Soriano: B teams in EFL

[leo_city]

The bottom line is that the 100 or so clubs below the Prem that are all run with professional players will never want to make way for B teams. And you can see why as there is no room. Maybe if 30 of them go bust things will change.

Can the EFL and leagues below Prem in general afford any clubs going bust? Not saying B teams is a good idea by any means but they will have to devise a plan with Prem for their survival in near future, as mentioned elsewhere, tradition does not care for businesses going from bad to worse and eventually bust.

 

[domalino]

It doesn't have to be B Teams. Why not affiliated clubs instead?

City are given or choose a club in League One and a club in League Two. HAVE to send 10 players to each club on a season long loan. City pay each club a seven figure development fee per season and continue to pay the wages of the players.

The fee would help sustain lower league clubs and maintain their history etc. rather than seeing another Bury/Macc Town.

There would have to be an agreement from the clubs receiving the players that these players need to play.

It's a two way street. Would help sustain them and would aid the development of younger players and bridge the gap.

Just an idea.

I think the solution is that you change the loan system so we pay for a player to be developed.

10 players is way too many, but what if we sent £5m to a club for taking on 3 of our kids - 3 that play in positions where the club needs help, but also with some guarantees that they're not going to be stuck on the bench all season.

And they get £5m to spend on whatever they need.

 

[Carver]

I see us putting out a team mainly consisting of under 21 players. Any with the remotest bit of skill will be targeted by Cloggers FC if B teams are allowed into lower league competition

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Mods please merge somewhere more appropriate. But I couldn’t see anything.

Seen Ferran Soriano has done an interview where part of the discussion is on the EFLs financial struggles and that they aren’t sustainable enough. He references the “B team” idea again without explicitly stating its what he wants/is advocating, but he’definitely said it before and I can’t imagine he’s changed his mind.

I find it very uncomfortable that city may be pushing for B teams in the EFL. Completely distorts competition in my opinion so if we are its certainly something I hope we don’t succeed with.

There is a lot we should be thankful to our management team for, but english league traditions are worth something for me and they need to leave it alone.
Engage in making change to make clubs more sustainable but dont stick your own B teams in place of teams that fall away.

It seems to work well in Spain and Germany which have a much better record than we do at developing young players. There needs to be a better way than the current system where the best young English players don't develop properly. Perhaps reserve sides need to come back.
I don't know how other clubs in Germany feel about playing Bayern and Dortmund's B teams but they do attract big crowds to games.
I share your concerns about traditions in football but I think it is an idea that is, at least, worthy of consideration.

 

[Dobsy]

The bottom line is that the 100 or so clubs below the Prem that are all run with professional players will never want to make way for B teams. And you can see why as there is no room. Maybe if 30 of them go bust things will change.

I can see where Ferran is coming from when he says that the system doesn't work for developing players here. I would like to see a hybrid approach where the smaller EFL clubs effectively become PL B teams while retaining their name and identity. There is a path there to retain the best of the culture and absorb the best of modern youth development systems.

However, many vested interests will get in the way and wrap themselves in the English flag and "istree".

 

[gouldybob]

This isn't new, he mentioned the issue in some press conference just after he arrived 2013/2014. Feedback was start in the bottom tier and rejection of the idea from EFL. So six years later, Bury and Macclesfield gone to the wall, Wigan and Bolton up shit creek even the mighty Wednesday failing. If there was a model of 50% less one share the control could be local, networks put together like Girona, we sell you a player for £2M and have buy back clause like Luiz at Villa, year 1 5M, year 2 10M. We don't want him back 50% of any profit. They benefit from the backroom stuff, scouting etc.. We benefit from having our players in a competitive league, they make a profit on a player making progress, we profit by possibly getting a diamond on the cheap.

EFL will say no because they're pig headed, our partner teams fans should see better players and hopefully win more, and more importantly their team won't disappear. Half of them have so many loan players anyway there is no true relationship with the player and I wouldn't go to Bolton or Bury to watch a game thinking I was watching City Lite. So separation of support, for me anyway, would be complete.

 

[blueparrot]

It doesn't have to be B Teams. Why not affiliated clubs instead?

City are given or choose a club in League One and a club in League Two. HAVE to send 10 players to each club on a season long loan. City pay each club a seven figure development fee per season and continue to pay the wages of the players.

The fee would help sustain lower league clubs and maintain their history etc. rather than seeing another Bury/Macc Town.

There would have to be an agreement from the clubs receiving the players that these players need to play.

It's a two way street. Would help sustain them and would aid the development of younger players and bridge the gap.

Just an idea.

I don’t think its a bad idea. The difficulty would be persuading the lower league clubs , especially the fans that their club is now just a subsidiary of a premier league club, so losing their individual identity and to a certain extent ambition / dreams.
I see the practicalities of it, but if I supported say Rochdale, would find it difficult to accept just being Citys development team. Then again if it’s that or going under.

 

[WRicko]

I can see where Ferran is coming from when he says that the system doesn't work for developing players here. I would like to see a hybrid approach where the smaller EFL clubs effectively become PL B teams while retaining their name and identity. There is a path there to retain the best of the culture and absorb the best of modern youth development systems.

However, many vested interests will get in the way and wrap themselves in the English flag and "istree".

I think lower league sides would rather play City B team than become City B team even if t u pretend they where not by keeping the name etc

How would we feel if we got religated and ended up with Chelsea rejects or worse the Scums

 

[bluebanana83]

How about a loan draft system. Each club in League 1&2 if they desire can loan up to 5 players from Prem & Champ academies/reserve teams.

The caveat being that the clubs could only loan from certain regions. So the North West clubs such as Rochdale, Oldham, Accrington etc would be able to loan up to 5 players from City, United, Liverpool, Everton and so on. Harrogate and Bradford could loan from Leeds, Sheff United and so on.

You could go as far as to say dependent on finances that determines who gets first pick on certain players. The clubs loaning would be able to say we have these players available for loan to League 1 clubs in our region and these for League 2. Then it would go to 1st pick for the least wealthy club in each region and league and so on until they’ve decided they’ve had enough or filled their 5 player allocation.

The loaning club would pay the wages and be able to recall only by January if they are not being used.


I think something like that could work as it means the players are still being kept local and in some instances you may have a couple at the same club and possibly on loan with a couple from another local club. Rather than being sent to the other end of the country. This could also mean they can still check in at the City Academy say twice a week.

For those where League 1 and 2 are not a high enough level such as Patrick Roberts/Lukas Nmecha for instance I’d still allow those players to be loaned to wherever is deemed suitable.

Essentially the richer clubs would be providing a pool of young players to clubs in their local regions to be dipped into free of charge, with the loaning club getting the young player developed. I think something like that could work rather than B Teams which I’m not a fan of.

 

[Fame Monster]

The EFL might not be sustainable but I can think of a thousand better solutions to it than B teams.

Sorriano should stay quiet and focus on the 'A' team.