Greg Dyke's wacky idea

I don't know what any-one else thinks, but I think Greg Dyke must have been at the cooking sherry when he came out with this one.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27289819

Does any-one think it's a good idea? I personally think it makes people like Michelle Platini and Bepp Splatter actually look sensible.

 

It is possibly a wacky idea but I do believe the public are robbed of the prospect of seeing the full talents of many players that are basically retained to warm the benches of the top premier league sides. Some of these players may have international potential (indeed some are current internationals) but their game cannot be improved by playing for 20 minutes every other week.

The original intent of substitutions was to limit the disadvantage to sides caused by injury. It has now become a tactical weapon.

I would suggest that the number of substitutions be limited to two per game. There are few games where a side suffers more than two injuries that warrant a player not continuing.

The number on the bench should be limited to two plus a goalkeeper.

As a result of this reserve teams would have four more good players available. Currently probably the top eighteen players are not getting reserve football for fear of injury.

The clubs may, at the margin , be inclined to loan out more players so they got first team football. Also some good players, regularly consigned to the reserves, would suffer less from the illusion that they are on the verge of the first team and be more inclined to seek out moves to lesser premiership sides where they would get first team football. this may make a (small ) contribution to reducung the gap between the top and bottom premiership clubs.

All in all we should have more players playing 90 minutes of football every week.

I'm not sure that the premiership can make its own rules with regard to substitution rules or if they are controlled by FIFA.

Also the above points may break down with the top clubs who would still retain players so they could have a full bench for European competitions.

However, it all makes for discussion and could be a more simple way of getting fringe players more football than having reserve leagues.

A further possibility would be to limit the number of times an individual player 'starts' on the bench in a season so there would be some rotation between the bench and the reserve team.

It seems a great pity to me that many players are having unfulfilled careers from a footballing point of view because it is more lucrative to be on the bench of a top club as opposed to regular first team football at a lesser club.

End of rant.

 

Absolutely no way should they allow reserve teams of the larger clubs to play in the lower leagues. It would be the death knell for some of the smaller clubs as the reserves of the top teams would inexorably rise up the leagues as the quality that these clubs 'hoard' is inevitably better than those plying their trade even in the lower reaches of the Championship. And why would this idea improve the England team? It wouldn't, because the squads of the big clubs have foreign players sitting in their reserves. It seems to me this is just another vehicle for the PL to control the game even more.

If they are really that keen, why don't they run a separate league for the reserves for all the clubs that play in the PL and FL. I doubt they would get take up from all the lower league clubs. So, you could start with, say, three leagues, the top two reflecting the Premiership and Championship, with those League 2, 3 and maybe some Conference clubs, being in smaller leagues run on a regional basis. There could be promotion and relegation completely independent of the first team leagues so you could eventually end up with a PL side with its reserves playing in a lower reserve league and vice versa. That would satisfy the need to provide quality competetive football for all players, the opportunity for supporters to see quality football at lower prices and it would be a fair and equitable to all clubs concerned.

Wait a minute, wasn't there a set up something like that in the 60's and 70's?

It'll never happen because the powers that be in football are not interested in being fair and equitable and also show a scant disregard for supporters. I'm not even sure they really give a tinker's about providing quality match time for squad members, either.

It's all about money, folks, all about money!

 

I like your idea LFIH....I really do not want any tinkering with the pyramid - it is an amazing set up and that you can trawl your way through minor leagues to see how far one is away from League membership is something a lot of non-league fans cling too.....we'd never see Yeovil, Wycombe, Newport County etc again if Dyke has his way....it's a sh** idea and I hope it gets buried.

 

Absolutely against this and Dyke and Clarke can shove the idea where the sun don't shine. This is nothing more than about money and the Premier League who want to stretch their greedy little claws into the lower league domain. I will never support any introduction of b teams or the restructuring of our leagues to support it.

You only have to look at the highest rated comments to see what people think of this bird brain idea, the highest rated quoting this;

'Two birds, one stone, no brains' - sounds like Dyke and Clark perfectly for me if they really find this idea laudable!

I truly hope i live long enough to see the entire premier league implode on itself, but i doubt even fate will serve me that grace. The 1992 virus is a like a plague with no current known cure.

This bird brain idea will not help any English talent but just be a dumping ground for foreign imports of the financially dominating.

 

This cracked idea has been mooted as a way of improving the national team in the long term - if they want to do that then they should start looking at investing in grassroots football.

The other way of looking at it is............. they have something else on the agenda which they want to get through while everyone is distracted by this proposal.

Leading Fish is right................... Follow the Money!

 

This interview is well worth a listen

http://talksport.com/football/exclusive-dyke-defends-fas-premier-league-b-team-proposal-14050890357

It's a hard hitting interview with Greg Dyke by Adrian Durham - Dyke does not come out of it well, and particularly listen to the comments about bribing the lower league clubs - on page 71 of the report.

The FA needs another rapid change at the top!

 

I am against all form of meddling with the current system of league football, but particularly this idea. It would be entirely unfair to allow the Premier League clubs to field two teams in two different leagues. You would potentially rob clubs in lower divisions of places in the leagues, and chances of promotion, by allowing the Premier League teams to play their second-string few league below, not to mention that B-Teams are not going to get a big following so attendences will suffer resulting in clubs in the lower leagues losing money. It also would ruin the competitive nature of the league, by baring these B-Teams from promotion to a division one level below or in the same division as their parent club either they wouldn't even care to put the effort in or you could potentially see a situaton where these B-Teams occupy all the promotion places yet none of them being eligible for promotion, and what would we do then?

 

Some other things on this story I found on Google today:

I'm posting this just because it made me laugh: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...s-Premier-League-B-team-proposal-Twitter.html

League Two side Accrington Stanley tweet: 'To increase the number of English players in the top flight we're going to launch a B team & apply to join the Premier League.

And this is a Gaurdian article accusing Dyke and the FA of ignoring the pride of clubs in the lower league with this proposal: http://www.theguardian.com/football...bs-fans-ignored-greg-dyke-england-masterpolan

Given the bitter enmities and petty turf wars that dominate English football, it is quite a feat to unite the warring tribes. But Greg Dyke, the pugnacious Football Association chairman who came into the job vowing to make his mark in a short space of time, appears to have done just that with his plan to introduce B teams into the Football League – albeit in not quite the way he may have anticipated.

Everyone agrees what the problem is: the lack of young English players appearing in the top flight is reaching critical levels and one of the major reasons is the blockage of opportunity for those aged 18 to 21. It is, as one contributor to the report put it, the "Bermuda triangle" of English football. The mistake is to assume we can simply import a solution. For too long the English game merely cast its eyes longingly in the direction of whichever country's youth system was sweeping all before it – whether that was France, Germany or Spain – without being prepared to will the means.

Here, too, the belief that a huge intervention in our unique football pyramid will magically work because it has in Spain and elsewhere is erroneous.

It also fundamentally misunderstands the mindset of the football supporter. Danny Mills, the opinionated former England defender who sat on the England Commission, blithely insisted that fans of Hartlepool would far rather see their club play Manchester United B than Torquay United. There is a pride that runs through fans in the Football League and the Conference that suggests that is not necessarily the case.

In October Dyke stood on the site where the rules of Association Football were codified and said the FA recognised the "fantastic tradition of the 72 Football League clubs".

Now he is asking them to cash in that tradition for payments of £2m a year from the Premier League clubs who want to introduce B teams into the Football League.

The other irony of the latest outburst of feuding among English football's dysfunctional family is that it comes at a time when, beneath the alarming statistics at the top level, there are signs of progress beneath.

The Premier League, for the first time in two decades, is acknowledging its wider debt to football beyond its gilded walls and at least talking a good game when it comes to developing more homegrown talent. Its argument – that we had already gone around the houses on this debate and come up with the elite player performance plan as a result – had some merit.

In some ways, Dyke couldn't win. Because the FA ceded power to the clubs more than 20 years ago, he needs their support to change – and knows he must at least try to change a mindset that values instant success over long-term planning. That means cutting deals.

But it also means playing the politics and, like so many of his predecessors, Dyke may suffer for not being sufficiently cute in taking on the professional game.

The report produced by his commission is thorough, well-researched and provokes debate. Yet among the 650-plus interviews they didn't find time to talk to those most affected.

The shame is that all of the good stuff is likely to be obscured by the League Three farrago. The debate also smacks of putting the cart before the horse. Part two of the commission's work – which will focus on the desperate state of grassroots facilities and the shameful underinvestment in coaching – would have been more likely to create a consensus.

As it is, the implementation of the commission's conclusions threatens to be just as controversial and divisive as its formation.

 

And here's our CEO railing against the plan and calling upon the English Football community at large to unite in the effort to stop this plan dead: http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/catlin-wants-football-unity-to-defeat-dyke-1-6048140

Mark Catlin has called on football to unite and drive out Greg Dyke’s proposals he regards as an ‘absolute abomination’.

Controversial alterations to the Football League were yesterday put forward by the FA Commission, sparking widespread condemnation.

Designed to boost the fortunes of the national team, at the heart of the four-point plan is creating a new League Three in 2016-17, made up of 10 Premier League B teams and 10 Conference sides.

It’s a model employed in Spain and highly familiar with Catlin, who lived in the country for 12 years.

Within minutes of the Commission publishing their findings, Pompey’s chief executive sent a letter to the FA damning Dyke’s plans.

Football League chairmen will be able to voice concerns at their annual meeting from June 5-6 in Portugal, which Catlin will attend alongside Iain McInnes.

And he has called on all to join forces to defeat B-team suggestions he believes will stifle teams climbing through the lower divisions.

‘This is an absolute abomination,’ said Catlin.

‘It is an ill-thought-out, ill-conceived plan which will finish the Football League as we know it.

‘It will take away ambition, dreams and aspirations.

‘It will end up with a whole host of clubs out of business and part-time, while fanbases will disappear.

‘They keep referring to Spain as the beacon and the thing to aspire to. Well, I lived in Spain for 12 years and know the standard inside out.

‘Nobody can lecture me about the structure of the Spanish leagues – and how this would enhance our national game I’ll never know.

‘Looking at this country, all these clubs have 100-plus years of existence and are supported by their communities.

‘Overnight, if approved, they will whither away.

‘At Portsmouth we have not been consulted and I am hoping the Football League board – knowing them as I do as sensible people – will see through it.

‘There is a meeting of the Football League chairmen in June and I am confident there will be a massive strength of feeling against this.

‘I am hoping it will be put down as the joke that it is.’

Catlin points out there are average gates of under 4,000 for even the B sides of Barcelona and Real Madrid in the Spanish second tier.

Meanwhile, lower down, others cannot compete.

He added: ‘Spain is full of B teams, C teams and feeder clubs and few independent teams.

‘Here we’ve got Yeovil who have got straight through to the Championship in a fairy tale. This idea will kill that.

‘Then with B teams not allowed to be get promoted from League One, you could get the silly situation where 15th could instead go up.

‘Make no mistake, eventually the idea will be brought into the Championship.’

 

So which 10 Premier League teams does he imagine it will be then?

 

An interview with Danny Mills........... and Steve Claridge loses his temper.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01yqwvr

 

I like how Danny Mills says that the Clubs want this then justifies it by saying the commision talked with Greg Clarke and some other bloke who are important people in the Football League and Conferance. That's a cheap and easy way out. What they should have done is put their proposal to the Football League and Conferance and ask all the clubs in those structures to vote on the matter. Then they would actually be able to say whether they have the support of the clubs for this proposal or not.

 

I think that before Dyke had finished presenting his half-term mock test paper the FL released a statement of some kind saying they didn't agree with the report.

The other thing of course is the money! Doesn't the FL have rules in place re FFP? How on earth do they think the 10 PL B teams will fit into those rules?

The whole thing is just a nonsense.

 

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/5live/otm/otm_20140511-2112a.mp3

This is worth listening to - at the end they talk about the Greg Dyke plan.

 

I probably would pop down to see Portsmouth v Southampton reserves however I'm dead against it and I think it would damage our unique pyramid structure. Let's form a new league for reserve teams and call it the football combination!