All bar one club from the bottom two divisions have voted in favour to listen to a proposal to invite premier league 'B' teams to next seasons Johnstone Paint Trophy. As we all know very well the tournament is a great opportunity for clubs to get to Wembley and compete for silverware and the obvious downside is that chance would be reduced. However the gates for the early rounds are very poor in what is a very congested start to the league calendar as well as the early rounds of the league cup. I can see this getting the go ahead, but will it benefit anyone? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...nto-next-seasons-Johnstones-Paint-Trophy.html
Agreed, absolutely NO. We know from recent experience how big a tournament this is for lower league clubs. Let them have it for themselves.
It's bad enough the Premier League treating the lower divisions with disdain but why not give their followers the chance to to chant, "You can't beat our reserves.." I'm still not sure the Premier League has done that much for English football.
No to this. It's a great competition for the lower leagues. Really enjoyed going to wemble. This would ruon the competition. Remember the full house against mk dons, premier league reserves wouldn't get even a tenth of that.
Personally I only see it as a stepping stone towards the proposed B Team league. Agree with the consensus here that it's not really going to benefit anyone. An average of three B team games is hardly likely to impact on a players development which is supposed to be the point of B Teams.
Yeah if this does happen it will be a tester/stepping stone into integrating B teams into the league system, a step the FA should have taken years ago.
The FL make decisions like that...can't see the advantage to them of B teams and it undermines their competition. Not everything is about the EPL.
- Bigger attendances for games involving some B teams - Bigger talent pool of players to choose from - Possible bigger TV deals as matches involving some of the bigger clubs B teams may want to be televised. Just off the top of my head
How so? If anything I can see it helping non-league sides, especially from a financial perspective which is what I would imagine would be the main reason they would fold. It is a great idea/step forward if it is implemented correctly. However this is the FA so they will no doubt **** it up.
B teams getting promoted instead of other first teams. Chelsea's B team is easily good enough to get in the Championship. That will mean loss in revenue when poorer teams can't compete with Prem teams second teams due to relegation.
Not sure where you get the idea that Chelsea's B team are easily good enough to get to the Championship. I would be surprised if any B team made it past League One or Two. Could look it at another way if your scenario happened. Bigger traditional teams drop down the leagues meaning teams in lower leageus play against better supported opposition meaning more revenue from attendances/TV money. But anyway I doubt any B team would ever be competitive at Championship level. Take Barca B as an example, probably the best academy around and they struggle at the bottom end of the Segunda, which is of a lower quality than the Championship.
That's because Barca B are basically treated as a different team. They even buy their own players. You know the FA will **** it up and not put in enough rules. Making Chelsea able to field all their great youngsters ( Thorgan Hazard, Kalas, Ginkel, Bamford, Delac, Piazon, Chalobah etc). Even if a B team only gets to league one, it is still causing other 'real' teams to get relegated, so it is not for me.
I am against B teams for the same reason as Beefy, for every B Team in the pyramid. A proper team will be missing out, and that's just not fair imo.
