taconinja said:
JoeMercer'sWay said:
I can't imagine the current home games the U21 play at the Etihad make a profit.
Probably not, which is likely one reason City supports the B Team initiative.
If our youngsters are good enough they won't be going to slug it out in a mudbath at Newport County or somewhere of that ilk, so who exactly in this new B team is going to play? are you going to ruin our U18/U16 structure by promoting kids to play in it way earlier than they should for their development, or are you going to suggest we keep a whole host of youngsters on the books who aren't good enough to fill a B Squad, as our good EDS will be too good to play at that level, and it will be detrimental to their development.
Instead the JPT suggestion at least means they have to play cup games, a real competitive game with pressure and a real footballing experience, rather than in a league where they can't even get promoted, there's no reward at the end and therefore no real competitive desire amongst the squad, you've got to dangle carrots and incentives to people for them to progress, and 46 games, half on less than brilliant pitches at less than brilliant facilities, with no promotion or genuine reward at the end, against teams that our good players will only gain the risk of career-ending injuries from playing, just makes the whole B team concept utterly pointless.
There's doubts about the likes of Emyr Huws making it in a squad role with us and he played in the Championship last season, shows you the level our good prospects will end up being, a level far beyond the B team proposal.