You think so?
I can't see for the life of me how it won't just destroy the lower leagues. At present we have the best supported lower leagues in the world. People aren't going to turn out for reserve games against players who won't give a shit about promotion or relegation; the very point of league system. I've read that in Germany, where they're thinking of doing away with the system anyway, some of the attendances for even Bayern II are pitiful. The same is also the case in Spain, even for the likes of Barca and Madrid. Tiny attendances even compared to other teams in the league, attendances tiny compared to League 1, nevermind our second tier.
Even if there is a small bump in people going for novelty, there will be far more in teams around the country who will stay away or turn away from football altogether; I've had a look around forums for loads of different clubs and not one of them is supportive of the B team idea. I know plenty of Tranmere (
) fans of that opinion too. Even if a few fans did turn up, they're not going to be as passionate as those willing on an actual team. A team they've supported and travelled with throughout the country. You have that and you've ripped out the soul of these leagues for almost no benefit. Frankly, bar a few of the relegated clubs, go down even one level in Spain and they're nothing more than satellite clubs akin to League 2 or Conference.
I've seen one chairman come out in support of it.... not surprisingly FC Franchise and that greasy bastard Winkelman.
There's already a petition with about 20k "signatures" on it. After one day.
There are so many other things that could be done. The financial disparity as you go down the leagues is insane. Maybe if this was rectified and more money trickled down then facilities could improve, style of play could be better, more players would stay at different clubs instead of being stockpiled and teams could afford more decent loan players. Incidentally, the idea for what is essentially feeder clubs is far, far worse. One set of parachute payments could transform an entire league, but that won't happen because there's no direct benefit for us, PL clubs.
Ally that with EPPP, where PL clubs can cherry pick who they want from FL academies for fuck all and you're not improving young talent. It's the same thing; the big clubs will stockpile the best talent at the expense of everyone else. The smaller clubs don't get the financial boost from selling the players in the first place and close/severely reduce their youth system and the cycle starts again.
In any case, we had a decent reserve league where players earned themselves a place in the first team. Then it was watered down so much it has become an irrelevance. The best players won't play in these B teams anyway. At best it will be one season and if there weren't restrictions on squad selection probably less than that. They'll go straight into the first team squad as what happens now. Worst, the big teams buy even more young players just for the sake of it, as Chelsea have done with Vitesse. Maybe more English players should look abroad permanently, learn from these countries and become better players. Instead they're happy to sit on the bench, earning their money and not having to learn a new language on the 1% chance they'll get a run out for 5 minutes.
And I know it wouldn't happen often, but what if you have a situation like Wolves or Southampton or Leeds. Team, who like Stoke have intimated, would almost certainly have a B team and who dropped through the leagues. Their B teams are summarily relegated to avoid clashing and the season is a mockery. The only teams who would have the security to pump money consistently is the likes of us, yourselves, United, City, Chelsea. I don't want to actively entrench a monopoly the vast majority of fans despise us for. And that's before even getting on to shafting the conference clubs who would have another level shoved in to halt their dreams of being a full league club, and the money that goes with it. Many of these clubs would go out of existence too, clubs central to their towns and communities.
And even apart from the advantage of being backed by a big club, and having access to players well above their station, if these teams were barred from playing in the cups then they have the advantage of being fresher as well. Teams who already play 46 games a season who dream for a cup run in one of three(!) cup competitions and who don't have access to the fitness equipment, the number or quality of coaches and methods these B teams would have. Disadvantaged in their own league at the expense of a few kids who will sod off for the riches soon enough.
And you can be sure at some point that these B teams will be allowed access to the Championship in the name of "giving them more playing time against better quality opposition".
Spain and Germany have great youth products because of the coaching and training, not because they play in a B team for a year. Comparatively, we spend sod all time actually on the pitch, and when we do it's on shitty bogs conducive to playing hoof and hope. Encouraged by coaches who play for the battle, tens times fewer of which are UEFA-qualified. I believe a large part of this is down to price, maybe the FA and PL could subsidise this cost so it's lower than on the continent. Or investing more in artificial pitches/indoor facilities for kids to actually play. You can't blame local government all the time, when your players are earning hundreds of thousands a week and you're sitting in a £800m vanity box. The report does touch on this, so concentrate on it, pour money in to it and don't mess around with the entire structure of the football pyramid.
It's a complete lack of respect for the Football League, the clubs, the fans, those even further down. Patronising everything their clubs stand for and dream of in the name of getting England a round further until the next Golden Generation screws up. The commission is a joke. Glenn Hoddle, everyone's saviour for the last 10 years. Doesn't move from the Sky Sports studio. Roy Hodgson a fucking dinosaur who wouldn't know good football if it kicked him in his owly face. Rio Ferdinand. Danny Mills. A complete dunce and a pundit poor even for the BBC. Howard fucking Wilkinson. He hasn't been relevant for 20 years and even then it's as an answer to a pub quiz question. The only one who has any idea of youth football is Gradi and he must be going senile to agree with this. Fuck the lot of them.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Borini Is Boss
)
