I have never understood the reasoning behind dispensing with a reserve team. Presume it’s financial, but in the grand scheme of things, not sure how expensive it would be?
Being match fit is suppose to be crucial for any player to play at their best, and yet we have probably a dozen professionals not playing week in week out (7 subs for starters). We often see regular fringe first teamers get injured, and then with no competitive game find there is no way back. When they finally get the chance, they are off the pace. If they were playing regularly at a reasonably competitive level, they have the chance to push for a first team call up.
According to ST, we have as many as 18 U23’s out on loan, so don’t see we would have a problem fielding a team. The young uns would gain their experience in the reserves playing alongside and against senior pros.
For a club like ourselves who clearly carry sufficient professionals on our books, where is the logic in not fielding a team in a reasonably competitive regional reserve league?