Scudamore's latest hare-brained idea - a "B League"

[Falastur]

I don't understand the argument against reserve teams playing in the football league. If they introduce it slowly over time, starting in the lowest division and teams working their way Up I can't see how having the likes of city B, Liverpool B etc in the championship would harm the league. The clubs would have to pass the same test as others to enter the league in terms of stadium, pitch quality etc so it would only be the biggest teams reserves being able to work their way up, it would add competition and exposure in my mind. Works well in Spain why not here?

The problem isn't that the system wouldn't work. The system absolutely would work. The problem is that Spain and Germany and everywhere else have operated this system since time immemorial and we have not. In order for us to implement this system we would have to tell a half-dozen or more clubs to "politely please f*ck off to a lower league to make space for our untested kids". Yes, I'm aware that you're suggesting that the teams start at the bottom (you do realise that "the bottom" for Manchester clubs is thirteen levels lower than the Premier League, right? In some parts of the country the league system is twenty-four levels deep. Fat lot of good it'll do our kids to play against teams there...) but it's inevitable that they would eventually reach the Football League, so the effect is just the same. You're still guaranteeing that in 12-20 years time, anywhere between half a dozen and 20+ teams will force the established teams out of their places, and possibly down to Conference level.

Sure, those kids would improve in leaps and bounds, but the clubs you moved on would be thrown into financial difficulties (which would echo down the divisions as other clubs made way for those dropped down) and the Football League would come to be dominated by Premier League interests. The fans of teams outside the PL would be incensed. You might as well just tell them that you're turning the FL into a holding pen for Premier League youths and every club not currently in the PL is promptly to be removed from the league system. It would annihilate the years of tradition which have made our league system the best in the world and which make our Championship, L1, L2 clubs far better than the - quite frankly - utter Sunday League dross which fills the 2nd, 3rd and 4th tiers of the rest of Europe's so-called top footballing countries".

 

[Randomself]

I am not sure I have missed the point or got it, but an example of having a 'B' team of sorts is a potentially a good thing, but not necessarily as a replacement for the u21 league but to be in the competitive structure. A perfect example is us losing Denis Suarez to Barcelona, he is playing a high level of football in their B team and is starting to thrive there. Would he have stayed had we had a similar structure here, I am not sure, he may well of gone anyway simply due to it being Barcelona.

 

[dachoosen1]

Don't want to sound daft here but could our owner or a member of his family not simply buy a conference club and move our players to it on a loan or a transfer with a buyback clause. Im sure you could pick up a club for less then a million, the clubs fans will be happy cause their club will have stability, getting to see a better standard of football and will start to move up the leagues there would be no need to re brand the club (maybe a slight name change such as Bury fc could become Bury mcfc), For the cost of less then a million we could have our EDS playing Championship football in what 4 years? The wages will stay around the same mark as it will simply be the EDS squad and there coaches and afew of the puchased clubs more established players. And im sure the gates, shirt sales, prize money and sponsorship deals will make the cost of the club back inside afew seasons.<br /><br />-- Sun Feb 16, 2014 9:28 pm --<br /><br />Even if it does take 13 seasons would it not be better to start now and continue with the EDS and under 21 stuff!lol

 

[Falastur]

Don't want to sound daft here but could our owner or a member of his family not simply buy a conference club and move our players to it on a loan or a transfer with a buyback clause. Im sure you could pick up a club for less then a million, the clubs fans will be happy cause their club will have stability, getting to see a better standard of football and will start to move up the leagues there would be no need to re brand the club (maybe a slight name change such as Bury fc could become Bury mcfc), For the cost of less then a million we could have our EDS playing Championship football in what 4 years? The wages will stay around the same mark as it will simply be the EDS squad and there coaches and afew of the puchased clubs more established players. And im sure the gates, shirt sales, prize money and sponsorship deals will make the cost of the club back inside afew seasons.

-- Sun Feb 16, 2014 9:28 pm --

Even if it does take 13 seasons would it not be better to start now and continue with the EDS and under 21 stuff!lol

Technically this could happen, yes. However, it would be flagged as a "conflict of interests" (one person, or two related people, owning two different clubs in the same tournaments) and therefore the second club (or even City, for that matter) would be kicked out of the FA Cup, and the League Cup if said club ever got to the FL. The FA would most likely also take a dim view of any close co-operation between the two sides, most likely. It's possible that at somewhere down the line, someone would kick up a right fuss over whether it was "fair" - the Football League might decide to refuse them entry even if they won the Conference etc. And then there would be the inevitable outcry by both fans of the club that was purchased, and also the fans/owners of the other clubs it competed against. It would just be one endless PR nightmare.

There's also the rule that says one team can only loan in 4 players on season-long loan deals per season, and 10 players on short-term deals.

On top of this, I'm not convinced that Conference football is good enough for the EDS team. For the u-18s maybe, but I think EDS level is more like League One, at least if you go from the standard of where we loan players out to (and also factoring in that a team entirely of youths will not be as strong as one with only a handful.

 

[dachoosen1]

Good points! I just feel that competitive football, at a decent standard in front of crowds of passionate fans would do wonders for the younger players development and that as we are now have a fair chance of winning trophies every game is a vital game so we are unable to blood them our self. Im more then happy with the shape that the club is in and its such an amazing time to be a city fan but I would love if more of the EDS lads were in the first team picture, Lopes was MotM against West Ham but has only featured once since. Think a B team in the championship would really elp the club bring through a lot more home grown talent.

 

[Falastur]

Think a B team in the championship would really elp the club bring through a lot more home grown talent.

It certainly would, but the problem is finding a solution that is acceptable to more than just us.

 

[BigOscar]

We're better off using the Portuguese connections and loaning players there instead, B teams will never be allowed in England, especially not at a useful level. The Udinese/Levante/Watford thing was pretty interesting, you'd think you could be incredible if you coordinated it properly

 

[dachoosen1]

The probably with simply loaning the players out is we need them playing week in and week out to build up their experience but a fair few of the players we loan out seem to be used as bench warmers or back ups such as Guidetti, Boyata and Omar Elabdellaoui.

 

[BigOscar]

The probably with simply loaning the players out is we need them playing week in and week out to build up their experience but a fair few of the players we loan out seem to be used as bench warmers or back ups such as Guidetti, Boyata and Omar Elabdellaoui.

Well if we loan them to Gil Vicente, they'll definitely play (Gil Vicente are a special combination of poor and wank). The key is to coordinate with the feeder club to get them to hire theright sort of manager to play the right sort of football (which is tough).

 

[dachoosen1]

lol great description of Gil Vicente!