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“B teams in SPFL would be good for Scottish football” - Philippe Clement


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as quoted on the BBC website as if he couldn’t be more disconnected from what is good for Scottish football… it’s Clement with the B teams argument. They aren’t wanted in the Lowland league, Rangers pulled out of the Lowland league and with Rangers finances on a shoogily peg, could end up being the A team that revisits the bottom league. 
 

Why do they keep bringing up the B teams? The world votes no.
 

But then you read another part of the BBC website and it just says he agrees with the SFA report on youth football, and that doesn’t mention B teams. 
 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/rangers

Edited by Kerrazoo
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His suggestion was rejected by that same SFA strategic review:

- for those clubs who operated a B Team in the Lowland League, they believed this experience was more beneficial than playing U18s Academy football, but still felt that a middle step was needed to prepare the players for 1st team level.

- the B Team Model abroad (where the teams are able play at a higher level of league than in the Scottish set-up, which limits them to Tier 5) has been shown to be effective both in ECA and FIFA reports. However, based on the feedback we have received, the model of allowing these teams to advance through the pyramid is without support in our country, and we should look to generate other solutions.


Btw he's advocating B teams playing in Championship - not SPFL2.


EDIT: incidentally BBC asked 2 managers... whose clubs ranked 16th & 18th from 22 for fielding U21s - of any nationality IIRC? - in 2023-24.

image.png.c9e4007d2ba1c435a5cb469fc73a9d19.png 

Edited by HibeeJibee
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Please can we just put the B teams in a big lead box, sealed and put at the bottom of the deepest sea we can find.

It just won’t go away and the usual suspects just try a different argument to get their way.
Our clubs have to be strong and continue to stand against this, certainly doesn’t help when it’s folk like Clement and his resultant hoard start spouting this rubbish, coupled with the Lowland League sell out and whoever decided to shoehorn B teams into the diddy cup which has once again provided oxygen for this arrogant wish for the “Big teams”ultimately to have teams in every league in Scotland.
We can’t let this happen

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The thing is there is a pathway to first team at a lot of clubs, it’s that Rangers and Celtic are completely unwilling to do it. The below shows pre split fixtures for last season, and they have under 21s a combined 115 minutes of football. 
 

All they want is to put their youth in a better shop window for profit, not to play them at any point. 

IMG_5199.png

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I’ve no issue with B teams, but only if they start at the very bottom of the pyramid ie for the OF clubs that’d be at the bottom of the WoSFL structure. League progression through the pyramid for any club should be a meritocracy, they should NOT be parachuted in near the top, that would really be taking the mick!

Even going into the LL was unfair ….. teams like Bonnyrigg, Linlithgow, Broxburn and Tranent had to fight to get to the LL, why should some teams simply pay cash to gain access..

If introducing B teams improve the chances of bringing through more quality Scottish youngsters, then I’ve no issue with them ….. but they can’t jump the queue, going straight to the Championship should be a non starter.

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His argument is probably that if his younger players were playing in the Championship to develop instead of Tier 5 then they'd be more suited to stepping up to the first team.

 

The counter argument being just loan them out to a Championship team if you feel this would progress their development.

 

A debate that'll never end given that B teams now have a "place" in our league system.

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Depressingly, this article comes as little surprise. 

A few of us have said on here for years that the end goal for the Old Firm vermin was to get their weans teams up and occupying the top two places in the Championship, in perpetuity. Destroying any meaningful competition in a similar manner to the Premiership.

We must continue to resist these wreckers. 

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2 hours ago, Broonaldo said:

I’ve no issue with B teams, but only if they start at the very bottom of the pyramid ie for the OF clubs that’d be at the bottom of the WoSFL structure. League progression through the pyramid for any club should be a meritocracy, they should NOT be parachuted in near the top, that would really be taking the mick!

Even going into the LL was unfair ….. teams like Bonnyrigg, Linlithgow, Broxburn and Tranent had to fight to get to the LL, why should some teams simply pay cash to gain access..

If introducing B teams improve the chances of bringing through more quality Scottish youngsters, then I’ve no issue with them ….. but they can’t jump the queue, going straight to the Championship should be a non starter.

I support a West of Scotland club and don't want them in it in any shape of form.

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One of my gripes is the way that, effectively, the SFA went along with B teams in the LL and the Conference Division idea.

This, plus the failure to make the Pyramid system work fairly,  to me shows how out of touch the SFA has become and how complacent it seems to be. Too many conflicts of interest and no plan even to acknowledge that let alone do anything about it.

My views only. Others may well disagree!! 

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2 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

Meanwhile Neil Doncaster's THE SCOTTISH CONFERENCE LEAGUE LIMITED is still live on Companies House, last updated in May.

You just know that they’ll come back with a rehash of this 💩

A wee bit more money to bribe a few clubs no doubt.

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3 hours ago, The Moonster said:

See, it's this sort of olive branch all this discussion is designed to create. The vast majority say "f**k off" as they should do, then you get some people debating that actually it would be fine if they met certain criteria and all of sudden a debate becomes justified. We don't need B teams at any level of the senior game. End of. The answer yesterday was f**k off, the answer today is f**k off, and the answer tomorrow will still be f**k off. 

I think it is a justifiable debate. What makes you say “we don’t need the B teams” - what if their inclusion did develop more young Scottish talent; what happens if it did bring more fans to the lower leagues? Isn’t that a debate worthwhile having? Isn’t that something we should investigate? I’m not saying it will (or should) happen, but surely it’s something worthy of discussion rather than simply saying “f***k off” offhand ……

For too long Scottish football fans have been too insular, too focussed on their own club rather than to consider anything that will benefit the wider game in Scotland.

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7 minutes ago, Broonaldo said:

I think it is a justifiable debate. What makes you say “we don’t need the B teams” - what if their inclusion did develop more young Scottish talent; what happens if it did bring more fans to the lower leagues? Isn’t that a debate worthwhile having? Isn’t that something we should investigate? I’m not saying it will (or should) happen, but surely it’s something worthy of discussion rather than simply saying “f***k off” offhand ……

For too long Scottish football fans have been too insular, too focussed on their own club rather than to consider anything that will benefit the wider game in Scotland.

"For too long Scottish football fans have been too insular, too focussed on their own club rather than to consider anything that will benefit the wider game in Scotland."

........... but isn't that the problem ........ and right at the top of the game in Scotland?

If nothing else sort out a fair promotion/relegation structure for the pyramid i.e. from the top where the Old Firm play and right down to the very bottom , including the Amateurs/Welfare Associations. Get the foundations right!

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Clement fleshes out his proposal here:

Clement wants a Rangers B team to be allowed to play in the Championship
Rangers' Philippe Clement takes on Scottish football's political peculiarities: B teams, 'weird' Aberdeen case and request to journalists (scotsman.com)


Couple of interesting takeaways...

Firstly he namechecks 5 squad players who would benefit from Rangers B playing in Championship - only 2 of them are Scottish (plus 3 of them are actually already 21).

Secondly he criticises the Connor Barron situation... he wants Rangers to have to pay Aberdeen less £ compensation since a club abroad would be able to pay that - this would be more "progressive thinking".

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