A very interesting debate about this - I would be firmly against it because the implications for League 2 and Conference clubs do not even seem to have been considered (which is typical attitude from those who run the game). Alan Pardew made a great point about Gateshead - a club on the up having their best ever season - as a club like that in the future could be denied a place in the league if 12 B teams are parachuted into a league 3. What about the atmosphere at grounds where the B teams are playing away - would they bring any fans with them? I also do not think the style of football that many clubs at this level play would be helpful for the B team players to develop their game. In my opinion the Premier league teams need to get their own house in order - they are clearly signing far too many players and they need to rethink that strategy. I also think the fans of clubs like ours would be very much against the feeder club approach - we have ourselves seen the negative effects of having lots of loan players and arrangements like that would inevitably end up with the feeder club being effectively controlled by the premier league club.
I'm also completely against it. Don't think it will even benefit the development of players. One thing I haven't seen is what happens to promoted/relegated teams in the final season before League 3 is introduced? Do some get bumped down to divisions, or up two divisions, just because of the timing? Don't think it will go ahead, although I worry the Premier League will just threaten to withdraw any funding to the FL and force them to accept it.
I would hope the great majority who in some way involved with lower league football would oppose it. I woukd guess that the championship might be split in their views though. Accrington have put out some good tweets about it.
In one of our more lucid pub discussions.......the ales good, so is the landlady.....Sharps is the Burton player of the season......we have talked about how finances and their control could help......to force teams to live within their means.....and possibly use more home grown talent......HALVE THE PARACHUTE PAYMENT......AND THEN HALVE IT AGAIN NEXT SEASON!! I'm sure this idea would work by taking millions out of the Championship, stopping overspending as a gamble to go up (or stay up) and hence controlling wages. Whilst the very best English players get a good wage if there was less around for overpriced foreigners then the money could go on academies. Another idea was to change the TV money distribution to include more for smaller clubs....to be invested in trusts for their infrastructure. Does anybody remember the Central League? Wasn't that populated by quite a few larger team's who used it for competitive training.....but there were smaller teams like Bury and Oldham.
