"B Team" Leagues

[Chris]

A new competition for Premier League and Championship clubs to field B teams will be considered by the Football Association on Wednesday.
It has been proposed that the teams could play in a league sandwiched between League Two and the Conference.
Another option is to merge League Two and the Conference with the B teams to form two regional leagues.

The proposals are part of FA chairman Greg Dyke's commission on the future of the national team.
It is understood that the Premier League and Football League clubs are broadly in favour of the B team concept, which would be predominantly made up of homegrown players, but have reservations about how it might fit into the pyramid and the knock-on effects to other leagues and competitions.
One question is whether current League Two clubs would be relegated into the Conference or the new B team league if they went down. The other difficult issue is how far could B teams be promoted?

Despite those worries, one source told the BBC that following more than 300 interviews with clubs and other stakeholders in the game, led by research consultant Peter Beverley, there was a universal acceptance that a major overhaul was needed to ensure big clubs' reserve teams and younger English talent were being given more regular, competitive football.
Commission members point to the fact that clubs in Spain, France and Germany all play B teams in competitive leagues - thought to be a big factor in those countries developing talent.

Dyke is believed to be keen to open the debate about the state of the national game ahead of the World Cup finals in Brazil which kick off on 12 June.
There is a determination to get on the front foot ahead of the tournament to pre-empt the inevitable debate which will follow if Roy Hodgson's England team put in a disappointing performance in Brazil.

Ironically the emergence of players like Raheem Sterling at Liverpool and Adam Lallana at Southampton have taken some of the heat out of that debate in recent months.
And some senior figures inside the FA are urging Dyke to hold fire until after the competition and until all the finer details of the commission's proposals are ironed out.

The Dyke commission was set up last autumn to try and address ongoing concerns about the strength of the English national team and the lack of top-class English talent forcing its way through into Premier League first teams.
The commission, which includes former England manager Glenn Hoddle, former Leeds boss Howard Wilkinson and ex-Crewe manager Dario Gradi, is aiming to deal with two major questions - the pathway for players aged between 17 and 21 and grassroots facilities.
While it is thought the commission has done extensive work on the first question, the issue of grassroots football is not yet complete.
Other proposals expected to go before the FA board on Wednesday include a shake-up of the loan system and changes to the homegrown player quotas operated by Premier League and Football League clubs.But it is the B team proposal that promises to be the most controversial.

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

FA in great idea shocker

Nice headline

Seriously though, this is a great idea. Would boost crowds at lower league level, give youngsters a better chance to impress and potentially helps England in World cups etc...

[Deleted]

Been saying it for ages. Great for us.

[ratbag]

Agreed...we have talked a little about this before...really hope this goes through...

[Jayrannasaurus]

So long overdue really,haven't Spain had this for ages?

[johnboy14]

Exactly whats needed in my opinion. Though theres no point having teams at that level play other youth teams all the time. Exposing them to teams fighting relegation and promotion would be alot more beneficial.

[Deleted]

Great Idea, though exposing them to cloggers could be harmful too.

Better than the U21's anyhoo.

[johnboy14]

May 6, 2014 12:13:17 GMT @dedrevil said:

Great Idea, though exposing them to cloggers could be harmful too.

Better than the U21's anyhoo.

18 and 19 year olds need to be exposed to it, I think. A more pressing issue isn't whether there play competitive football but whether there being encouraged to play football properly. English football has the greatest diversity of tactics in any country in europe, that is a major problem for the national team. If you look at german football, most teams play 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-4-1. Players from the youth teams can integrate into the first team without much effort because they know the system and there role within it.

[Deleted]

May 6, 2014 12:19:12 GMT johnboy14 said:

May 6, 2014 12:13:17 GMT @dedrevil said:

Great Idea, though exposing them to cloggers could be harmful too.

Better than the U21's anyhoo.

18 and 19 year olds need to be exposed to it, I think. A more pressing issue isn't whether there play competitive football but whether there being encouraged to play football properly. English football has the greatest diversity of tactics in any country in europe, that is a major problem for the national team. If you look at german football, most teams play 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-4-1. Players from the youth teams can integrate into the first team without much effort because they know the system and there role within it.

Not sure If I've mis-understood here, but you want to expose them to tactics they won't face in the PL, then call it a major problem?

Not having a go, just don't understand your point, if you wouldn't mind correcting me?

[johnboy14]

May 6, 2014 12:23:02 GMT @dedrevil said:

May 6, 2014 12:19:12 GMT johnboy14 said:

18 and 19 year olds need to be exposed to it, I think. A more pressing issue isn't whether there play competitive football but whether there being encouraged to play football properly. English football has the greatest diversity of tactics in any country in europe, that is a major problem for the national team. If you look at german football, most teams play 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-4-1. Players from the youth teams can integrate into the first team without much effort because they know the system and there role within it.

Not sure If I've mis-understood here, but you want to expose them to tactics they won't face in the PL, then call it a major problem?

Not having a go, just don't understand your point, if you wouldn't mind correcting me?

Its a major problem when they all get together for internationals and there all a bunch of strangers to eachouter. A problem i notice with young players looking to break into the first team is tactics applied at youth level are not the same as the first team in most cases in this country. Its a big advantage German, Dutch and Spanish youngsters have because they apply the same tactics from the youth team all the way through the system, and the tactics don't vary alot between clubs. The youngsters at Ajax, play 433 all the way through the system. This means a youngster coming to the first team doesn't have to learn the system of play or work out his role within it because he knows it already or pretty much knows it. If he's good enough then the integration into the first team is alot faster and easier. If you look at the English national side, chelsea, arsenal, liverpool and us all play different systems and apply differing philosophies. Thats why English players look like complete strangers in the same shirt.

I didn't mean to say the tactical diversity is a complete negative but when the difference between every team is so stark how does a national team coach mould them into a team with a handful of days to coach them in any given year. If the players share a similar idea on how to play then when they come together its alot easier to gel into a proper team. Theres no better example than Spain. Half the team plays for the same club. Thats a huge advantage in international football. Talented players who know eachouter inside out. Most spanish clubs don't play like Barcelona so would spain have been so dominant had they not had that nucleus of Barcelona players?.

[Deleted]

All good points, thanks for clarifying

But unless there is a mandate for all teams to play the same system, which will never happen, they're also redundant.

It will benefit the individual clubs for sure, and still England in the sense that the players will be playing (semi?)competitive football earlier, but as you alluded to, the tactical diversity is stark.

[Deleted]

Yep a good idea and long overdue. I was aware that Spain, Portugal and Germany they do it, not that they have it in France. I'd have it so that a B Team could potentially reach the Championship but no further rather than limit them to the lower league.

[_]

The system is very strong in Germany but there are strict rules. The B teams can't return to the first team if there's a crisis. Squads have to remain separate, the managers and coaches are separate. The play is quite high standard. My local side was relegated because its not big enough to run a B side. They play against juniors and under-21s and quite often get hammered. It's very popular in Germany with full TV coverage on mainstream telly. 

[SAF_Legend]

Good for top clubs, bad for lower division clubs. Might improve youth players - British or not.

[Deleted]

Just copied this from another website, interesting point of view from the lower leagues....

...I'm a Forest Green Rovers fan so have never really thought of writing in before as the issues have never really affected me in the doldrums of the Conference. There are few upsides to live in non-league.

The football is usually poor and Forest Green shoot themselves in the foot so often it's surprising we even reach mid-table. But while you are watching this ou are always aware that you might be one good run away from league football, or that one of your players may make it to the big time. You always have hope, but for the league to be used as a test bed for the rich clubs would kill the league.

It might be brilliant to see the stars of tomorrow playing, but not to see them blunted. Teams in the Conference are usually big and physical, it's essentially a league with 24 Stokes (apart from Braintree, who are the Stoke of the Conference with takes some doing).

Forest Green, for the last few seasons at least, have been far less physical than pretty much all the teams in the league and we have been punished for it. We get bullied out of games and our individual performances suffer as a result, especially those players who are smaller and relay upon superior technical ability to get through games and make an impact. Any young talents who are coming from big clubs and playing against these big physical teams will have the same problem.

Players with talent will struggle as they are just not strong enough to cope, especially when many of these players will be 16 or 17 years old and may not be fully developed. When you're a club like Chelsea and have oodles of players on loan or in a B Team, you're going to be pretty ruthless if a youth player Isn't making an impact against these unskilled sides, despite the fact that these players may actually be able to develop into premier league quality players given time.

We had a friendly against Manchester United academy a couple of years ago and they played a 16 year old lad who happened to be a certain Adnan Januzai and he did bugger all against us before being subbed. He was just not allowed to settle from the start and I'm fearful that this could happen to the "English Leo Messi" or whatever the Daily Mail wants to call him, resulting in him being cut as he had 2 years in non-league football to prove himself and he did nothing.

Admittedly, players of a certain class often find a way round their physical disadvantage. But this takes a maturity hardly ever found in very young players and if you think they're that good that young, they'd be loaned out to a Championship side, not bunged into non-league. It's a bad idea for youth development and It's a bad idea for non-league football.

[_]

Our manager, Mr. Giggs has openly supported the plan. Providing further evidence of his futuristic philosophy.