I'm resisting the temptation to list the many, many thoughts I have on this issue, as I'd like to get your opinions. Have a read of the full story below and add your comments, or tweet your stuff over to @FLBeavers, and I'll post the results below...
Ready? Go.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jan/19/villas-boas-premier-league-b-championship
From Andy Knight
They can in the spanish leagues, so why not? Great idea to invest in young talent with some structure. It can only be a good way of breeding young english talent into the game without pre-packaged foreigners taking their places in the pecking order. Also if a player's on loan I'm guessing they get little contact with their mother club, having a B Team will only improve standards.
The current loan system is great for young players but abused by clubs stock piling senior players and loaning them to rival clubs. Man City can loan Adebayor to spurs and pay his wages to score against everyone BUT city themselves, because of course he's ineligible for the game this Sunday.
Yes our football system is steeped in tradition and therefore in most people’s eyes better than our Spanish counterparts but ask yourself - is it stopping us developing truly quality English (and thinking about it Welsh, Scottish and Irish) players for our national team? Before everyone starts lecturing me on the sacred structure of our 92 team system – who’s the best team in the world? Spain. Which team strongly believes that the B team system is a critical factor for their success? Barcelona. So if it’s good for clubs what about players? Which players have benefitted from the B system – Xavi Hernández, Carles Puyol Víctor Valdés Guillermo Amor Josep Guardiola Andrés Iniesta Albert Ferrer oh and…. Lionel Messi. Many thought that Messi was too small to play for Barca when he arrived but being able to develop in the Barca B environment he was able to mature and learn about the Barca system without the glare of the La Leiga.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the introduction of a B-side system will have a detrimental effect on some lower clubs but if you’re a Tranmere supporter wouldn’t you like to see the next Steven Gerrard or Robbie Folwer playing for your club rather than a cheap foreign import? At least as a fan you’d have some connection with a local lad rather than a player who could only be using your club as a show window – for example the hundreds of players who have been/and will, pass through the current Doncaster Rovers experiment – including El Hadji Diouf.
It’s a common fact that the big clubs hoard the quality up and coming youngsters (remember John Bostock, how many minutes did he get on the pitch at Spurs? About as many as you or me). Or Adam Johnson, once seen as a bright future England start – but who knows might be lucky if he’s given 15 mins at the end of a match against Wigan. How are these young raw or not-quite-there players supposed to properly develop? Surely training and playing in a squad formation and style, which mirrors the team the player aims to play for is better than trusting your development to an unknown quantity (or long ball merchant).
So if B-teams can help improve the quality of the league, develop young talent and help teams outside of the super rich premiership stay alive – surely it’s good? Such a structure would also help us develop a better national team (as well as developing a level playing field for the premier league giants when they compete in the Champions League – which before anyone starts my team isn’t in).
Isn’t it time we focused on developing quality and pooled our resources into developing players worthy of our £50 match tickets rather than putting up with mediocreness just because our system has tradition and therefore is far superior than anyone else’s? Maybe we need to take a step back to move forward – in fact is it really that or is it just a matter of avoiding getting left behind the rest of the big nations? For what it’s worth my money’s on a technical passing game over route one any day.
James Delves
Some interesting points here. But I will ask you this. What team do the three of you in favour of this move support? I'll wager it's one from the upper reaches of the Premier League, and not one whose ambitions are simply to stay in business year on year.
ReplyDeleteWhat is so good about the Spanish league? Barcelona and Real Madrid finish 15 points clear of everyone else year in, year out. It's like fucking Scotland. If the same system were employed here, we would set up the same monopoly. Maybe you like seeing the Manchester clubs, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool dominating everything - but for most people it's what makes football that much harder to enjoy.
James - your point about Tranmere is redundant. If a Liverpool B were to exist, Tranmere would never see a young Liverpool star turning out for them, like they do at present. By deploying a B team big clubs will only get stronger, and the small ones weaker. It will increase the scope for rich clubs poaching young talent - who from the wirral would rather join Tranmere over Liverpool B? Their only choice will be to turn to, as you say, cheap foreign imports.
The notion that players will improve quicker with a Premier League B side rather than, say, Crewe or Stockport, is frankly offensive. Every young player should experience lower league football in my opinion.
Pat - Adebayor is an absolute minority case. 99% of loans are of mutual benefit to both sides. Imagine if Man City had a B side; they would chop and change players each week until both teams were winning their respective leagues. So who would get promoted? The team that finishes sixth behind Liverpool, City, Arsenal, United and Chelsea B? Nobody wants to see that.
This move would only benefit the Premier League clubs, and marginalise everyone else. At what point did the Championship cease to be important to you people? Do you also agree with Phil Gartside that promotion and relegation should be scrapped from the Premiership?
This is why clubs like Darlington and Kettering are practically dead already. There are so many more clubs in England than Spain, and they all have their part to play. AVB has exposed a pretty major lack of appreciation for football in this country by making these comments.
Yes we could learn from the Spanish leagues regarding technique, but that is down to financial investment in training facilities and coaching, not relying on a handful of clubs to produce all the talent. With the likes of Eddie Howe, Brendan Rodgers and Karl Robinson all building attractive footballing sides, based heavily on foreign models, we are already moving in the right direction.
Final point - how many of this country's best players came from the big side's youth academies? Gareth Bale is from Southampton, Phil Jones from Blackburn and Chris Smalling from Maidstone. Did these clubs do a bad job? Would your bigger, richer side have done any better?
I’m glad the league has dismissed these proposals as ridiculous, but I can’t say I’m surprised.