To "B" or not to "B"

[UK Redsox]

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

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?

The top clubs' "B" teams would be far too strong for League 2 / Conference, wouldn't they ?

I dread to think what Man City reserves would do to Bristol Rovers

[cdbearsfan]

An utterly fucking ludicrous proposal. Hopefully the Football League will tell the Premier League where to go.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

Be a lot easier to merge it with the Scottish Premier I would've thought.

[Chico Hamilton III]

A new competition for Premier League and Championship clubs to field B teams will be considered by the Football Association on Wednesday

Does the Central League still exist? if so, why the need for a new reserve league?

[German James]

Oh great... More football.

[bertlambshank]

Greg Dyke is a class one prick.At the meeting tomorrow the new boy in class Faulkner should tell him he is talking bollocks.
Doesn't Dyke realise this would only be good for the clubs with a squad of 300.

[The Laughing Policeman]

Having read the full article, basically it's a good idea IF it stays as a home grown players league.
This system is already in use in Spain, Italy, Germany etc. the problem is trying to shoe horn it into our pyramid system.
If it does happen I can imagine the likes of Kiddie Harriers will be mightily pissed off.

[German James]

Thatt not quite true for Germany. Here, several 1. Bundesliga clubs' B-teams play in the lower divisions. They don't have their own dedicated league though. They get promoted and demoted but aren't allowed to play in the same division as the first team.

[damon loves JT]

If nothing else it's a tacit admission that the loan system isn't working.

[Somniloquism]

A new competition for Premier League and Championship clubs to field B teams will be considered by the Football Association on Wednesday

Does the Central League still exist? if so, why the need for a new reserve league?

Reserve team football buggered off one or two seasons ago. I think the nearest current equivalent is the U21 league with one of two over aged players allowed.

It could work but will take awhile to get in. I believe the other countries B teams are mostly youth teams or people coming back from long term injury. I don't know if you can move players between it or whether they have to stay into that team for the season. Also how does it work for newer teams who do not have the squad to support it? Do Levante have a B team?

[The Laughing Policeman]

The answer to your question about Levante is yes, but they don't seem to be very good.
http://www.futbol24.com/team/Spain/Levante-B/

[UK Redsox]

The answer to your question about Levante is yes, but they don't seem to be very good.
http://www.futbol24.com/team/Spain/Levante-B/

Now there's a "B" team that I think Bristol Rovers could beat

[ozzjim]

I am not so sure this is such a bad thing. I would like us to have a reserve or B side playing at a really decent level. One of the biggest issues we have in my opinion is moving promising youth to the first team, and the loan system only works in some circumstances. A reserve team playing at a genuine competitive level would allow young players to get first team football much sooner and possibly develop much more rounded games earlier, benefiting the national side and Villa. We need to find a way of improving the current system and it clearly has benefits in Spain and Germany.

[fbriai]

The 'B' system isn't used in Italy.

I don't see how it fits into the pyramid without unnecessarily complicating things and I agree with Damon's comment in relation to the loan system. The problem is that there are teams that are hoarding players, to the detriment of their development. That is where the FA should be looking at intervening. Allowing B teams just caters to the needs of the teams with the most money, as always.

[ozzjim]

Possibly, but just because it has always been this structure does not mean it is the right way. Adding the allowance for B teams does not seem such a difficult thing to me. Structured properly it could be used to stop some of the loan madness that happens at the moment.