Bad News for Talented Fringe Players

[simplythebestest 2,145]

Following a December meeting of six Scottish Premier League (SPL) managers, it appears as though Scottish reserve teams will be eliminated at the end of the current season. Although the change will leave about 100 young players without a position, the members advised SPL Chairman Lex Gold that the reserve league is obstructing young player development. The managers, consisting of Gordon Strachan, Walter Smith, Craig Levein, Jimmy Calderwood, John Hughes and Mark McGhee, further suggested that the under-21 rule is outdated and forces more qualified players to unnecessarily take the bench.

The group of six are expected to raise the issues at a meeting of all twelve club managers, scheduled to take place in February. While such modifications have allegedly gained the support of most managers, one did step forward to express a concern about the future careers of the abolished reserve team players, as reported by The Telegraph. In rebuttal, it was suggested that any player who has yet to join a first-team squad by the age of 18 or 19 would be best left to explore the available options on his own.

In a statement made to The Telegraph, an SPL manager referred to the reserve league as “a waste of time”, indicating that focus should instead be placed on youth teams. The manager went on to note that eradicating the under-21 rule would also allow first division clubs to take young players on loan and prevent these players from mistakenly considering themselves first team players, even though they currently spend most of their time on the bench.

The desire to scrap the SPL reserve league has been criticised by various representative bodies on account of the potential for reserve players to be pushed into lower divisions, forcing smaller clubs to compensate by eliminating a equal amount of players.

I don't know enough about the matter to say what the effect will be, but won't this be bad news for any talented fringe players over 20? Granted, the youth team remains but I'd rather see guys like Fleck working WITH Edu (for example) on the same pitch. Personally, I think I'd like to go the opposite route and try to really make something of our reserve team. After all, don't they say the best squad is one where you can cover every position (give or take the few multi-position players)? That should make for a high quality second string 11 getting match practice. Ok, so the opposition wouldn't be great, but players would remain able to string passes together, work on set-pieces and allow the management to rate them easier than on the sole evidence of what they see on the training pitch.

(sorry if this is a re-post - I was on holiday when the article was published)