http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27289819 This is a stupid idea. The comment below sums up my thoughts perfectly: "Yeah the reason the England team is not as good as Germany or Spain is because Man United and Chelsea reserves are not playing against Dagenham & Redbridge in League 2. So ignore any proper change in the England set up while destroying 125 years of Football League tradition by dumping B teams in there who don't care about the league they are playing in. Two birds, one stone, no brains"
I believe that there needs to be more competition for fringe players,reserves etc,but not convinced this is the answer. Premier or Championship players performing against each other in their own league would make sense, but playing against 4th and Conference standard players will not work. As regarding the point of "bringing on" English talent, I am a firm believer that the best players will always come through whatever the system is. Unfortunately with all the high wages being paid to young players,some are quite happy to "warm the bench" on a regular basis.
So basically screw all the Conference and League 2 football clubs who are all trying hard to better themselves! Greg Dyke is an absolute tool and will ruin grass roots competitive football in this country! He is the most dangerous man in English football.
Too simple. It has to be, or appear complicated, so it looks like they are earning their fat salaries
Don't we kind have that already with the reserve league? For Chelsea to have more players out on loan than our senior squad is ridiculous and I do believe that something needs to be done about it, but I completely agree that allowing "B" teams to compete in the normal league structure is ridiculous. I think there should be restrictions on overall squad sizes, the number of loans out permitted and terms of "buy-back" clauses (i.e. preventing quasi-loans). That should help clubs lower down the leagues by spreading out talent.
Hi Superman bor, one thing I approve of is the FA contemplating changing the loan situation. Last season Chelsea had 27 players out on loan. That is a ridiculous amount of players that could be registered with clubs prepared to give them a more regular game. It meant Chelsea were hogging these players with no chance of them playing for Chelsea. You probably don't remember when teams like Arsenal A, Spurs A, Leicester A ete were competing with East Anglian teams like King's Lynn, Cambridge City etc in the Eastern Counties League. This provided ample opportunity for future first team players with these clubs to get competitive games while still with their parent club.
Yeah, but you need a raft of other measures alongside this - otherwise buy-back clauses and the like would mean a club could send a player out on loan without it looking like a loan. The current system simply stops money flowing down the football pyramid
I see Man City are to be fined £50 million from Uafa for not complying with their 'financial fair play' rules. Maybe this is the answer, then these clubs won't be able to buy all the talent, pay over the top wages and have them sit on their arse .
Could be, though fining the clubs and lining Uefa's pockets doesn't seem to help the lower league clubs who otherwise would have benefited from the talented youngsters and the transfer fees they would have commanded.
Doesn't it just cheapen the lower leagues having B teams in it. The reason we have the best second tier division in the world is partly down to the fact unlike Italy and Spain we don't put the big teams reserves in there who can't get promoted, and I believe they can't be relegated either. We have the best leagues in the world in my opinion. The Premier League might not be the best in the world, it's certainly one of them, but we by far have the strongest 2nd and 3rd tier divisions.
I think there certainly needs to be a change of some sorts because the present system is just not working. Leagues 1 and 2 do quite a bit of damage to the game, they should be breeding grounds of good players but until the psyche changes they will continue as they are. Nobody wants to watch them. Those lower leagues need changing because they are just not worthy of a professional status. f**king awful long ball rubbish, they should be used to set an example to the higher leagues and perhaps amatuer status might see an influence of player development and attractive football as opposed to results. They should have the freedom to experiment all aspects of football down there, be it coaching, player types, styles, it should be made a hot bed of progressive ideas because there is just to much money at the top for that to happen. L1 and 2 are just a waste of time at the moment, they should be so much more.
It is totally wrong for a club to have as many players on their books as Chelsea, because in effect, they could 'buy' the league if they take players out of them game and loan them to clubs to take points off their nearest rivals but of course cannot play against the parent club. That is a type of cheating surely. I don't know what the solution is to the football pyramid, but having b teams to me is not the answer because if a top team couldn't make Europe say. they would then be tempted to weight their second team and eventually the top division (whatever it may be called) could have 10 clubs with 2 teams each. then where do we go? No doubt as well that the 20 teams on that basis will be stuffed full of overseas players! Well done Dyke. Dick.
There is a petition about this on the Gillingham board. If you don't like the idea of this, pop over there and sign. http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/261467-B-Teams-Petition
One of my concerns is that whilst this is being introduced as "League 3", that's definitely not where these B teams will stay. Our academy isn't the best, but it'd still probably produce a team capable of holding it's own in league 2, particularly when augmented with a few overage players. So the Chelsea's of this world will get their academies into league 1 very quickly, and then still be looking to send players overseas as the competition isn't strong enough. Chelsea will still want Vitesse as Chelsea B, and the league one side would then be effectively Chelsea C. Whilst having squads of bright, young English talent in League 1 would help the national team, it's going to do a lot of damage to lower league clubs if the financial structure of the football league doesn't change significantly. How are the 10 Premier League teams who are allowed B teams going to be chosen too? Is there any scope for academies who miss out to get B team status in another league, or to replace one of the 10 chosen? I can see this proposal increasing the gap between the Premier League haves and have nots, and also making it far more difficult for lower league sides to survive.
I don't know if any of you popped over to the Gillingham board and read this thread and signed the petition, but here is the email that was sent by the 'AL3' - Against League 3. 02/06/2014 We have decided to publish our original email to the FA. We have received no response. We are currently composing a second email, although we again expect no response. Sent to the FA - Friday 23/5/14 AM To The FA The FA Commission I write to you today to officially draw your attention to our Against League 3 campaign. AL3 is a sizeable group of fans, who stand firmly against The FA Commission's proposals to allow 'B' teams into the competitive football pyramid. Strategic Loan Partnerships are also opposed very strongly as ‘feeder clubs’ by the back door. At the time of writing, our petition has been signed by over 32,000 football fans. We've received thousands of emails, including many lengthy and coherent arguments against the aforementioned proposals. Our campaign is 2 weeks old. Imagine what we could do with another few months. I would be surprised, and a little concerned, if your press team had not alerted you to our campaign. We are sensible football fans against a senseless idea that would destroy lower league and non-league football. Supporters of clubs regardless of competitive level or location have contacted us. From Premier League fans, to regional division fans. They have all clearly sent us one message: we must not allow these proposals to become reality. It is not lost on ourselves the incredibly high pressure political situation the FA currently finds itself in. As you know, these proposals were met with widespread criticism, from journalists, from chairmen, from leagues, from clubs and from fans. You are currently preparing for a World Cup. You are currently dealing with fallout from the Scudamore scandal. We have taken the "bigger picture" into account. We applaud the original aims of the commission. We want the national team to improve, and we realise the need for improved grass roots facilities and coaching. We are not against every aspect of the report. Most of the analysis provided is incredibly detailed and accurate. It actually evaluates the problem incredibly well. Our supporters have also told us that they are, on the whole, England fans as well. However we will not allow lower league clubs to pay the price for years of poor performances from the national side. Your report talks of "compromise" - where is the compromise from the upper echelons of the game? Are Premier League clubs damaged by these proposals? No. In fact these proposals hand the already incredibly powerful more power. Yet lower league clubs are expect to carry the burden. There is no compromise there. We find it insulting that Greg Dyke has said at every opportunity in the media when talking of opposition to these plans, that English football fans are "against change". That is simply untrue. We want change, we are desperate for change, and many of us have actively called for change. However the changes we seek (fair fan representation, proper distribution of money amongst the pyramid, amongst others) are ones that the FA, Premier League and the elite running the game have continually avoided for years. We have received backing from Supporters Direct and the Football Supporters Federation. We have received support from Supporters’ Trusts up and down the country. We have received backing from similar campaigns (including Save Grassroots) and a larger coalition calling for change in our game is starting to form. How long will you stubbornly refuse fans the right for fair representation and a fair hearing as a key stakeholder in the game? Please consider meeting us in regard to these proposals. If Mr Dyke is genuine when he asks "what are the alternatives?", then there is no reason why he should not want to listen to us The fans who have contacted us have told us they want us to take genuine decisive action, and along with our colleagues in the game this is what we are now discussing. However we wish to speak constructively first. You have an incredible opportunity to improve the English game for years to come. Please don't waste it. We look forward to your reply, Against League 3 The content of this email was copied with the permission of AL3 http://www.change.org/en-GB/petition...-no-to-b-teams
