Benitez and Mourinho, are they right or wrong?
On the face of it Rafa and Jose’s call to allow their teams to play in the Championship sounds like yet another idea to benefit the bigger clubs, but is the idea really as selfish and arrogant as it sounds?
For those players who came up through the amateur ranks, they will remember that a lot of the larger amateur clubs had several teams playing across several different leagues / divisions; Carsharlton, Kingstonians and Winchmore Hill are clubs that immediately spring to mind.
These clubs train up their promising youngsters in the lower leagues and allow them to move up through the ranks, just as Rafa and Jose are suggesting they do with their reserve teams, so if it works in the lower leagues and in Spain (where it may have been a natural development from their sporting clubs) then why shouldn’t it happen in the Football League?
Clearly the bigger clubs would benefit from effectively having feeder clubs in the lower leagues, for developing their younger players and for trialling out new players who they are interested in. The fans might also benefit from seeing a young Chelsea or Liverpool side playing in the Championship, seeing their teams taking on the stars of the future, so it may very well improve the gates within the Championship, not just with home fans, but also with fans of the Premiership team coming to watch the youngsters (assuming the seniors are playing away) to catch sight of the next big thing?
So what are the downsides?
Well, suggesting that the youth sides should go straight into the Championship is not only offensive for the lower leagues, it is also offensive to the Championship. It basically means that some clubs who deserve to be in there on merit will have to drop out, and if Liverpool reserves finish last in the division, will that mean that someone’s promotion place is withdrawn? If this scheme is to go ahead then maybe the “Reserve” teams need to be there on merit?
However, as the reserve teams will be used to blood youngsters then its a fair bet that the good ones will be transferred to the senior team, whenever they are ready, which means that those clubs that meet the reserve teams following after any such transfer would have an immediate advantage to those who had played them earlier.
And if Liverpool reserves win the Championship then what is in it for them anyway? They can’t get promoted into the Premiership, so a team who finished even further down the leagues could end up being promoted to the Premiership. This not only devalues the Championship title, but it also reduces the motivation of the Reserves teams themselves. It doesn’t matter if they win as they can’t get promoted anyway, which reduces the competitiveness of the games, which was kind of the whole point in the first place.
Going back to why the likes of Carshalton who have a multi-level system of teams. This is not just to blood and develop their youngsters (although it does give that option), it is mainly to allow people who are passionate about the game, no matter what their level, to play the game competitively, and its this point that the likes of Rafa and Jose forget. The Premiership and the Football League are not full of amateur clubs, they are all run as businesses, and if Premiership reserves teams are going to take the place of some clubs then those clubs can fold and die.
If Liverpool and Chelsea want to blood their youngsters in competitive games then loan them out to the smaller clubs, as they currently do. This system works, and while it might not be ideal for ensuring that the players are coached in the way that Rafa or Jose would prefer, at least they are getting competitive games under their belt.
If Rafa and Jose can’t give their youngsters competitive matches then perhaps they should stop buying up all the young talent and leaving them to fester in their reserve teams instead of letting them get out and enjoy their football and developing in their original clubs for a bit longer?
This brilliant new idea is just another means of making the rich clubs richer, and this time at the expense of lower league football - selfish and arrogant indeed…..
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1 opinion for Benitez and Mourinho, are they right or wrong?
StanStreason
Mar 21, 2007 at 1:46 pm
It is right that the likes of Jose and Rafa seek to look after their own interests thus putting forwards blatantly biased suggestions but it is a shame that this leads to everyone else jumping on the bandwagon wringing their hands saying nothing should happen.
Instead we should be addressing the problems that everyone knows are there namely a dearth of new young English talent in the top sides and an unequal division of wealth between the big and the small clubs.
Reserve football is just too big a leap to the top of the premiership which is why so much money goes into overseas youngsters already playing top flight football in other countries.
Using London (which I know better) why cannot Chelsea buy a share of say Brentford who are in deep financial doo-doos. A couple of million, financial security for Brentford and a base for playing say up to half a dozen under 21s.
Yes there are potential problems that will need solving (meeting in FA cup – promotion – mid season transfers etc etc) but let’s look for reasons why we can do things rather than reasons why we can’t.
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