Waited a bit and no new thread was made... Newly created league for U21 sides, great news as far as I'm concerned, playing time for some of the kids not ready for the first team yet. Currently only on the OfficialSaints twitter but news on the website coming up shortly.
Think I saw somewhere that this is compulsory this season...something to do with the new academy/development system.
Not really new "news". Every team that applied for category one status under EPPP automatically was put into this. Groups... Bolton Wanderers, Norwich City, Everton, West Ham United, Blackburn Rovers, Arsenal, West Bromwich Albion, Reading. Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Watford, Sunderland, Southampton, Aston Villa, Stoke City. Manchester City, Crystal Palace, Middlesbrough, Chelsea, Liverpool, Fulham, Wolverhampton Wanderers. That is only the league until Christmas. After Christmas the top 3 teams from group 1 + 2 join the top two teams from group 3 to find the best team. The remaining teams also form two other leagues so the second half of the season has a 3 tier system. Will be less teams in it in 2013/14 as for this season they just let in everyone that applied for category one status. Next season will only be for those clubs that got cat 1 status. A minimum of two games have to be played at the club's stadium, the public will be able to watch them. The club can also let the public into the training ground games if it wants (Saints won't due to building work at Staplewood) and the plan is for this competition to be televised at some point. The under 21's, under 18's and under 16's will all have the same league/team structure.
Sunderland have already announced that their first U21 game is against us at Staplewood, Monday 20th August 2.30pm. MLG - is there any official announcement on the categories yet? It seems like the clubs have been told and some have announced it (inc Saints). But I haven't seen a full list. Edit: Just seen a partial list of clubs on Wikipedia. So I'm guessing the answer to that question is no. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_Player_Performance_Plan#Selected_Academies_and_Categories
They are halfway through the audit for category one academies. Rest of those that applied for cat 1 are being done in Sept/Oct. Season 2013/14 will see only those given cat 1 in the development league.
It says that matches must be played between Friday-Monday and that Saints would prefer most to be Monday so some players can be available for the senior games.
Won't be easy though if the other teams actually give it the best they've got. The best from these teams played most of their games in the old reserve system rather than the U18s. Probably why u18 games between us and Arsenal/Chelsea/Man U have often been fairly comfortable. We'll do well to get past the elite group. I'm sure they'll be well up for a sterrn challenge though.
That defeats the point of it. The old system was regional, they now want a national system that sees the best vs the best. It is meant to be an elite league getting them used to playing away games spending time together in hotels etc etc.
I like the fact they are playing about as often as the first team. In the past it seems they had fewer games. This should really help get them prepared for the step up to the 1st team.
