youngsters are now being pursued.
Rovers' intentions in this department were laid bare after securing a season-long loan for Liverpool forward Paul Glatzel, which they followed up by securing the services of Blues midfielder Lewis Warrington last month.
Palios told the Liverpool Echo: “When we first came in, the issue was that we were struggling in League Two and then fell into the National League for three years.
“At that time, although people thought we would get the benefit of Everton and Liverpool being on our doorstep, the issue was not to do with our desire to bring players in but rather they didn't want to come to non-league.
“It was a question of being realistic and waiting until we got back into the Football League.
"Once we got back in and then got to League One, we quickly got into a position whereby you start to say 'We should be able to attract players out of the under-23s system'.
“Over a period of time, we were migrating out of our own academy system and we've got our last year of that this year.
"We're trying to focus on a development area much closer to the first-team squad, rather than having this massive gap to jump from the academy system. I've never been a fan of the academy system for Tranmere – it may work for other clubs but, for us, it doesn't.
“One of the things you do in the second phase of a turnaround is to extract organic potential and part of the organic potential for us is we have two massive Premier League clubs right on our doorstep.
“I know that there has always been a relationship between the clubs. When I came through, it happened to be a stronger bond with Liverpool. When I moved on from the club as a player, the relationship with Everton became a lot closer.
“We've always had a better relationship with Liverpool since I've been here as chairman as it is multifaceted.
"There is the existing agreement we have with the Women's team, which sees them using our training facilities and playing at our ground, and there are also the pre-season friendlies between the clubs.
“The relationship with Everton, we would hope can develop. We are talking to them about the community work they do because they're a very good community club, so we try to cooperate with them on that. This is a key area we think we can both benefit from."
