The death of lower league football?

oddsonlaughter · Sep 20, 2013

FA commission wants to look at having formalised Feeder Clubs in the lower leagues :nono:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/sep/19/fa-english-football-feeder-clubs

The feeder club would share a style and culture with the parent club!

Do they not realise that the English leagues are unique in terms of attendance and competitiveness, this would kill the game as we know it

Can you imagine Orient for example being West Hams feeder team, what would Orient fans think! Orient would instantly lose there identity

Crazy idea once again floated by the FA and supported by the Premier League

Return of the Rev · Sep 20, 2013

the games gone :facepalm:

Stat Brother · Sep 20, 2013

As wrong as it is, what's is the alternative?

Currently there is NO money below the Premier League, and no sign of them handing any money over.
Something has to give, esp as all the time financial mismangement goes by unpunished, (Nobody said you Portsmouth) the endless cycle of club and fan raping will continue.

If it weren't for TB we could be Palace's feeder club

Brovion · Sep 20, 2013

I hear what you're saying, but it does work quite well in Europe. I think it's worth having the debate, even if my initial gut feeling is to agree with you.

HawkTheSeagull · Sep 20, 2013

Some clubs need the money so would sell their identity but it should be by choice for the non-league club only, although then they would have an advantage over other clubs - and then what would happen if they got into the football league ?

Works well in Europe, but it shouldnt happen here. Though higher "solidarity" payments do need to get passed down from the Premier League to non-league clubs.

kevo · Sep 20, 2013

I don't understand why it is an "issue" that there aren't many English players in the Premier League. Who cares? If they are good enough, they'll play there.

It's only an issue if you are worried about England's future as an international side. Is it worth stripping clubs of their identity to help teams in the Premier League and ruining the tradition and culture of football in this country, just so we can be more competitive at international level? No.

How would you feel if we were still in League One, playing at Withdean, and became a feeder club for Chelsea?

Czechmate · Sep 20, 2013

Terrible idea , I don't believe some comments above , just imagine if Brighton have a bad run and end up in division 1 or 2 , it can happen like Pompey/Wolves , what would your thoughts be of us being a feeder club to Chelsea ? for me 45 years of supporting the club would be out the window , I would give it up !!! Terrible idea , the top clubs should not be so greedy and pass some of the stupid amounts of money down the leagues end off !!!

attila · Sep 20, 2013

I recently saw a game in the Italian 4th Division. There were about 500 people there, and that is pretty typical. We are unique in our fanbases at a lower level, and NO lower league clubs will accept that. Honestly, the FA is completely clueless.

Easy 10 · Sep 20, 2013

Horrible idea. It puts a formal glass ceiling on the feeder club, as they will never be allowed to rise to the level of their "owning" club. And the feeder club would completely lose its own identity.

In the exaple the OP gives, if Orient were formalised as West Hams feeder club, and they made it to the Championship, what would be the point of them even bothering to compete if they ultimately would never be allowed a further promotion to the PL. Obviously thats an almost impossible scenario to envisage anyway, although the likes of Swansea, Hull and Cardiff show you can rise to the heights over time. But the essence of following your team is aspiration and ambition - take that away and you DO kill the game. And what would happen if (for example) Orient went up and West Ham went down, so the owning club and feeder club ended up in the same league ? Thats not an impossible scenario.

Thankfully we're too big to be a feeder club now, but if we were stuck at Withdean in the 3rd division, and got "adopted", then I'm buggered if I'd be going along to effectively watch (say) Tottenham Youth/Reserves playing on BHA's behalf. Stuff that.

hans kraay fan club · Sep 20, 2013

Mustafa said:
I would guess that 4 out of 5 players in the Championship are English, .

Really? No chance.

Take our squad from Wednesday night, by example. I've highlighted for you, the ones who qaulify for England.

Brighton & Hove Albion
29 Kuszczak
03 Greer
14 Calderon
17 Ward
20 Upson
04 Andrews
08 Crofts
18 Caskey
09 Barnes*
21 David Lopez
23 Conway

Substitutes
01 Brezovan
02 Bruno
06 El-Abd
25 LuaLua **
27 March
38 Ince
30 Buckley

*MIGHT count, if his Austria U21 cap was a freindly?
**Definitely qualifies for the Congo. Possibly England as well.

trueblue · Sep 20, 2013

Ridiculous idea. All fans dream of their club rising up the football pyramid. If your best players will repeatedly be elevated to the Premier League without the club joining them, what's the point. It's hard to hang on to talent at the moment but at least it can be done - or suitable compensation's provided in the transfer fee.

It does feel like football is increasingly run by people with no understanding of what the average person wants. A bit like the country, funnily enough.

keaton · Sep 20, 2013

attila said:
I recently saw a game in the Italian 4th Division. There were about 500 people there, and that is pretty typical. We are unique in our fanbases at a lower level, and NO lower league clubs will accept that. Honestly, the FA is completely clueless.

Indeed some of our non-league teams get bigger crowds than Italian/Spanish/German 3rd division teams.

There is clearly enough money in the Premier League and FA for them to sort out their issues. One of the main selling points for the PL was to help the national team.
I'd much rather have a decent league with hundreds of proper teams competing each with their own identity than have that messed around for the sake of the national teams new bodged fix.

Brovion · Sep 20, 2013

Czechmate said:
Terrible idea , I don't believe some comments above , just imagine if Brighton have a bad run and end up in division 1 or 2 , it can happen like Pompey/Wolves , what would your thoughts be of us being a feeder club to Chelsea ? for me 45 years of supporting the club would be out the window , I would give it up !!! Terrible idea , the top clubs should not be so greedy and pass some of the stupid amounts of money down the leagues end off !!!

If it were feeder clubs rather than 'B' teams, whose to say the relationship has to be permanent? They could be for set terms of say five years, and for financially-struggling teams to get some/all of your players 'free' for five years whilst you get yourself back on your feet could be a financial Godsend. And as has been pointed out we have a good fan culture in the lower leagues. I don't think that will change, i.e. I don't think people will stop supporting their clubs just because all the players are basically on loan.

I'm sorry, it sounds like I'm in favour of the idea whereas all I'm really saying is I don't think it's a REALLY bad one and if properly implemented it could even be beneficial. However I accept the conservative nature of English football fans accounts for a lot of the 'hell no' responses.

BLOCK F · Sep 20, 2013

Horrible idea,but then again I am a bit of a traditionalist and have far more of an interest in the Championship and below than I do in the Premiership.
Not interested in multi millionaire players or the fact that the same old clubs win the Prem year after year.
Can't be arsed with it and regret that football in general has got so expensive for so many people.
May be because I am older,but my favourite time of being a fan was about 30 years ago, following Albion round the country and visiting all kinds of funny old grounds,just turning up at the gate and getting in,talking to the local fans and having a laugh.
Can't turn the clock but I would not look forward to the day when the smaller clubs lost much of their identity.

Coldeanseagull · Sep 20, 2013

I can see the reasoning behind this. Imagine if we 'lent' a handful of development players to say, league two or even conference teams. The experience of playing competitive matches would enhance their ability to progress through our ranks. There would need to be a limit on how many at one time could be loaned, otherwise you're losing out on the benefits of those players mixing with experienced pros.
What I don't want to see is a foreign club using a championship side as a feeder

Czechmate · Sep 20, 2013

Would Swansea have achieved what they have done in 9 years if this was the case , quite simply NO !! Would Wimbledon of won the FA Cup NO !! Let fans dream and have aims to keep their football hopes alive , the game needs proper fans , and I for one would not support Brighton anymore if God forbid it ever did happen to us !!!
And I think supporters of Wolves and Pompey would feel the same .

Brovion · Sep 20, 2013

Czechmate said:
Would Swansea have achieved what they have done in 9 years if this was the case , quite simply NO !! Would Wimbledon of won the FA Cup NO !! Let fans dream and have aims to keep their football hopes alive , the game needs proper fans , and I for one would not support Brighton anymore if God forbid it ever did happen to us !!!
And I think supporters of Wolves and Pompey would feel the same .

Would Stockport County be fourth from bottom of Conference North if they'd been Man U's feeder club for five years?

beorhthelm · Sep 20, 2013

kevo said:
How would you feel if we were still in League One, playing at Withdean, and became a feeder club for Chelsea?

watching the likes of Chalobah, McEachran, Lukaku? not terribly upset actually.

i think it needs to be discussed and thought about. not sure it would impact on every lower league team, and for some it would make sence. the smaller club doesnt have to disappear. at least we should be looking at more formal, structured relationships between clubs.

Coach_Carter_92 · Sep 20, 2013

I was speaking to one of my course lecturers about this. He has become one of about 70 coaching "mentors" around the country and each mentor is assigned a county. He told me that as well as the feeder club idea the FA are also thinking about re-shaping the Premier League. Essentially, they want to have a Premiership A and a Premiership B, each containing 16 teams, then all other teams would become feeder clubs to the top 32 clubs in the country. Whether they do this is another matter.

beorhthelm · Sep 20, 2013

Coach_Carter_92 said:
... the FA are also thinking about re-shaping the Premier League

and the Premier League will tell them to do one.

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