12/09/16 at Ferriby at 7pm. The Ressies have a record of W2 D1 L1. Silly sending off cost them in the loss. Get yourself down there.
Isn't 'under 23' taking it a bit far? It used to be Juniors which was actual juniors i.e. U18 and then you were either released or you were on the verge of the 1st team. Recently and suddenly it's become common to have an U21 side in between and now U23? How far is this going to go; U30s eventually? "He's just a boy, we've got to protect him." We go on and on about a lack of talent coming through but it can't help that young players are forced to train and play away from the 1st team in their own little area. How are they supposed to believe that they're capable of being professionals when they're treated like children up to the age of 23?
I think it's quite sensible, the U18's are still the U18's, nothing has changed. The increase from U21's to U23's is just to take account of how difficult it is to get players from the youth to the first team and reflects the fact that more players are coming through a bit later.
The change for the U18s is that they're no longer anywhere near the first team. It used to be the next logical step for them, but now it's commonplace to hang onto players you've no intention of ever giving a first team game to into their mid-twenties. The system seems designed to thwart development and keep youngsters as far away from first team football as possible. Then clubs complain that U21/U23 football isn't demanding enough and that the players need to get more experience at a more competitive level.
You would hope that players aged 21-23 were knocking on the door of the first team though, given how short footballers careers are. I guess our recent PL yo yo years doesn't help in reality either as they are probably less likely to get a chance in the PL. A commentator made an interesting point about the amount of foreign coaches in the PL generally preferring foreign footballers. How long will it be before we see a larger proportion of the England picks coming from the Championship?
