Football Thread - On Fielding the Youngsters

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Sat, 2005-01-22 16:48

I'm interested in opinions about Premiership teams fielding their youngsters every once in a while. Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez played his 'B' team, the younger kids, for the Carling Cup, and they reached the semi finals. As they'd got that far he promised to let them carry on in that competition. He said they'd earned the chance for glory and felt they deserved to play.

Unfortunately he did a complete turn around and fielded the 'A' team against Watford, who they beat 1-0 in the first leg. Now although Watford would have no legitimate complaint about fairness regarding this, I do feel for the Liverpool youngsters. Surely they'd earned their chance to beat Watford and even play in the finals. It doesn't seem fair that they do all the work and then the 'A' team takes over for the last couple of glory games.

But view this from a different perspective. Liverpool fielded their 'B' team in the F.A. Cup last week and lost to Burnley. So who does this affect? Well, Burnley obviously. They go to on to the next round. But who else?

I'll tell you. Bournemouth.

How come? Because Bournemouth are now drawn against Burnley in the next round.

So what? Bournemouth have a better chance of beating Burnley and going on to the next round. But If Liverpool had fielded their 'A' team they'd probably have beaten Burnley easily. They almost cetainly wouldn't have given away such a daft own goal as the Liverpool youngster did in losing them the match.

And in that case, Bournemouth would have been drawn against Liverpool and would have been the recipients of a pretty large pay day.

Liverpool, by not fielding their 'A' team, has cost Bournemouth £200,000-£300,000. Money which the club could no doubt do with. Could the Bournemouth manager have reason for grievance against Rafael Benitez for fielding a younger side against Burnley?

(And, speaking as a Watford fan, now that Liverpool has been kicked out of the F.A. they're bound to field their strongest team against Watford team in the 2nd leg of the Carling Cup).

Tue, 2005-02-01 10:48

Karl Wiggins

The Carling Cup run (home games against Southampton, Portsmouth & Liverpool) earned Watford £1m, the majority of which will go towards buying back the ground. If we can own Vicarage Road outright again it will save us £600,000 per year, money which we can use to rebuild the East Stand or perhaps increase player's salaries, thus avoiding losing them. These may seem paltry sums when compared to the big teams but they can make an icredible difference to smaller clubs. Actually, for a bit of fun, there's a website well worth looking at entitled The 4 Aces: You have the opportunity to run your own football club. You're given £350,000 to start off with and you immediately set about purchasing a team (from the market or by scouting). If there's any cash left - bearing in mind you always require money for wages, medical bills and ground costs - you can redevelop your stadium, build drinks stands and souvenir shops etc. After every home game, and this in itself is fun because you look at the team you'll be playing against and decide on your formation, you can look at your finances, decide how much revenue you need to keep in reserve, and then perhaps improve the stadium further. You may want to improve the ground quality to save the risk of injuries. You're following your team's progress in the league as you go along. You can actually win tickets to the Cup Final.

Fri, 2005-01-28 13:30

rose

karl I saw this late, commiserations Watford have improved so much under Ray Lewington, I really enjoyed watching them. As for us, AW has always been consistent in playing the youngsters for the CC and I feel it's the only way to get the home grown players a game. Chelsea have been fielding strong teams, but with a team that's pushing £250m that's not hard. I think it also makes it more competitive for the lower leagues because the gulf is now so wide that if all the EPL teams fielded their full strength team it would be pretty hard for upsets. Though Stoke pushed us really hard in the last round.

Fri, 2005-01-28 13:47

david floyd

What worries me is that if, as I think is the case - Arsenal reserves and Chelsea reserves, could comfortably hold a place in Premiership but are mostly unemployed come match day, what does this mean for the general quality of the game, particularly when you get down to the Championship? The must mean that many of the best players are now not playing. In the days when there were no substitutes - so no justification for massive squads - surely the relative standards of first teams must have been higher?

Sat, 2005-01-29 16:45

Karl Wiggins

Thanks for your condolences, Rose. I believe there's a real fear nowadays that the gulf between the four or five larger clubs and the rest grows steadily wider and wider every week. The Premiership was started for this reason, and it may be time to create another super league. The rest of us just can't compete financially. While there may be a lot to be said for visiting a larger club and watching some of the best players in the world ply their skills against each other, you'll never ever get the family atmosphere that's to be experienced in the Championship or even the Rymans or Dr. Marten's leagues. I've been to Hayes Town and seen great football, and as a youngster used to regularly visit Wealdstone. And let's face it Yeading did superbly against Newcastle a couple of weeks ago. Newcastle didn't play especially awful. It's just that Yeading realised it was their moment to shine and shine they did. When else would you get large advertisers like Snickers and News of the World sponsoring Yeading, if only for one match. It's now become simply the haves versus the have nots. It can cost £50 plus for a seat at Arsenal, Chelsea or Man U, and those clubs don't really need the money. The haves can only take more while the have nots can simply have less. That's business, which is all football is anyway.

Sat, 2005-01-29 19:58

martin_t

karl, i was chatting to a mate last night, his boy is trying out for the watford academy, he's 8 and he's been at the academy for about 3 months while they whittle the players down to about 25 who they will take on....my mate is desperate for him to get into the 25 who join the club...i think he has visions of retiring in 10 or 12 years when his boy is on £100,000 a week...

Fri, 2005-02-11 19:22

poss

Sun, 2005-01-30 23:37

Karl Wiggins

The best of luck to him, I hope he makes it. From what I hear it's an excellent academy, although a bit strapped for cash. Some very good professional players have come out of there.

Mon, 2005-01-31 13:41

rose

I've got 4 season tickets reserved for the new stadium Of course I haven't got the £8k that they will cost, so when it comes to paying for them the begging bowl may come out. But I agree the whole EPL thing is now ridiculous. Apparently Derby are at the point of administration and Pride Park is now mortgaged to the hilt. The fact that a reserve team could beat their first team easily shows why so many Championship and lower league teams are going under. Chelsea have losses of over £100k which other teams would not be able to carry and Arsenal can't spend any money now until the new stadium is open. The money men are killing them game - but Chelsea fans won't be complaining when they win everything in sight.

Sat, 2005-01-22 17:23

#10

Smillieboy

Benitez certainly has been inconsistent with his selection policy, but I don't think Bournemouth have any right to complain. I realise that cash strapped clubs look to the FA cup for extra revenue, but they're not testimonial matches for the smaller teams, it's a competition for winning or losing. If Benitez screws up his selection policy, Liverpool suffer, both financially and as a dent to squad confidence. I watched them lose to Southampton today and they were shit. If Benitez had thought about the overall effects of playing the kids against Burnley, he'd have thought again. He tried to be clever (as Ferguson did in the first Exeter game) and it went wrong. As for the youngster who scored that fantastic own goal aginst Burnley, he is actually a fairly regular starter (19 games, +7 as sub, this season) and has played in the Champions League. He's just not very good. Anyway, I hope Watford do Liverpool in the week, whatever team he decides to go with.

Sat, 2005-01-22 17:40

#11

Karl Wiggins

Thanks Smillie, although I've been unable to secure tickets anywhere. I've tried all avenues.

Mon, 2005-01-31 17:11

#12

martin_t

if they win that'll be two titles in 50 years, they have a long way to go to match the achievemnents of arsenal, man u, liverpool and even everton who have won far more (if you include the old league championship)

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