[Borys]

Moderators, feel free to move to Misc Football or to Other Nonsense as appropriate.
Seeing that there was talk of "colt" teams in one of Doncaster's brainfarts, maybe this could be of some interest ...
Borys

http://www.sportingl...=soccer&BID=165

Everton manager David Moyes has revealed his attempts to get a Toffees 'B' team into the Conference were scuppered by red tape.

Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas has backed a change to the existing system for reserve teams by suggesting England should look to the example set by Spain, where top-flight clubs field second string sides in lower divisions.

Several years ago Moyes explored a similar option but was frustrated by the sheer depth of the non-league football pyramid.

"Four or five years ago I would have liked to have put an Everton reserve team into the Conference because it would have been better football for them," he said.

"My hope was that we could have used Widnes' stadium as the homeground and that when Everton were playing away the B team would have played in the Conference there.

"That was my long (term) idea because I thought the games would have been better, more competitive and more realistic for the players.

"But we would have had to have gone into Division Nine of the North-West Outer Counties or whatever you want to call it and it would have taken 10 or 11 years to get through.

"I would have been happy just to be in the Conference - no promotion, not involved in cups or anything - just so I could have got a good reserve team and given young players a game against the men.

"If clubs had the right facilities to play on a Saturday I thought it might have helped the Conference as well.

"We have the North and South conferences so it would have been ideal if we had had two or three clubs who had wanted to go into it and it would have maybe boosted the Conference a little bit as well.

"But I think it would be unfair for any team to go into the Championship, the tradition in this country would see that not as the right thing to do."

Moyes said the benefit of playing in a senior competitive league at weekends would extend beyond the experience players would get from the matches.

"Because the games would tend to be on a Saturday or a Sunday the young players would be able to follow the same programme as the senior ones," added the Scot.

"The training week is similar and the players can do similar work.

"When your reserve games are Tuesday or Wednesday night it makes it difficult to follow programmes and your weekends become difficult because they (younger players) may have to come with the first team.

"Before you know it you have young boys missing training sessions and, first and foremost, we have to make sure their development is right."

This post has been edited by Borys: 20 January 2012 - 19:01

[Enrico Annoni]

Never heard of Enbglish before.

[Borys]

Yeah, I know. Fucking fat fingers ...
Pleading with the mods to correct it ...

Borys

[Desert Nomad]

Was a bit of debate about it on Talksport this morning. They can f**k right off as far as I`m concerned. Enough of the younger generation already watch their EPL hereos on Sky rather than getting along to a local game.

[smpar]

Not a bad idea, it's a bit of a step-up from reserve football IMO.

[HibeeJibee]

Reserve teams in the EFL, Conference or SFL is a terrible idea IMO, for a variety of reasons. As regards the particular proposal of Vilas-Boas, not surprising the EFL have responsed very very strongly.

Quote

http://news.bbc.co.u...ll/16659835. stm

League chief Andy Williamson said Football League clubs should not become feeder sides to the Premier League.

"The suggestion is frankly offensive," Williamson said.

"Our clubs are constituted as sovereign entities which represent their town or city with pride, rather than being a subsidiary of another club in another part of the country," he continued.

"These are senior professional football matches that matter - they are not just platforms for developing other clubs' players."

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Always wondered why Rangers/Celtic never took this route to play in England. Throw a couple of teams in the North West Counties league or some pish and even their youth team would make up to Northern Premier League standard no bother then slowly turn the Scottish team into the B side and vice versa.

[TheTodd]

No thanks.

[Monkey Tennis]

http://news.bbc.co.u... ll/16659835. stm

League chief Andy Williamson said Football League clubs should not become feeder sides to the Premier League.

"The suggestion is frankly offensive," Williamson said.

"Our clubs are constituted as sovereign entities which represent their town or city with pride, rather than being a subsidiary of another club in another part of the country," he continued.

"These are senior professional football matches that matter - they are not just platforms for developing other clubs' players."



The above is an excellent response and cuts right to the very point that idiots involved in the top end of football rarely understand.

[WaffenThinMint]

This is the thin end of the wedge for football becoming all about brand names rather than clubs serving a locality. Clubs have been happy enough to have agreements with smaller clubs in lower leagues to use them to blood youngsters or to get players back on their feet after long term injury or illness, which has been of benefit to both sides.

But this smacks too much of heading towards franchise football, with an Everton Football Club in every league, something I seem to remember they tried their luck on before with the Irish before pissing off and leaving the Home Farm and Drumcondra fans to pick up the pieces. No thanks!

[craig24]

i have to admit when i first heard the idea of Colt teams in scotland i hated it. i thought it smacked of the attitude "the OF are the only thing we have to sell so lets sell it twice". but what i am about to say might be controversial. what if allowing B tams into the second tier can facilitate changes to the league structure? just consider the following list of teams as with current standings:

1. Celtic

2. Rangers

3. Hearts

4. St Johnstone

5. Motherwell

6. Dundee Utd

7. Kilmarnock

8. Aberdeen

9. St Mirren

10. Inverness CT

11. Hibernian

12. Dunfermline

13. Ross County

14. Falkirk

15. Dundee

16. Partick

17. Hamilton

18. Livingston






then



1. Greenock Morton

2. Raith Rovers

3. Ayr Utd

4. Queen of the South

5. Cowdenbeath

6. Arbroath

7. Stenhousemuir

8. Dumbarton

9. Brechin

10. Airdrie

11. East fife

12. Albion Rovers

13. CELTIC B

14. RANGERS B

15. HEARTS B

16. HIBERNIAN B

17. ABERDEEN B

18. DUNDEE UTD B


now i know it's contraversial but doesn't that seem workable? plus it might be negotiated that any tv moneys being distributed to the second tier are not given to B teams so it would require less to go round. the other sticking point maybe that why have Dundee utd B and not killie etc but there has to be a cut off point and they are the 6 biggest clubs. successful countries like germany and spain have B teams in the lower divisions so it shouldn't be so quickly overlooked. as long as it is for the right reasons.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Because the fans of the teams in the lower leagues don't want to see them play against reserve teams?

[Widge]

Hibs and Aberdeen are bad enough, can you imagine thier B teams.

Oh and Dundee united don't have enough players to do a B team, it would end up being their under 19s and there's already a league for that. The SPL teams, bar Celtic ( yes I'm including rangers in this) don't have big enough squads or wallets to fund a fully compotent B team, it's a no go.

[Enrico Annoni]

Horrible idea


Bit of an insult to lower league teams

[HibeeJibee]

I see that in his parting interviews after leaving Rangers yesterday David Weir calls for the Old Firm to be given the right to field Reserve teams in the First Division, according to today's Mail on Sunday.

[SpudNuts]

Widge, on 22 January 2012 - 00:10, said:

Hibs and Aberdeen are bad enough, can you imagine thier B teams.

Oh and Dundee united don't have enough players to do a B team, it would end up being their under 19s and there's already a league for that. The SPL teams, bar Celtic ( yes I'm including rangers in this) don't have big enough squads or wallets to fund a fully compotent B team, it's a no go.

Surely all the monies the B team would take in form sponsors, tickets sales, etc would go the rest of the way to supplement the cost of the extra players who, lets face it, wouldn't be on a big wedge anyway.
Not that I think United could afford it any time soon, even if this was a possible course of action in the next 5 years or so its at least twice that time before any pf the teams bar the OF could think about investing in something like that. Clubs should be debt-free before trying anythng like this.

[Enrico Annoni]

i've just had a brainstorm.

Why dont the SPL form, some sort of reserve league. I know its a radical idea. But i think it may just work out

[Zeus]

Enrico Annoni, on 22 January 2012 - 13:48, said:

i've just had a brainstorm.

Why dont the SPL form, some sort of reserve league. I know its a radical idea. But i think it may just work out

Terrible idea, would never work.

I mean, why would players want young players and those on the fringe to get games etc.

[WeeHectorPar]

It makes it too easy for the top teams to fiddle who gets promoted. They can find themselves with a top-flight match they can afford to lose and pull out half of the B team to replace "injured" players. It would mess about too much with promotion and relegation from the lower league. The Spaniards don't have a problem with it because they, like the Italians, are corrupt anyway. I'm not even sure French football is all that clean as it is virtually impossible to predict the results of the 10 first division matches each week. It's as though the results are programmed by the lottery people to fit in with betting patterns.