FA stands for .........

[podrover73]

Wanting to mess with the league structure again

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

[rover-n-out]

F.A............Fannying Around................bloody meddlesome pillocks, christ they must be bored shitless on the board of the F.A.  "What can we think of today that'll justify our highly inflated wage packets.....Oh, wait a minute, I've got a great idea".

[Belle-Vue-Ghost]

Oh no no no no no no please NO!  I know that they do this in Spain but we don't need it here

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Do we need to see clubs like Portsmouth, Bradford, Luton etc playing Premier league B teams?  No we do not.  How about we invest money into the infrastructure of the smaller clubs and give these players loans at lower levels - it's silly.

The FA needs to remember that the likely Premier league champions this year were in league 1 not that long back....

[Dare to dream!]

This would kill the competition and rivalry in the leagues, awful idea.

[BigColSutherland]

Germans back it (presently)

[silent majority]

It won't happen. The backlash from football supporters up and down the country will put an end to this.

Game 39 anyone?

[sedwardsdrfc]

Rubbish idea it will mean replacing some of the away days to proper clubs with visits to empty 40,000 seat stadiums. He clearly means well but this will just ruin the football league if allowed to happen 

[godlike1]

A simple no from me, it will devalue the competitions and what the proper clubs are trying to achieve, if anything it will make fans loose interrest because the 'B' temas will not take the competitions as seriously

why don't they create a league system to run along side the current pyramid but only put reserve 'B' teams in there.  You would have promotions and relegations and it would be run without a transfer system meaning the clubs would have to find their resource from within,

Fins ou which teams want to take place (can afford it) divide the number into 4 divisions and pick names out of a hat to see who goes in what division, e.g. Chelsea youth could play against Chesterfield youth in the 1st division.  you would have promotions, relegations and playoff's with the winner of each league getting a trophy and cash prize for example

that is something I would watch and it would give the competitive edge needed to make the youth players develop the edge and skill needed to develop

just an idea

[IDM]

We have a great structure in our league pyramid - look at our own ups and downs in the last 20 years for example?

How difficult would it be for clubs like Yeovil, Stevenage, Dagenham etc to make progress if they have to compete with premiership B teams?  The loan system would dry up too - Johnstone would have been playing maybe in League 2 for Man Utd B instead of playing for us, Khumalo in Spurs B..???

I know in some countries (Germany???) this happens but the B sides cannot get promotion..

A big NO THANK YOU for me.

[BigColSutherland]

I suppose it depends what the objective is.

A competitive England national team? Then yes this could help.

A better league structure?
Then no, probably not a great idea.

[pib]

It would be a terrible move for me. But then again, I don't really give a toss about the competitiveness of the England team, and I see the lower leagues as a much bigger priority, so I would say that.

[IDM]

A competitive England national team? Then yes this could help.

How?

Unless the B league was restricted to English players, what is to stop Arsenal (for example) signing up the next generation of predominantly French youngsters for their B squad?

Loaning out the young British players to proper leagues is better IMHO.

[silent majority]

This would just be a great excuse for the bigger clubs to 'hoover up' even more of the young talent that exists. No, what's needed is better investment at grass roots level, more coaches, better rewarded coaches, 3G pitches, etc etc.

[DonnyOsmond]

Elite Player Performance Plan let's Premier League teams steal lower league youngsters and now they want B teams in order to develop them youngsters? Here's an idea get rid of EPPP and don't stockpile British youngsters.

[The Red Baron]

It seems a hare-brained idea to me. Far better that young players can be loaned out to clubs in the Football League. If this "League" sits at League Two/ Conference level then a youngster like Sam Johnstone won't get the kind of experience that he's just had against Championship-standard players.

I believe it would be restricted to "home-grown" players, but if the same criteria for "home-grown" is used for PL squads then that will include players who are not qualified for England.

[BigColSutherland]

It's not even been outlined in full yet but it's seemingly been written off by all and sundry.

Perhaps, just perhaps, it's worth a try. The present system is increasingly flawed.

[bedale rover]

FAO silent majority

Is the fsf able to make representation against this appalling idea
It flies in the face of tradition in this country

And if the FA want to do something about the England team restrict the number of foreign players in the Prima Donna league
The fault lies with the upper tier of football (and the FA) and disrupting the football league won't solve it

[adamtherover]

We have a great structure in our league pyramid - look at our own ups and downs in the last 20 years for example?

What is the obsession with describing the English league structure as a pyramid.. it's a straight line down to the conference.. anything below thwei resembling a pyramid is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.. no one is envious if the way the northern counties 3rd division has a regional split!..

[Wellred]

FAO silent majority

Is the fsf able to make representation against this appalling idea
It flies in the face of tradition in this country

And if the FA want to do something about the England team restrict the number of foreign players in the Prima Donna league
The fault lies with the upper tier of football (and the FA) and disrupting the football league won't solve it

You will never get restrictions on the number of foreign players in the Prima Donna league when most of the clubs in it are owned by foreigners and managed by foreigners.

[PDX_Rover]

It would effectively take players out of the loan system for clubs like us, as presumably those players would play in a B team. Sam Johnstone, for example.

The structure is fine as is. Why mess with it?

[BigColSutherland]

I find it incredible how scared of change people get. They're not even prepared to hear the idea, the headline is enough for them to start lobbying for opposition.

[silent majority]

FAO silent majority

Is the fsf able to make representation against this appalling idea
It flies in the face of tradition in this country

And if the FA want to do something about the England team restrict the number of foreign players in the Prima Donna league
The fault lies with the upper tier of football (and the FA) and disrupting the football league won't solve it

We already have done.

As part of the fact finding mission we were approached for our views and opinions. We've told them in no uncertain terms that we wouldn't be happy.

This is just one idea though amongst a raft of potential ideas and stands no more or less chance than many others.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

I find it incredible how scared of change people get. They're not even prepared to hear the idea, the headline is enough for them to start lobbying for opposition.

So you'd relish this game Doncaster rovers v burnley b - potentially under this that would happen!

[silent majority]

Some things are just so plainly wrong.

[Mr1Croft]

I'd have nothing against merging League Two and Conference to make regional divisions, it can only help with the lower clubs attendances (more away fans, local oppositions) which is relied upon much more than higher up the pyramid which can only make the game more competitive.

As for Premier League and Championship B teams playing among them I'm not so sure. It would definitely help to improve the national squad but at the expense of the footballing pyramids integrity. People may look to the La Liga and Bundesliga as rivals to the Premier League (and rightly so) but you don't compare the leagues below to that of ours because they aren't as competitive.

[BigColSutherland]

I find it incredible how scared of change people get. They're not even prepared to hear the idea, the headline is enough for them to start lobbying for opposition.

So you'd relish this game Doncaster rovers v burnley b - potentially under this that would happen!

Firstly, it would depend on the wider ramifications and the context in which this had come about.

And secondly, I'd rather reserve my judgement until details are, if ever, released.

What I will say is if it's commonplace in Germany and Spain, then it's not that terrifying.

I'm neither pro nor anti, but the reactionary stance of some on here is pathetic.

[pib]

I've read somewhere (can't remember where) that they're doing away with it in Germany.

The clubs who have B Teams in the 3. Liga (Dortmund, Stuttgart, Wolfsburg etc.) apparently see it as a waste of time, and it's not seen to be helping the national side as they haven't won anything since 1996.

Even so, there seems to be a different culture in other countries, especially in Spain. This may help to explain the relative lack of resistance in the countries where they do this. I'm happy to be corrected on this, but I think I'm right in saying Spanish lower-league football is nowhere near as well supported as the English lower leagues, and doesn't have the same history as the Football League as a proper competition in its own right.

The average attendance in the Spanish second tier in 2013-14 for instance was about 7,000, making it nowhere near as well-watched as the Championship. I don't know how they do further down, but if 2nd tier attendances are that low on average, it suggests that the lower leagues aren't very well supported there.

[silent majority]

BCS,

It's not being reactionary. It's a subject that's cropped up before. It's been debated and the evidence is that it stockpiles talent and undermines the sporting competition.

If you have the time however there's a link at the bottom of this article that details our submission to Greg Dykes commission.

http://www.fsf.org.uk/latest-news/view/the-fsf-submission-to-fa-commission-2

[drfcsteve]

Attendances are drastically lower in Spain and Germany's lower divisions than they are in the football league, and away fan travel isn't as popular. I don't see how ruining football for fans of lower league teams and letting man u and Chelsea hoover up all the best youngsters will help solve anything apart from making the big clubs even more powerful.