Dr Platts is a sports sociologist and a senior lecturer in sport based in the Academy of Sport and Physical Activity. He undertook a PhD that explored the education and welfare provisions on offer for young professional footballers who sign as scholars between the age of 16 and 18. Building on this, his research is concerned with the study of the lives of elite athletes - mainly, but not exclusively, in professional football.
Expertise:
Recent Coverage:
The Conversation (July 2018)
The road to Russia
BBC Radio 5Live (March 2018)
High attrition rate from academies
The Guardian (March 2018)
High attrition rates in academy football in particular, the trajectory of young males who do not 'make it' in the game.