Apologies if this has already been mentioned. http://www.teamtalk.com/tottenham-hotspur/9165365/-? Its kind of what we used to have before they started mucking about with everything! What sort of impact might it have? Maybe there will be less 'loanees' as they could be getting a decent game each week. I remember when Saints won the Reserve Cup many years ago with a team that had Stokes and Channon in it. There were about 14000 people at the game and it was clearly a good breeding ground for future stars.
It works when I try it. I found the article on NewsNow if that helps. Its basically about setting up a reserve team league.
I like the idea a lot. Especially for us. Would allow us to play youngsters against quality opposition (imagine City & Chelsea's B teams).
I don't really understand how this is practically any different to the premier U21 league. Seems like it's just an effort to get more older players into it, allowing the big teams more game time for their hoards of reservists, and doing nothing for (or even diminishing) the opportunities for younger players.
Yep, just smells of more money being drawn to bigger Premier League clubs where they can stockpile even more players. I can imagine players like Jack Cork spending most of their careers in a B league with a club like Chelsea. Also, with television rights included to finance it, this seems like a stepping stone to the Spanish model, where big clubs have actual B teams competing in lower leagues, and I don't like that either.
I think the idea of having only an U21 and U18 league with no reserve league was a bit ridiculous really because it made it harder to give players who weren't playing regularly for the first team to get match time. It is something that we have suffered from this season, with Boruc, Lovren and Wanyama all getting injured, we had to replace them with players who had hardly had any actual game time because of the lack of a reserve team. It also means players like Forte, Barnard, Sharp weren't getting any game time because they're not needed here, either now or long term, so why would Southampton put them in ahead of youngsters who could achieve more from it, or those in the squad, but not getting match time. I think U23 is a more sensible compromise.
You're already allowed 3 over-aged players. Forte, Barnard and Tadanari Lee all made several appearances for the U21 team (Sharp was on loan).
I would think they would still get plenty of game time. Having been a youngster at a club under the old days when there was a reserve league, you did always look straight at the team sheets up on the board when they went up... and plenty of youngsters got games. You would be amazed how many of the more senior ones find an excuse (cold, sneeze, ankle twist) to miss a "ressies" game. To have youngsters having a chance to regularly play with one, two or a few 'names' in is invaluable. I remember playing with Paul Mariner and looking at him and thinking "OMG, that bloke scored at a World Cup for England."
Alternatively, it may make them more valuable. 750k for Cork is a joke. Maybe he could have gone for more if he'd been in Chelsea's B team.
