The plan's inherently unworkable, but not simply on the grounds stated. If 'League 3' has 10 clubs from the B-teams of Premiership clubs, what happens when one of those clubs is relegated from the Prem? Does the B-team stay, or do they get replaced? And what happens about promotion / relegation from League 3 (which needs to happen if the new league is in the current league structure)? If all 10 B-teams occupy the top positions, will the club in 11th place get promoted? Or (if the reverse happens) will the club in 10th place get relegated? What if B-Team clubs end up meeting their A-team? It could easily happen - had this been brought in a few years ago, Portsmouth would be facing the possibility now. How do we ensure, beyond doubt, that the game won't be fixed? It's virtually impossible. The whole idea needs to be scrapped. Yes we need to give the national team the best possible chance, but this isn't the way.
The Pompey b team would have been relegated out to the conference, who in their right mind would support a team that could finish top and then be relegated through no fault of their own? Its just another hand to help the top clubs hoover up all the talent. Who's going to stay at a lower league club for first team football when they can get a big club and then get b first team football.
Currently, the Conference is already League 3 in all but name, sponsors and promotion rules. I'm sure that the clubs there will kick up a storm if Chelsea B are allowed to take their place.
Greg Dyke on the radio was quite good though - this idea may not be workable, but something has to be done to give young English players some competitive games. Only 23% of the players for the top four teams are English, only 30% of all Prem players. They just don't get an opportunity to play except in these poncey EDS things. We will spend June moaning about the quality of the England squad, and then refuse to do anything about it if it challenges our clubs. B teams might be a stupid idea (I have no idea), and if you don't care about English talent getting a chance or (ultimately) the strength of the English team, fair enough, but if you do care whining about someone at least trying to do something without putting any alternatives forward is hardly helping. We fear change.
In Germany B teams are allowed to play from the third level downwards and not in the cups. This leads to the ridiculous situation that in the third division some teams can get promoted and some can't. Why can't they just re establish a healthy reserve league as in the past ?
I remember some years ago when Ajax were playing against Ajax B team. I think it was the cup semi-final
Quick scan of the media this morning brings total condemnation of this idea and not a single alternative put forward. Lineker has a pop and we all know that in a months time he will be moaning about the parlous state of the English game. Wherever he has worked Dyke has shaken things up and tried to move things forward, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. I reckon he has run up against a brick wall of fear, vested interest and incompetence when dealing with 'football people'. He won't last long, he'll see it's a waste of time pretty soon.
Accrington are going to start a B team and apply to join the PL! At least one lower league club is really unhappy, I dont think its a stretch to think most if not all are mad.
OK, alternatives... 1. Quota system. First step is to establish an agreement with the EU to have Football listed as a 'special' occupation, so that numbers of EU and non-EU nationals can be limited. Then set limits - on both the 25-man squad and the 16-man matchday squad, stating that a certain percentage must be eligible to play for the home nation and a certain percentage must be under a set age. Getting agreement from the EU is clearly the biggest hurdle to this. 2. Make the EDS leagues more high profile, with greater publicity, more opportunities to play in the bigger stadia instead of on parkland - but outside the current League structure - and link the international U21 set up directly into that league, so that we don't just see the handful of players who scrape a place on the bench at Prem clubs playing for England, we see players who are playing week in, week out for the EDS sides and are therefore fully match fit. EDS leagues should be reported at least as well as the Women's game is today, with U21 games on the telly and EDS games on various digital channels - lord knows there's enough of them. 3. Add a section to the FFP rules (or whatever rules are most appropriate) incorporating a certain spend on development of home grown players. This could be an allowance that could be offset against other spend, and so would benefit the clubs who otherwise overspend. There's three alternatives, all of which are more workable than B-teams in League 3.
Am i missing something? The issues is that players when they reach 18-21 year age, struggle to break out of the youth set up and in to the first team due to a lack of playing opportunities and thus do not continue to develop. Currently most clubs and we do this a lot, send young players out on loan to the lower league clubs to gain experience of first team football at a lower level in the hope they return better players ready for the first team. The FA things proposes that big teams create B teams to compete in the lower leagues, fill them with their youth players in order to gain experience of first team football at a lower level in the hope they return better players, ready for the first team. What is the amazing big difference that is going to transform the England team?
It doesn't, it just means PL players can sign more players and fill out their b teams. Its all about them and not the England team.
Thank you. The existing proposals include limiting the number of non-EU players to 2 per squad, which will impact Koreans, Japanese/ East Europeans and US/Canadians more than any one else, as most of the Africans have French passports and many South Americans have Spanish/Portuguese/Italian ones. This rule is already in place in Italy, where interestingly their national team is stronger than their domestic league at the moment. I agree on the EU quota idea. Biggest hurdle is agents and money, they will all be arguing about freedom of movement etc etc. I remember back in late 80s when in Italy there was a 3 foreigners of any type (EU/non EU)in the squad rule. I liked that. Why not just bring back the Football Combination, include a 'no more than 3 over 24's in the team' rule and seek a big sponsor for it?
There's the thing that would stop the Quota thing in it's tracks, right there. I can't see the FA adopting anything that would weaken either the quality or the revenue-generating strength of the almighty Premier League. "The EDS Football Combination, sponsored by Carlsberg. Probably the best U21 league in the world..."
One of the biggest problems is that the PL 'Academy' players don't get enough real games. What isn't mentioned is why they have to have so many Academy players. They often 'steal' players from the Academies of lower clubs and a new rule brought out last year by the FA means clubs get derisory payments for years of developing players that big clubs then just walk in and poach for peanuts. One day these youngsters will realise that the big clubs sign them to stop other clubs having them and they are sacrificing their development and future for a dream few will achieve. They're far better sticking with lower league clubs where they'll be fast tracked into the first teams if they're good enough. This revised payment rule was forced through by the PL clubs who threatened to reduce money paid to Football League clubs from the PL fund, it shows the naked greed of those clubs who are destroying the game as we know it. Anyone who attends non-league games on a regular basis will know how much effort these clubs put in to their local community and the prospect of the PL clubs barging in and destroying the pyramid system for their own ends is, frankly, despicable. If that's the best Dyke can offer he should f*ck off back to television because he hasn't got a clue about the fabric of our game...
Yeovil gave up their academy , there's no point putting money into it when top clubs come in and get their best players for 50k. Its great for PL clubs but not for football overall, the players just get buried, look at terry who was the last player to come through the scum academy. Saints are regularly thought of as having a great academy but most of their young players are stolen from the lower leagues for nothing.
http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/football-association-say-no-to-b-teams Please sign the petition above...
