Man City Chief Executive wants B Teams in the EFL

[Smiley Culture 1,336]

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/manchester-city-chief-ferran-soriano-calls-for-restructure-of-football-pyramid-1602076755000

I hope he gets the shits. Whilst he’s in public. 

[RandoEFC 4,683]

Not this again. But can't you just see it being presented as a 'solution' to the crisis faced by so many EFL clubs. Very simple, let the little clubs go out of business and replace them with B teams from the elite clubs. Thankfully we're still a long way from letting that fly in this country.

[DeadLinesman 3,237]

Just fuck off. It’s not needed.

[Smiley Culture 1,336]

He’s right in terms of his opinion about the sustainability of the Football League. The levels of losses at clubs in the Championship are absolutely horrendous, as they chase the often elusive place in the Premier League. The salary caps brought in at League One and Two level was much needed, though. I do also think it should have been implemented across the top two leagues as well, though I’m sure those slippery bastards would have found a way around it. 

In terms of the player development thing, I don’t get his point. The Germans take their kids and offer them an easier route of first team football than being stuck behind £500m worth of defenders at City or United. 

[Dr. Gonzo 4,494]

I want Man City to stop existing.

I guess me and the Man City chief just aren’t realists.

[Smiley Culture 1,336]

Also, if anything, the prospect of more Sancho’s going abroad, excelling and getting in the England team is something I’m well on board for.

If his club are insistent on throwing money around year after year and is willing to lose talent that will go elsewhere and improve exponentially, it’s his fault, not Morecambe’s and maybe his role should be restructured. 

[Pyfish 1,277]

19 minutes ago, Smiley Culture said:

Also, if anything, the prospect of more Sancho’s going abroad, excelling and getting in the England team is something I’m well on board for.

If his club are insistent on throwing money around year after year and is willing to lose talent that will go elsewhere and improve exponentially, it’s his fault, not Morecambe’s and maybe his role should be restructured. 

Precisely this. If they didn't want Sancho to go abroad and then be linked with moves back to England for a hell of a lot more money than they got for him, then don't bloody let him go and give him chance to develop in YOUR team.

And as for B teams, no no no. Just look at the EFL Trophy where Under 21 sides are allowed in. A lot of the fans of League One and League Two teams have boycotted that competition for that very reason.

[tlr 167]

This would be the straw that breaks the camels back for me, it's the equivalent of having someone save you from drowning only to chuck you back in the sea.

I can't help but feel that the "Football League teams will have to learn to live within their means" argument typically bounded about by those in favour of B teams could also be equally applied to them - why don't the big teams learn how to utilise their resources and stop hoovering any 15 year old who looks anything above Conference North standard when they have absolutely no way to accommodate them. Why should Morecambe and Scunthorpe fall on the sword so Man City and Chelsea can field a team of youngsters who don't have a hope in hell of making it at anything better than, ironically, Morecambe or Scuntorpe?

A very good point I saw on Twitter tonight - for a home team hosting a B team in a League match, how does that work out for those all important gate receipts? Seriously, who on earth is going to trudge to the away end for Bristol Rovers v. Chelsea B, especially when Chelsea are playing at the same time? As said above, B teams have killed the EFL Trophy takings (except for the famous boycotted Sunderland v. Portsmouth final that sold out Wembley...)

[The Artful Dodger 1,714]

I've a lot of respect for Manchester City fans and as a historical club, get a lot of undue shit and they've been through the mill. However, I can't really put into words how much I despise their owners, they are the epitome of the death of football.

 

[Lucas 2,239]

9 hours ago, The Artful Dodger said:

I've a lot of respect for Manchester City fans and as a historical club, get a lot of undue shit and they've been through the mill. However, I can't really put into words how much I despise their owners, they are the epitome of the death of football.

 

I have too. Before the oil money, they were a proper club. Sadly, that is one of the problems at Man City now. A serious lack of education about their past and where they came from.

The people there currently are not the people who were there when they were in League One playing the likes of Bury, Macclesfield or Wigan, sides who have suffered disastrous fate's recently.

They don't quite get it. They look at the likes of Spain and Germany and don't understand why a traditional country like ours cannot adapt to modern times and how these leagues are run with their Barcelona B's and Bayern Munich II.

If they were a little more humble and appreciated where their club had come from, they may sympathise more why so many people repel the idea and why it is important for the integrity of our domestic competition that we do all we can to keep these clubs going than look to bury them further.

Man City should actually be more appreciative of the EFL for giving their youngsters a chance to develop at other clubs whilst also gaining valuable experience, than being molly coddled in one of their reserve teams. 

[Dr. Gonzo 4,494]

I sort of think this is a pretty disgraceful suggestion during covid, with so many EFL teams facing financial issues as a result of the pandemic... meanwhile you’ve got City trying to fuck clubs over when they’re hurting by adding B teams.

Really we should be our big clubs to be investing more down into EFL (and below honestly) to keep these leagues going smoothly during these fucked up times.

When you’ve got a league that’s as good as the championship as your second tier league, something’s working right. Let’s not shove big clubs reserves into the mix to fuck it all up.

[Smiley Culture 1,336]

I have genuinely never heard a good argument for the inclusion of B teams into the Football League beyond “well, they do it in Spain and Germany”. I’d happily listen to someone who had some sort of reasoning behind their belief that we should adopt this because it seems to be lazy and nothing more. 

 

[Dan 1,365]

There's just no excuse that we could ever use to entertain this but sadly, the introduction of U21 teams to the Checkatrade trophy has become the start of this being implemented and I think eventually they may crack.

There's no level of development for the England team I'd accept for this. It just shouldn't happen. This is an area where we legitimately are the envy of world football. Why contribute to the demise?

Also I think EPPP is something that has received nowhere near the heat it deserves. One of the most scandalous pieces of infrastructure that got snuck into the game while everyone made a fuss about FFP. That to me is one of the biggest killers of lower league clubs - the fact they can't even negotiate a fair price for any good youngster they produce, therefore deincentivising them having a youth team to start off with. I think it's diabolical. I'm not in favour of free handouts but if a small club is genuinely producing talent then they deserve to reap some proper rewards for that rather than a system that encourages big clubs to hoover up the talent and more often than not, not make the most of it. I feel like this rule above any other has contributed to the demise of lower league sides.

[Dan 1,365]

On 07/10/2020 at 17:25, Smiley Culture said:

Also, if anything, the prospect of more Sancho’s going abroad, excelling and getting in the England team is something I’m well on board for.

If his club are insistent on throwing money around year after year and is willing to lose talent that will go elsewhere and improve exponentially, it’s his fault, not Morecambe’s and maybe his role should be restructured. 

This 100% would be better for players' development. It actually readies you for a greater variety of style that you're likely to come up against on the international stage. If it was up to me at Leicester I would give every promising youngster three loan moves - one to the lower leagues in England, and then two different loans in different countries. To me that could really develop a player. Sancho wouldn't be the player he is today without that move to Dortmund. Foden should've done similar.

[McAzeem 1,446]

I think it's very disrespectful to other teams making them play against B teams. Like some club with a glorious past former champions play with the B team of some oil rich new money club. 

[Happy Blue 1,062]

Instead of B-teams they should just make it so you have to play a complete different team in each half of a game 

 

 

[The Palace Fan 1,815]

The audacity of somebody to lecture lower league football clubs about a sustainable business model when his football club have a net spend in the region of one billion over ten years is astonishing.