Possible league reform

[recordmeister]

So we end up as the whipping boys for man utd youth team made up of 'local' youth from other countries who have been in the uk long enough to be classed as 'local'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27289819

I honestly might just give up now.

Thoughts?

[GodalmingYellow]

So we end up as the whipping boys for man utd youth team made up of 'local' youth from other countries who have been in the uk long enough to be classed as 'local'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27289819

I honestly might just give up now.

Thoughts?

No problem with B teams joining the pyramid, provided they start at the bottom or an appropriate level such as step 6, like everyone else, and provided no first team players are allowed to play.

Otherwise it is the usual bag of shite promoted by Premier League teams (under the guise of the toothless FA) wanting to dominate all aspects of the game, and that must never be permitted.

[Hog]

Completely ridiculous notion. Really, what is the point? They already have development games amongst themselves - just get on with it and leave 'real' football alone.

[recordmeister]

It's the same idea as Tesco Metro for the big brands, like Chelsea. You dominate the out of town shopping complexes, now you want to push the independent retailers off the high street too. Give people looking for football at any price point an opportunity to engage with your brand and then 'premiumise' up to the first team every so often. Same trick booze companies or airlines use: have a range of offerings at different price points with one brand.

[Jimski]

Quite apart from how bad an idea it is on a "moral" level, you wonder how it would actually work in practice. Presumably if a side got relegated out f the top two tiers, their reserve side would be replaced with that of the promoted side that takes their place? (Or is this a precursor to pulling up the relegation drawbridge too?) And the tables would get very confused if a whole load of the teams could never actually be promoted. Even worse there would presumably be no set squads for these B teams, so if you were unlucky you'd suddenly face an A team player such as van Persie returning from injury or something...

[Brahma Bull]

Appalling suggestion from Dyke.

There is life outside the Premiership and in fact, I would suggest that's where you find real fans and supporters alongside the football clubs which are so important in their local communities. I honestly think, having read the national journalists report on this, that they are completely detached (more than I even realised) from anything outside the top flight and our national side.

There is a reason why clubs in Germany and Spain have 'B' sides and one reason is that the infrastructure and 'fanbase/support' doesn't sustain local/regional sides. It's the same in most European countries, Austria is another.

We have a wonderful league pyramid, one with four/five competitive leagues. I am all for the introduction of 'B' sides in some form (actually they are reserves sides) but not to throw them into the senior leagues. The whole concept is ill-thought out and is disrespectful to grass-roots football and lower league sides.

Just set up a stand-alone 'B' league, nothing to do with the Football League, where election is based on your Academy status (like the Women's League) and throw some money at it. I don't want to see a load of Spanish 18 year olds playing for Man City against Oxford/Accrington/Exeter etc.

[SmileyMan]

Don't the Premiership clubs already use the League Cup for this anyway?

[Out of the gloom]

Ludicrous - promotion/relegation would be unworkable, as would the FA Cup - a competition in need of its own commission. It is not just a matter of the B teams not being eligible for promotion. It won't be long till Premier League clubs demand that their A teams cannot be relegated.

On other proposals to the Dyke commission:
Quite prepared to ditch the meaningless homegrown rule - not expand it. Clubs can have 22 man squads; any age, any nationality, two goalkeepers, without a homegrown quota. The quid pro quo would be that all others players must be under 21 and England/home nations eligible.

Changes to the loan system are also possible. All loans, except those of proven emergency (e.g. no goalkeepers) should be between transfer windows. However, there could be a flexibility clause to allow parent clubs to recall their player for 1-3 games, before continuing the loan. Finally, clubs see a benefit in loaning players, why not coaches?

[Mooro]

Just set up a stand-alone 'B' league, nothing to do with the Football League, where election is based on your Academy status (like the Women's League) and throw some money at it. I don't want to see a load of Spanish 18 year olds playing for Man City against Oxford/Accrington/Exeter etc.

The larger academies (Cat 1&2) do have a formal league structure already - it is only the smaller ones (Cat 3 like us & 4) that work on a more ad hoc basis.

The only idea I've seen out of this whole debate that has any legs from my point of view is one from Michael Owen(!) in which he suggests that loans to the lower leagues are handled more teh like the US draft system, where teh big clubs put up those players they want to loan out (and to which division), then the clubs get chance to select who they want, up to a set number. The idea being that it would take out the 'who knows who' element that means some clubs get better access than others.

The whole B team in the league structure thing has no real advantages as I can see, as even the idea that they are competiting for a 'real' target does not work, as the whole nature of a Big B Team vrs little A team will still be a false environment. Only by playing alongside the lower level players will they actually get the experience they need.

[slappy]

How about the b teams play at conference level, but only the top non-b teams get promoted, so even if 2 b teams finish first and second, the next two non-league get promoted?

[Snake]

Nonsense on stilts. If that’s the best Greg Dyke can come up with then I reckon the biggest problem the English FA have is that’s he’s in charge of it.

[Kernow Yellow]

Where to start with this insulting plan? It would completely demean the league to have B teams playing. Where would the B teams play their home games? Who would go and watch them? They could hardly have a fan base independent of their A teams, could they?

Lower League and Conference teams (including ourselves) might not always be the most sound going concerns, but compared to most Prem clubs we're models of financial probity. The problem (according to Dyke and everyone) is that not enough English players are playing in the top flight. So legislate to change that then! The Man Citys and Chelseas of this world need to be made to get their houses in order - it shouldn't be up to clubs like ours to pick up the pieces of their folly while they brazenly flout financial fair play rules and continue to collect titles and accolades like Panini stickers.

[Jimski]

If this plan does actually go ahead (which to be honest, I thankfully seriously doubt), I suspect it'll be the end for me actually bothering with football. Utterly demeaning to the lower levels of the league.

[Eric Pollard]

Come on chaps. It won't go ahead though will it? It's a stalking horse for a watered down compromise i.e. parent and feeder clubs.
i.e. we formally link up with gulp ...say Reading and they let us have their loanees for a season.

This route is also totally unacceptable to me.

I agree with Mooro and his taking up of the Michael Owen point - let there be a US style draft of top young talent to the lower leagues - would create some excitement and would preserve the competitive ethos of the lower leagues.

I too am staggered by just how little the national press actually know about the lower leagues judging by their dopey coverage of this issue. It's like two different sports these days. Far more important to know whether Jose is being sarky as opposed to knowing who say Jay Emmanuel Thomas is.

Also, Dyke's a guileless fool. There has to be change but not this way!

[The OXman Cometh]

All Greg Dyke is, is a mouthpiece for the top premiers*t clubs, nothing more, just there to do their bidding. So is that sanctimonious 'committee' which sits with him.

Danny Mills; "I'm sure the supporters of Hartlepool would much rather watch Hartlepool play a Man Utd B team than Torquay"

Really? You know this how, ask them did you............

If this goes ahead, and I fear it will, I am finished with football because there would be no point.