I find the prospect of a formalised feeder club system frightening. It would completely be against the 125 years of tradition of English football and it's one aspect of European leagues I hope is never incorporated here.
The 'feeder club' idea infuriates me more than anything else that's being banded about in Football at the moment. Especially when it comprises the idea of having a "Chelsea B" or "Manchester United B" playing in the lower leagues.
The 'feeder club' idea infuriates me more than anything else that's being banded about in Football at the moment. Especially when it comprises the idea of having a "Chelsea B" or "Manchester United B" playing in the lower leagues.
But is it any worse than our league being dominated byloanees from PL clubs? Powell scored for Wigan yesterday, Lingard got 4 for Birmingham, maybe every club in the Championship should be allowed a Man U loanee!
The idea of having feeder clubs or B-teams in the lower leagues re-emerged last week with a suggestion it may be put before the commission being set up by Football Association chairman Greg Dyke over the future of English football. It has the backing of a number of Premier League managers with Andre Villas-Boas and Roberto Martínez – who even suggested a hypothetical link-up between Everton and Accrington Stanley – having previously voiced their support. Now Wenger has suggested a similar connection for Arsenal with Barnet, although he has also proposed the creation of a competitive new league within the pyramid of English football made up of leading clubs’ B-teams as an alternative to feeder clubs. “Barnet could be a good feeder club for us,” Wenger said. “But I respect as well the history of English football and, maybe, we should organise only a league of professional clubs, a complete league, a feeder league, because you don’t want to destroy clubs like Barnet and their history. You have to find a good mixture between the two.”
Arsenal have had strong links with Barnet in the past: a pre-season friendly used to be played between the clubs at Underhill Stadium, which also used to host games for Arsenal Reserves. The creation of feeder clubs would doubtless be met by strong opposition from the Football League although Wenger’s proposal of a new, competitive division of ‘B’ teams might be less contentious. Wenger even stated that he would support B-teams being drawn against their parent clubs in cup competitions. “If you draw them in the cup then in Germany it exists,” he said. “I have seen Stuttgart against Stuttgart II in the cup. It happened once that the second team won.” Wenger’s biggest complaint is that there are around “400 players in the professional top league clubs who have no real chance of ever playing for the first-team” and are therefore lost in the system. He said that the introduction of feeder clubs should lead to the abolition of the current under-21 league. “We have too many players in the clubs who have no chance of playing in the first-team and are going nowhere,” Wenger said. “For example we have 45 players between 16 and 21. You need to keep 20 from 19-21 but amongst this 20 not many have a realistic chance of playing one day for the first-team. It would be better for them to go somewhere and play. It’s demoralising for them to be there.”
The 'feeder club' idea infuriates me more than anything else that's being banded about in Football at the moment. Especially when it comprises the idea of having a "Chelsea B" or "Manchester United B" playing in the lower leagues.
But is it any worse than our league being dominated byloanees from PL clubs? Powell scored for Wigan yesterday, Lingard got 4 for Birmingham, maybe every club in the Championship should be allowed a Man U loanee!
“We have too many players in the clubs who have no chance of playing in the first-team and are going nowhere,” Wenger said. “For example we have 45 players between 16 and 21. You need to keep 20 from 19-21 but amongst this 20 not many have a realistic chance of playing one day for the first-team. It would be better for them to go somewhere and play. It’s demoralising for them to be there.”
What happens when the B team gets promoted? or is this really what the EPL wants no promotions or relegation. It could also mean the end of the FA cup as no way will they allow the A team being drawn against the B team.
What happens when the B team gets promoted? or is this really what the EPL wants no promotions or relegation. It could also mean the end of the FA cup as no way will they allow the A team being drawn against the B team.
In Spain the A and B teams can't play in the same league and have also recently been banned from the Copa Del Rey, although that wasn't always the case
Somebody called into 606 a couple of weeks back and suggested a similar idea, but instead of having club 'B' sides they put across the idea of there being an England U21s side in the Championship. Though I'm not a fan of the idea, at least it would go some way to help the dire situation with England's youth. That's a bigger issue we should be tackling than trying to accomodate Chelsea, Arsenal's foreign youngsters.
I would rather have smaller leagues, even as small as the present Conference set up, rather than have 'feeders'. What this 'feeder system' advocates is - excuse the analogy- Tesco, Sainsbury and ASDA owning all the corner shops and what remains of the high street, turning them into 'ordering stations' ready for pick ups at huge warehouses or home delivery. I would rather see CAFC go to the wall than see it whored out to Arsenal, Chelsea or (god forbid) Palace or Fulham
If a PL club wants to start a B team then make one and start it from the bottom like anyone else would have to.
Can see clubs entering into "partnerships" where they're allowed say 10 loans per season and a maximum of 5 are allowed on the pitch at any one time? What would people think about that?
If a PL club wants to start a B team then make one and start it from the bottom like anyone else would have to.
Can see clubs entering into "partnerships" where they're allowed say 10 loans per season and a maximum of 5 are allowed on the pitch at any one time? What would people think about that?
sorry Callum, to be blunt .. your idea is T O S H .. you're advocating that clubs all become 'Watfords', mere subsidiaries of bigger, often foreign clubs .. no no no and N O
Up until the 50's/60's there used to be a proper league stucture for the reserve sides called the Football Combination with approx eighteen teams per league, so Wenger wants to re-invent the wheel. Going by his critera Welling would fit the bill as Charlton feeder club (We play them in a freindly every year). I would imagine the true Welling Fans uping sticks and starting a new club called AFC Welling.
A lot of big clubs have links with smaller clubs anyway. As long as there is always choice from both clubs and both clubs benefit its not a bad thing. The idea of 'official feeder clubs' is crap though.
Just limit the number of youngsters the PL clubs can hoard. Then they will not be sitting around bored. The Champ will bring them through, get money when they are sold, improve the quality of lower footy, it is win, win. Feeder clubs would just mean even more hoarding of young players and soon they would all 'need' 2 feeder clubs.
Arsenal want hundreds of young prospects so that Chelsea can't have them. And vice versa. Limiting the numbers is in the players interests as well as everyone else's. England and the U21s would be a big beneficiary if that happened. But of course, it won't because Arsenal and Chelsea might be offended.
There's a lot to be said for smaller clubs not bothering with a youth system, as the big clubs will hoover up all the best ones anyway. A few years down the line though, the majority of these players get released and can then be picked up for nothing by the same smaller clubs who might have brought them through their academies in the first place!
There's a lot to be said for smaller clubs not bothering with a youth system, as the big clubs will hoover up all the best ones anyway. A few years down the line though, the majority of these players get released and can then be picked up for nothing by the same smaller clubs who might have brought them through their academies in the first place!
but then you could follow the logic that at these bigger clubs they'll be better coaching and better facilities. More young players in the FL with better coaching and (theoretically) technically better.
I normally love progress and new ideas, but this is counter productive. England is quite unique in that tiny clubs way down the structure often get half decent support. It's because of a dream that they could battle their way into the top flight. It's not that long ago that I moved to England (well maybe...) and back then Burnley, Fulham, Wigan, Cardiff and Swansea were confirmed fourth division stugglers. Yeovil weren't in the league. Nor were Steveanage, Fleetwood, Burton, Crawley and many others. Stockport and Grimsby were in the second tier. The point is that in a relatively short period of time things change. Designating a team like Swansea a feeder would have robbed football of something rather special.
This is a stupid idea and has no respect for fans of lower league clubs. So that's that sorted - when will it start as fans of lower league clubs get no thought from the prem
The idea of having feeder clubs or B-teams in the lower leagues re-emerged last week with a suggestion it may be put before the commission being set up by Football Association chairman Greg Dyke over the future of English football. It has the backing of a number of Premier League managers with Andre Villas-Boas and Roberto Martínez – who even suggested a hypothetical link-up between Everton and Accrington Stanley – having previously voiced their support. Now Wenger has suggested a similar connection for Arsenal with Barnet, although he has also proposed the creation of a competitive new league within the pyramid of English football made up of leading clubs’ B-teams as an alternative to feeder clubs. “Barnet could be a good feeder club for us,” Wenger said. “But I respect as well the history of English football and, maybe, we should organise only a league of professional clubs, a complete league, a feeder league, because you don’t want to destroy clubs like Barnet and their history. You have to find a good mixture between the two.”
Arsenal have had strong links with Barnet in the past: a pre-season friendly used to be played between the clubs at Underhill Stadium, which also used to host games for Arsenal Reserves. The creation of feeder clubs would doubtless be met by strong opposition from the Football League although Wenger’s proposal of a new, competitive division of ‘B’ teams might be less contentious. Wenger even stated that he would support B-teams being drawn against their parent clubs in cup competitions. “If you draw them in the cup then in Germany it exists,” he said. “I have seen Stuttgart against Stuttgart II in the cup. It happened once that the second team won.” Wenger’s biggest complaint is that there are around “400 players in the professional top league clubs who have no real chance of ever playing for the first-team” and are therefore lost in the system. He said that the introduction of feeder clubs should lead to the abolition of the current under-21 league. “We have too many players in the clubs who have no chance of playing in the first-team and are going nowhere,” Wenger said. “For example we have 45 players between 16 and 21. You need to keep 20 from 19-21 but amongst this 20 not many have a realistic chance of playing one day for the first-team. It would be better for them to go somewhere and play. It’s demoralising for them to be there.”
If you are going to have B teams, they can't take over existing clubs. I wouldn't want to go and watch us if we were say Arsenal reserves. Then if they don't take over existing clubs, they can't replace themeither as that is unfair. I suppose if they were willing to set up a b team that worked it's way up the leagues - that could be fair enough. There shouldn't be anything to stop us doing so either to be fair! But it would be best to call them reserve teams, not feeder clubs and have rules of course that they can't play at the same league level and not compete in the cups.
Comments
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/10325489/Arsenal-manager-Arsene-Wenger-keen-on-Barnet-link-up.html
The idea of having feeder clubs or B-teams in the lower leagues re-emerged last week with a suggestion it may be put before the commission being set up by Football Association chairman Greg Dyke over the future of English football.
It has the backing of a number of Premier League managers with Andre Villas-Boas and Roberto Martínez – who even suggested a hypothetical link-up between Everton and Accrington Stanley – having previously voiced their support.
Now Wenger has suggested a similar connection for Arsenal with Barnet, although he has also proposed the creation of a competitive new league within the pyramid of English football made up of leading clubs’ B-teams as an alternative to feeder clubs.
“Barnet could be a good feeder club for us,” Wenger said.
“But I respect as well the history of English football and, maybe, we should organise only a league of professional clubs, a complete league, a feeder league, because you don’t want to destroy clubs like Barnet and their history. You have to find a good mixture between the two.”
Arsenal have had strong links with Barnet in the past: a pre-season friendly used to be played between the clubs at Underhill Stadium, which also used to host games for Arsenal Reserves.
The creation of feeder clubs would doubtless be met by strong opposition from the Football League although Wenger’s proposal of a new, competitive division of ‘B’ teams might be less contentious.
Wenger even stated that he would support B-teams being drawn against their parent clubs in cup competitions.
“If you draw them in the cup then in Germany it exists,” he said. “I have seen Stuttgart against Stuttgart II in the cup. It happened once that the second team won.”
Wenger’s biggest complaint is that there are around “400 players in the professional top league clubs who have no real chance of ever playing for the first-team” and are therefore lost in the system. He said that the introduction of feeder clubs should lead to the abolition of the current under-21 league.
“We have too many players in the clubs who have no chance of playing in the first-team and are going nowhere,” Wenger said.
“For example we have 45 players between 16 and 21. You need to keep 20 from 19-21 but amongst this 20 not many have a realistic chance of playing one day for the first-team. It would be better for them to go somewhere and play. It’s demoralising for them to be there.”
“For example we have 45 players between 16 and 21. You need to keep 20 from 19-21 but amongst this 20 not many have a realistic chance of playing one day for the first-team. It would be better for them to go somewhere and play. It’s demoralising for them to be there.”
Well, don't bloody buy them then! Simple!
Can see clubs entering into "partnerships" where they're allowed say 10 loans per season and a maximum of 5 are allowed on the pitch at any one time? What would people think about that?
So that's that sorted - when will it start as fans of lower league clubs get no thought from the prem
;-)