Let's put second string in lower league

[BillobShaisley]

I used to do exactly that in Championship Manager by editting the database. It is a conunjerum for the modern manager with a youth and reserve structure. But as said we have a tradition here in the UK with so many proffessional clubs with such history themselves that it's to arogant to ruin them so the big clubs can have 2 teams.

We just need to make the reserve/youth competitions more of a preparation for the first team by increasing the amount of games and making them more competitive with some form of incentive.

[TheStig]

What happens if the A side gets relegated?

I assume they push the B sides down.

[alunevans]

Sorry Rafa, but this is a non starter. It may work in Spain but not in England. You can't kick an existing club out of the league so that big premiership sides can have 2 teams. Equally you couldn't have say Crewe as our 2nd string either as they are an established club with a supporter base of their own. Why should an existing club be ruined because we have no where to play our young talent.

true, but we could have agreements with various lower league clubs and loan out younger players on mass. i'd rather our entire reserves were playing regular football for crewe than dossing round with our joke of a reserve league.

there needn't be an official Liverpool B for there to be a Liverpool B and for what Rafa wants to be reality.

[notblue]

There used to be a "Central League" made up of reserve teams.
When I was a kid I went to Anfield every Saturday for the 1st team one week, Reserves the next, and they were all cracking games.
That was in the days of no subs, but now with the 1st team taking 16 players to each match, circumstances have change considerably, but I still think something could be worked out involving other major teams. A separate and properly scheduled league with real rewards at the end of the season should see some decent competitive action for the lads.
The lower (small) teams would probably oppose the idea, but, so what? Our up-and-comers need regular games to prove themselves.

[lfc4ever]

Why not have a system where an established PL club (one who has qualified for Europe in the last 2 years) can loan say a max of 5 players to 1 club in Div or 2 only, so they get used to playing with other in competitive games, but the majority of the team would be identifiable and local to the club and the coach, and if they get promoted, they then have to be sent back to the loaning club.

A max of 1 loan per club in The Championship, where say the best up & coming youth player can get a season of decent level under his belt.

[El Jefecito]

There used to be a "Central League" made up of reserve teams.
When I was a kid I went to Anfield every Saturday for the 1st team one week, Reserves the next, and they were all cracking games.
That was in the days of no subs, but now with the 1st team taking 16 players to each match, circumstances have change considerably, but I still think something could be worked out involving other major teams. A separate and properly scheduled league with real rewards at the end of the season should see some decent competitive action for the lads.
The lower (small) teams would probably oppose the idea, but, so what? Our up-and-comers need regular games to prove themselves.

Agree, we need to find a way to allow our younger players to take the next step up. I don't think Rafa's proposals will get much traction so how do we address this? Loaning out our players is one way. My concern tho' is that we miss the opportunity to coach them to play the Liverpool way.

BTW I, personally, have no idea how to fix this

[Mr Tourette]

on similar lines as many posts above - but why not say establish close links with a conference side (bit more realistic than a league 1 or championship side) perhaps even lower - then loan them the players to get them up to league status.....send in a coaching team and robert's your dad's brother - a league team playing the way our manager wants to play with 5-10 loan players in the squad, conference side get rich and we reap the rewards.

[bazza76]

Could this be used as one of the reason that Rafa leaves, if worst comes to worst, he does go in the summer?.
We all know Rafa likes to do things right, but if he can't do the youth side of it right at Anfield will he feel like he is using more lampshades or whatever he was getting at Valencia?.

[El Jefecito]

on similar lines as many posts above - but why not say establish close links with a conference side (bit more realistic than a league 1 or championship side) perhaps even lower - then loan them the players to get them up to league status.....send in a coaching team and robert's your dad's brother - a league team playing the way our manager wants to play with 5-10 loan players in the squad, conference side get rich and we reap the rewards.

Good idea, I think that's the kind of approach we'll end up taking!!!

[Morph]

Just noticed this on skysports:

A host of lower league clubs have launched a stinging rebuff to Rafa Benitez's plans to allow reserve teams to enter the Football League.

Benitez and Premiership counterpart Jose Mourinho feel England should adopt the Spanish approach at lower levels, which allows 'B' sides from the country's big clubs to compete in league.

Benitez feels the current reserve format does not offer enough competitive football to his young players.

However, his ideas have been met with dismay in some quarters.

"It would never happen here, not in a million years," said Peterborough director football Barry Fry.

"The Football League is a thriving, 72-club competitive competition which is one of the best supported in the world - 16 million people watch it every season.

"No-one would want to watch the reserve teams of any club - I don't care if they're Real Madrid, Juventus or Fray Bentos!

"If Rafa Benitez wants his young players to get competitive games then all he has to do is loan them out to clubs like us."

Gillingham chairman Paul Scally added: "I can understand the rationale in loaning them out to Football League clubs, which is available to them now, but I don't envisage the situation of a nursery club system.

"That's not going to happen in our lifetime. It's insulting to suggest that a bunch of Liverpool kids could hack it as their own club in the Football League.

"The Football League has got far greater qualities than that.

"We've taken a lot of players on loan from the Premiership in the past and they haven't been up to it to be frank because they haven't had the grounding of coming through the youth system of a Football League club.

"Without a shadow of a doubt, if Premiership clubs want to blood their stars of the future, they should loan them out to the right clubs where they can cut their teeth."

Swindon chief Willie Carson was equally scathing of Benitez's plans.

"Why on Earth did this man say this? The system has worked just fine for years," he said.

"The top clubs loan their reserve players out to get top experience, so we take them on; they get better and we get better.

"Clubs like Manchester United are forever sending their youngsters out and it helps us and it helps them. It helps football. Rafael Benitez is being selfish. Simple.

"He wants his players to get better but no one else to get better with it.

"This system would help his lot for sure, but what about us lot that get pushed out? Someone has to make way for these teams.

"He should put something back into the game. His club has lots of money, why don't they see it better distributed? No, they want more, and we suffer for it."


---------------

I find the last persons comments quite frankly astonishing

[Mr Tourette]

i reckon a few of these commnts are over the top. It happens in spain so i dont see why it cant happen here if the players are good enough. i just think you have to be more reaistic and say that youd have to take on a club outside of the league possibly even outside the conference and then work your way up over 2 or 3 years until you have a league club in which a large numbers of very promising players can be loaned out to....i think liverpool fans that couldnt afford to see the real thing would support in reasonably large numbers........

Just noticed this on skysports:

A host of lower league clubs have launched a stinging rebuff to Rafa Benitez's plans to allow reserve teams to enter the Football League.

Benitez and Premiership counterpart Jose Mourinho feel England should adopt the Spanish approach at lower levels, which allows 'B' sides from the country's big clubs to compete in league.

Benitez feels the current reserve format does not offer enough competitive football to his young players.

However, his ideas have been met with dismay in some quarters.

"It would never happen here, not in a million years," said Peterborough director football Barry Fry.

"The Football League is a thriving, 72-club competitive competition which is one of the best supported in the world - 16 million people watch it every season.

"No-one would want to watch the reserve teams of any club - I don't care if they're Real Madrid, Juventus or Fray Bentos!

"If Rafa Benitez wants his young players to get competitive games then all he has to do is loan them out to clubs like us."

Gillingham chairman Paul Scally added: "I can understand the rationale in loaning them out to Football League clubs, which is available to them now, but I don't envisage the situation of a nursery club system.

"That's not going to happen in our lifetime. It's insulting to suggest that a bunch of Liverpool kids could hack it as their own club in the Football League.

"The Football League has got far greater qualities than that.

"We've taken a lot of players on loan from the Premiership in the past and they haven't been up to it to be frank because they haven't had the grounding of coming through the youth system of a Football League club.

"Without a shadow of a doubt, if Premiership clubs want to blood their stars of the future, they should loan them out to the right clubs where they can cut their teeth."

Swindon chief Willie Carson was equally scathing of Benitez's plans.

"Why on Earth did this man say this? The system has worked just fine for years," he said.

"The top clubs loan their reserve players out to get top experience, so we take them on; they get better and we get better.

"Clubs like Manchester United are forever sending their youngsters out and it helps us and it helps them. It helps football. Rafael Benitez is being selfish. Simple.

"He wants his players to get better but no one else to get better with it.

"This system would help his lot for sure, but what about us lot that get pushed out? Someone has to make way for these teams.

"He should put something back into the game. His club has lots of money, why don't they see it better distributed? No, they want more, and we suffer for it."


---------------

I find the last persons comments quite frankly astonishing

[dww]

So a team with zero ambition??? The thing is look at say portsmouth/Reading etc......The team we choose would have to stick in the lower leagues Forever, any of the teams could get a wealthy benefactor and fund there rise to the top.

Nearly all the teams in lower divisions have low enough ambitions. Most currently lower than mid table in the Championship struggle to survive, and all but a handful will never attract a crowd above 5-8 thousand and there simply aren't that many people looking to put their money into a club for no return.

Most clubs would be happy to see an improvement in the standard of entertainment and a guarentee of success.

We have to accept that the league has absolutely no reason to aquiesse to our wishes. I admit it is a compromise but we have to work within the system at hand.

I would however like to see us gain a european feeder team/ finishing school in the style that Man United and Arsenal do. We have to look at having a plurality of sources and of ways to allows us to get talented players associated with the club irrelevant of possible work permit issues.

[shadow]

What the **** does Willie Carson know about football anyway

short-arse ****

[Shaggy]

Anyone seen this article from December of last year? Mourinho making the same suggestion with full backing from Wenger, yet it's Rafa getting slaughtered from all angles.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6162461.stm

Birmingham chairman David Gold has branded Jose Mourinho's call for Premiership reserve teams to play in the Football League "disrespectful."

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger backed Mourinho's plea for Chelsea reserves to play in the Football League.

But Gold said: "Jose often talks about requiring respect, but this is disrespectful to Football League clubs.

"It's not the Football League's problem if his players aren't getting enough competition," Gold told BBC Five Live.

Mourinho claimed English football should follow the example of Spain, where big clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona are allowed to field their B teams lower down the professional football ladder.

The B teams cannot be promoted, and they are not allowed to enter Spanish cup competitions.

Mourinho had said: "I would love to see it.

"I can tell for sure that if that happened players like Lassana Diarra, Mikel John Obi, Salomon Kalou, when they are not selected for the first team, they have a competition to play in a different level. So they should have a look."

Wenger echoed Mourinho's call, saying: "It's a very good idea.

"I've said it many times because it happens in France. In France there is two divisions difference and you cannot come up.


"It gives them competition against teams who are fighting for the top level and instead of giving players out on loan, you can get them good competition."

But Gold said: "That may be fine for Jose and I'm sure it would be nice for him if he had three or four teams playing in the League.

"Where would he expect his team to enter the League?

"To allow it to happen, straight away you would have to dump a club into the Conference to make room."

[Red_Polo]

cant we make a new team up??? Ala Wimbledon and FC United?

Whats stopping us doing that? they could progress through the non leagues and would be in the championship in 10 yrs

You can't own an interest in more than one team.

I totally disagree with Rafa btw, ridiculous idea.