ranger_syntax 3,774 Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 8 hours ago, Rousseau said: We disagree on the Colt teams point. I only really care about Rangers; this benefits us. It could benefit all teams anyway by bringing through better youngsters. When you think of the countries that produce the best players, Spain and Germany; both of these have B-teams in the senior leagues. It's weighted against them, but former Highland League teams (Elgin City, Inverness, Peterhead and Ross County) do pretty well compared to the rest of the League. I take your point about the teams already in the senior league. Even if I accepted the point about bringing through better youngsters, which I don't, I would still argue that it is a foolish trade off to make. No football fan is really interested in some abstract idea of aggregate, or overall, quality of young players in Scotland. Football fans want to know that when they turn up to watch a match that they can see their team win. If we keep structuring football in favour of big clubs then it will continue to decline as a contest. If it continues to decline as a contest then fans will continue to abandon the game. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tannochsidebear 2,315 Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 If we have talented youngsters that aren't ready for first team action but need competitive match experience, I cannot for the life of me think that the FIFTH tier of Scottish football will teach them anything, and certainly wont bring them on to get them ready for our first team. Our current system of loaning the best ones out to second tier Scottish teams (or even top tier) is much better. A whole team playing against 5th level sides will be a total waste of time IMO. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig 5,199 Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 36 minutes ago, Tannochsidebear said: If we have talented youngsters that aren't ready for first team action but need competitive match experience, I cannot for the life of me think that the FIFTH tier of Scottish football will teach them anything, and certainly wont bring them on to get them ready for our first team. Our current system of loaning the best ones out to second tier Scottish teams (or even top tier) is much better. A whole team playing against 5th level sides will be a total waste of time IMO. But is that not a short-term view ? If, and who knows where this is going, but if they run it like the Spanish Colt teams in Spain then the Colt team can get promoted to the Segunda (Second division) but cannot get promoted to La Liga - actually, technically they can't get promoted into the same league as their 1st team - so if Barca, for example, were to be relegated into Segunda and Barca B were there then Barca B automatically get relegated to the 3rd tier. After 4 or 5 years a Rangers Colts team may not be performing in the 5th tier of Scottish football, but may be in the 2nd tier - so playing against half decent teams but, more importantly, playing in the same philosophy as the 1st team. The Colts system doesn't always work though and it doesn't always work that well. Barcelona very rarely sees players moving up from Barca B. Indeed, many of their players end up going overseas to play rather than staying at Barca, only for Barca to subsequently pay millions for them. The last player to properly be integrated from their B team to the 1st team was Sergi Roberto. Right now they have Alena and Munir trying to break through. But they have lost many players in the past from Fabregas to Pique and even Jordi Alba before they even got to the B team. So a Colt team is no silver bullet - though it at least gives them competitive games playing in the same manner as the 1st team so you can see the development of the players. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tannochsidebear 2,315 Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 I was assuming there would be no promotion for our colt side, otherwise you would be taking the place of a SPFL side (after promotion) and the wee diddy clubs wont ever vote for that. If we could get our second string into the Championship, that would be a different matter. I agree that there is very little evidence that colt teams playing in the same pyramid rarely produce player into the first team, and is therefore worth the effort at all. I would prefer our current system of loaning out good prospects to either SPFL premiership or Championship sides, or English Championship sides. Any lower down either chain is not good enough quality to get them first team ready. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,247 Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 (edited) IMHO, the challenge games the "Development Team" played last season will have been much more beneficial to the players than any low-key Scottish League or Reserve League (how many teams have that and can afford that, money- and player-wise?). And seemingly there's a "market" for that ... the challenge games that is. In the pyramid system of German football, BL teams do have their "2nd teams" play in the various tiers, essentially u23 squads (or younger). The only hindrance they face in terms of promotion is that they can never be in the same league as the "1st team". Yet, the quality down the leagues is something where youngsters and reserve players can indeed hone their skills, whereas I doubt that games against Cove, East Fife or Airdrieonians would have honed Middleton's skills to his current level. Ain't it more likely that those few with a bit of skill end up the next generation of Bowman, Shinnie and Co.? One may send a youngster down there to toughen up for one season or less, but a league system? Edited November 21, 2018 by der Berliner 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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