Unless I've missed something it appears we are maintaining our U-21 set up and random fixtures that we had last year and so missing out on the opportunity of playing Man U / Man C / Chelsea / Arsenal reserves. It looks to be such a good opportunity for the likes of Shaw, Ward-Prowse, Stephens and the other younger players, so why are we passing this opportunity by ?
May have something to with the logistics of running a second side who play every week. Far less effort to play occasonal games.
There may be some politics involved, as I am sure I recall something about us being turfed out of that league for not being a Prem side, even though our then reserve team used to come high up, if not top.
I'm sure we are keeping the under 21s name (because that's all it is, a name; over 21 players are eligible, it's just a normal reserve team as far as the rules are concerned), but are you sure we're not entering the premier reserve league? I guess maybe they might not want the kids to be mixing with the washed up lumps you might find in the average reserve team, but surely that's less of a problem in the premier league?
As far as I understood, the reason we didn't join a reserve league last season was because the club felt we would benefit more from organising friendlies against the likes of Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool etc.. which we wouldn't have had the opportunity to do in the reserves league. Perhaps now we have been promoted and presumably have a bit more cash we can throw at things, they are of the belief they'll benefit more from arranging matches with teams on the continent rather than against the reserve sides in the Prem. I could see their point to be honest.
From what I gather, the reserve league is a bit of a mess and not all of the teams take part. The teams that don't take part arrange friendlies against domestic and continental sides. Being PL makes us more attractive to play against so we'll have more games.
Where has it been stated that we aren't entering the Reserve League exactly? To my knowledge, the Premier Reserve League is in a state of change at the moment with decisions being made about the future with a view to implementing an U-21 league that would mirror our current set-up. At least that is what I read in the newspaper anyway. Personally, I would like to see us entering a team into the NextGen Series in 2013/14 which would allow our youth players the opportunity to play against Europe's best.
There won't be a reserve league next season. Major restructuring under the EPPP means academies (from under 8's to under 18's) are being rated in one of four categories and then there will be an under 21 league on top of that (which will allow 3 overaged players). Saints have applied for category 1 status, aided by the £15m upgrade at their training ground they are likely to get that status. That will then see them at all ages competing with other elite academies and under 21 teams.
