Our reserves/youth sides chances if they were entered into football league

We seem to be doing well across the board at the minute and our youth set up is winning rave reviews at the minute.

I was thinking about how well a team consisting of our youth/reserve players would do if they were thrown into the cut and thrust of League 1 or championship football. bearing in mind their age many of them are on the fringes of the first team at present, sammy, harris, Tav etc. The old mantra seems to ring true more than ever these days that if you're good enough you're old enough.

How well could you see a youth/reserve side consisting of the following doing?

Elliot

Tavernier Henderson Kadar Dummet

Gosling Campbell Abeid Ferguson

Sameobi Vukic

The likes of Campbell and Fergie might struggle due to being a bit lightweight but they both seem to have enough guile and ability about them to go far from what i've seen and read. then you have the likes of JJ Hooper and Yven Moyo who are also being praised highly too.

personally i think they would have a bumpy start until they sort of 'manned up' getting a bit of a battering until they were a bit more used to the bustle but i think that looks a pretty strong first XI on paper and they could really blossom into a fantastic side given a few seasons to mature together.

what do you reckon? how would they fair and could they survive the championship for example?

 

There's no out and out striker in that with Sameobi and Vuckic but it looks a good team

 

I dunno i sort of see them migrating to be more full time strikers to be honest. once sammy fills out a bit he'll be a bit too big to be a winger. his kid made the same transition. and harris is a big lad for his age and has a good eye for goal.

 

I think we would struggle with a small ginger striker playing central midfield

 

----------------------Elliott----------------------

Tavernier------Henderson-----Kadar------Dummett

---------------Gosling-------Abeid----------------

-----Sameobi---------Vuckic--------Ferguson-----

---------------------JJ Hooper-------------------

That would be my team and I think they could survive in the Championship...maybe!

 

Well i reckon that side probs looks better than the one i came up with but i only used it as an example.

i do think after having their eyes opened to physical side of championship footy they could flourish. the championship is a better and stronger league than its given credit for though. i reckon that side would be up the in league one and given a couple of seasons would be punching their weight in the championship

 

Campbell further forward and Michael 'King of the Gingers' Richardson to centre mid.

 

Forgot all about Richardson! We have so many good youngsters!

 

The Championship?? I think they'd struggle to survive league 2! Not that they're not all good young players, but some are bound not to make it and you need a blend of ages to compete in any professional league. They'd get bullied week in and week out for me.

 

i dunno like, gosling, abeid, harris and sammy, kadar are all fairly big lads i reckon in a season or two they'd be big enough to hold their own.

 

All under 21 though and you can't make them men before their time. The other main problem you'd have is knowledge of the game. Young players make mistakes and can be a bit naive. You can hide it in a team where you have more experienced players to pick up the pieces. I remember going to watch Bedlington Terriers play our reserves/youngsters. Granted the quality is better now but they had the better team on paper then. It was always men against boys though. Jamie McClen was outstanding one year but aside from that they just got outfought and outthought most years.

If you chucked in a spine of experienced reserve players you'd probably be able to compete. But the cup games and our own experience of the fizzy pop tells us these teams down the leagues are no mugs and battle for everything.

 

That's why i would put in Shola, Guthrie and Perch

 

Who'd have ever thought these three would be the solution to anything!

 

I agree with that. They all look like players with potential, but they're no where as good as some of you seem to think they are.

 

I think the reserves would form a good League 1 side, the youth team would have a good go at it in the Conference.

 

I think theres a lot of underestimating the lower leagues in this thread frankly. I do think if we were including the likes of Shola and Smith etc (really!) they'd be decent, but I wouldn't fancy them against many League 1 sides.

 

lol Elliot.

Doesn't anyone ever feel sorry for Harps like I do? I mean the guy got us back into the prem and gets replaced by Krul? Did Harper do anything wrong? Why is Krul first choice?

 

No he hasnt done anything wrong. But Krul is having a blinder after taking his chance when Harps go injured

 

Are you for real? Harper picked up an injury and in that time Krul excelled in goal. Then over the summer Krul impressed further and proved that he is a better keeper than Harper, as well as being much younger. If we didn't start Krul he may have left for first team football and we would have lost an extremely talented young keeper.

 

The only way to really judge is by the players we have loaned out in the past and where players have been previously.

Smith - Was decent in the Championship.
Perch - Okay Championship player.
Elliot - Good keeper in League One.
Tavernier - Shone in the Conference, doing well in League One so far.
LuaLua - Good in League One, decent so far in Championship.
Donaldson - Did an okay job with Hartlepool (League One).
Kadar - Capped for Hungary
Edmundsson - Decent short spell in Conference
Richardson - Good short spell in League One
Inman - U21 International
Vuckic - U21 International
Forster - Proved himself at Norwich
Xisco - (ignoring stupid wages) Former U21 international.

Don't know as much about the other squad players so I'll probably lower my guess to 'yoyoing between League One and League Two with a few standout players'.