How would they get on?

[mersey86]

If Rafa's wish were to be granted and we were allowed to field a reserve team in a lower division (say the current Division One), how do you think this team would do:

Martin; Darby, Hobbs, San Jose, Insua;
Anderson, Spearing, Lucas, Hamill
Nemeth, Ecclestone

Subs: Pacheco, Bruna, Huth, Leto, Ryan

Would it be better for them than reserves and loan deals?

[Jayesh87]

If Rafa's wish were to be granted and we were allowed to field a reserve team in a lower division (say the current Division One), how do you think this team would do:

Martin; Darby, Hobbs, San Jose, Insua;
Anderson, Spearing, Lucas, Hamill
Nemeth, Ecclestone

Subs: Pacheco, Bruna, Huth, Leto, Ryan

Would it be better for them than reserves and loan deals?

Obviously, never going to happen in a million years though.

Who the **** is Ryan?

Lucas is a first team player, and wouldn't be in and 'B' team. Stick Plessis (sp?) in.

Also it's Eccleston and he hasn't even graduated the Academy yet so he wouldn't be in any Reserve team.

The team would probably be mid table or near the drop zone if they were in the Championship.

[Subby]

league 2 game v the giants of York city

[bigfooty]

Considering where they go on loan I reckon around top-half of League 2.

[mersey86]

OK. A couple of mistakes. By Ryan, I meant Flynn. Replace Eccleston with El Zhar, Lucas with Plessis, add Putterill to the list and obviously another goalkeeper. Would the English mentality mean that a bunch of younger players would be likely to get a bit of a kicking?

[Exiled_red]

I think to put any young team in the lower leagues they would struggle to do well against the more experienced lower leagues sides first choice team, regardless of technical ability because they lack any players with experience.

It could either aid their development in gaining experience quickly, or shatter confidence (depending on players characteristics)

[Kenneth]

If it were in a proper league, playing competitive football, it would include anyone at the club who was good enough, outside the first team, i.e. including the kids.

I think they've do alright. Championship doesn't sound unreasonable.

[The Red Cardinal]

Watching them last night against quite a strong Sunderland team, I'd say they'd do OK. I'm not saying the likes of Yorke, Harte and Stokes put in their best performances last night, but the kids didn't look overwhelmed at all...

[dww]

I think they would do okay but would need a few hard leaders in there - I would imagine they would get top half of league one perhaps without. The point is though that the aim is to be a learning experience and they would IMO be better off with some players to learn from especially at the lower levels the things that need to be learned are how to handle rough matches without a strong referee.

Other than that I think that an old head helps players to learn game management in terms of how to close out a win etc. The trouble is finding the right person - I would imagine that in recent years older players like McAllister could have been used in that role and then eased into a management position.

Without a few precautions I think exposing a team of young players to a competitive league could do damage to as many as it helped. Handled correctly I think it would be a real boon in terms of player development though.

[mersey86]

Good post dww. I agree that a few experienced heads would be needed to guide the youngsters.

[andyinswinton]

The trouble is, what club would be willing to pay the wages of an experienced player to play with the kids in league two for example and what players would want to spend the twilight of their careers in the bottom division? I know there are some older players playing in lower leagues but I'm sure the players would need to do themselves justice.

[dww]

The trouble is, what club would be willing to pay the wages of an experienced player to play with the kids in league two for example and what players would want to spend the twilight of their careers in the bottom division? I know there are some older players playing in lower leagues but I'm sure the players would need to do themselves justice.

A lot of older former PL players end up in the Championship and below and there are a lot of old-pros who never do better than the Championship who would still be excellent in a mentoring role. I think that if you had the money to pay decent wages and/or offered to give them coaching opportunities the job could be quite attractive. The point is that if the team was our feeder team then we would pay the wages to the older player - on the basis that frequently the sort of player who would do it would be on a deal probably not incomparable with the sort of wages we would pay a reserve team player now.

[El Jefecito]

The trouble is, what club would be willing to pay the wages of an experienced player to play with the kids in league two for example and what players would want to spend the twilight of their careers in the bottom division? I know there are some older players playing in lower leagues but I'm sure the players would need to do themselves justice.

Hyypia would be that type of player. We need him as backup, he'd still get first team games and would be able to work on his match sharpness during the regular season. THere are many others on the fringes of the first team that would benefit from the same, as leto and insua are doing right now.

[shanks69]

Obviously, never going to happen in a million years though.

Who the **** is Ryan?

Lucas is a first team player, and wouldn't be in and 'B' team. Stick Plessis (sp?) in.

Also it's Eccleston and he hasn't even graduated the Academy yet so he wouldn't be in any Reserve team.

The team would probably be mid table or near the drop zone if they were in the Championship.

eccleston scored for the reserves last week.

[AFII]

eccleston scored for the reserves last week.

Some of the players that is good enough will play both for the reserves and the youth team to get enough games. If they only play for one of them then they will only play something like two or three games a month and that isn't enough.