|
Chelsea's José Mourinho is no stranger to controversy. Is his suggestion that Chelsea B should be allowed to play in the Championship just another arrogant wind up or a stimulus to a needed debate about the future of reserve football in England? Mourinho argues that the move would benefit not only his own club, but the development of young players for the national team. His model is Real Madrid who are allowed to field a team in the second tier in Spain. The FA apparently has a working party looking at reserve team football, but I have been unable to find anything about it.
Broadly speaking, a reserve team fulfills three functions. It gives fringe players or trialists a chance to show what they can do in a competitive game; it is a return route for players coming back from injury; and it is a major step up for players from the youth team. The old joke says that the second best team in Liverpool (or any other town with two teams) is Liverpool Reserves. However, players hate appearing in the 'stiffs' and unless a major player is appearing on his return from injury crowds are often sparse and many top clubs play their matches at non-league grounds. Other clubs lower down the leagues have got rid of their reserve team altogether and just run a youth team. The southern section of the Premier Reserve League has been cut back this season so that clubs have only seventeen fixtures. Charlton, for example, had only one reserve game in November and have had to resort to 'closed door' friendlies at the training ground to try out players.
The ultimate sign of being an anorak football supporter is said to be going to an away reserve match and I have only done it once when Charlton asked me to cover for the club website an away reserve fixture against Oxford at a freezing cold Witney Town, only enlivened by seeing referee Wendy Toms ticking off Mark Bright. An even weirder world is that of non-league reserve football where one league, the Suburban League, is reserved for non-league reserve sides around London. There is actually a discussion at Leamington, the non-league side I support, about whether we will need a reserve side if we are promoted to Step 4 of the non-league pyramid.
Mourinho's intervention has at least led to a debate. Certainly in the past league clubs used to run 'A' teams in non-league competitions, e.g., Spurs in the Eastern Counties League. However, it would be something of an insult to Championship sides to have them playing against a Chelsea B side that by definition couldn't be promoted. The idea might, however, boost attendances if one or two B sides were allowed in at League 2 level, although again it might cause resentment. Is reserve football worth saving? Or should teams make do with specially arranged matches at training grounds? A related issue is the threat to Academy football about which we will be posting a story soon.
|
