heartsfc_fan Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 I was thinking this the other day. Scrapping the reserve league this season has been one of the reasons for the drop in standard of SPL football (the other being the obvious drop in money from T.V revenue). How are players over 19 years old meant to practice on a weekly basis? Last season we could drop players like Driver into the reserve league to get him back to match fitness, but instead he was thrown in far too early against Zagreb at home and got injured again. Fair enough there is the odd bounce game that gets organised once in a while, but it's not the same. At least with a reserve league you have a proper fixture list to stick to and prepare for. I also believe the high amount of injuries this season has also been partly due to not having proper practice matches for players who are getting back to fitness. I fully believe (yes you can all laugh) players like Witteveen, Kucharski or Suso would've fully benefitted from playing a few matches in the reserve league to build up confidence and learn the style of the SPL. I'm not just referring to Hearts as a club that this has affected, but in the grand scheme of things the standard of football in the SPL has dropped a fair amount this season (ok it wasn't exactly amazing before mind...). Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boomstick Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 You're absolutely right. I'm hoping to christ that it's back for next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest juvehearts Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 totally agree. out of 12 clubs 7 clubs voted for the scrapage of it tho, all come down to money. Most clubs are struggling to put a team out on matchday let alone a reserve league. IMHO the WHOLE of scottish football needs to start again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamboinglasgow Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 Some SPL clubs put short-term in front of the long-term and have made everyone suffer. It is not the main reason for Scottish football doing badly but it doesn't help either. Poor descision that has been unfair on the clubs who voted against the move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambof3tornado Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 I said at the time that it would badly affect the quality on display on a saturday at 3pm(or whenever else the tv companies,council/police tell us to play). The reserve league is an important tool in player fitness and without it many player have returned to action far from match fit and some have subsequently been injured again. The costs involved are surely not that high,and considering some of the dross I have witnessed at Tynecastle this season,I would rather watch a reserve team play right now!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Treasurer Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 It was th OF that dictated that they wanted to scrap the reserve league and of course their usual lapdogs voted with them. In my view the other clubs, from all divisions should set up some sort of league which consisted of both fringe first team players and youths. They should also tell those that voted to scrap the reserve league to do one if they ask to be part of any new set up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBigO Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 Hearts have been one of the worst effected teams by it's scrapping in that we had quite a few lads push past the u19 barrier last season and we've actually still got quite a big squad compared to most SPL teams. We've also had more injuries than anyone else in Scotland this year (maybe that's not true actually - remember Rangers' CRISIS last week when they were missing, what, 4 players!! Wee lambs). This sort of thing is not about Hearts, however. It's about Scottish football and the progression of young players to fully fledged pros playing week in and week out and pushing themselves to international level. Scotland has classically struggled with this. We do very well at youth levels up until maybe u19/u20 and more often that not punch above our weight in the euro and world tournaments at most youth levels. It's when we try to take this talent and take it to the next level that it hurts us. In my eyes, what happens is that when the young players are handed over to the first team coaches, their development effectively stops. Now they're working on fitness, set-pieces, tactical discipline. All important stuff, but the personal development stops and they become part of a squad whereas before that, they were, to an extent, personally nurtured. Basically, they go into an environment where there's too much to lose for the manager to spend time developing them so it's quick fixes (such as "win yer tackles, laddie", "just get the ball up the park, son".) The size of our league and the league split doesn't help this as there are too many teams who simply can't afford the time to nurture players on their breakthrough. It also means the bigger teams, have less games against properly smaller teams where they might "risk" a couple of lads. So basically if the kids are playing, they're under massive pressure (Hearts), and if they're not, managers may be unwilling to try them (St Mirren). Not sure about the reserve league coming back in it's original form as it didn't really help that progression i've mentioned above. It is better than nothing, mind and does help injured players. I think what the SFA need to look at (and i have it on very good authority that they are - JiG can confirm!!) is that youth - 1st team - international progression as a whole picture and how do we best tackle this. UNfortunately, I have the feeling that progressive clubs such as ourselves, Hibs and probably Dutd, Hamilton, maybe Aberdeen will always be outvoted by the OF and their cronies such as St Mirren and Boyle's Motherwell. Sorry for the long post. Just got my laptop back from the repair man after spilling beer on it, so blethering a bit to make up for lost time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heehaw Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 its been a disaster for scottish football Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mundojambo Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 totally agree. IMHO the WHOLE of scottish football needs to start again. it's about time, isn't it? theres a campain to get it to happen, and they are starting on facebook, but aim to get as many people involved as possible http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=505524668#/group.php?gid=272454182546&ref=mf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamboAl Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 It's easy to be wise in hindsight but the scrapping of the reserve league, albeit to save money, does seem a bummer. IMO, we could get solve the problem in one of two ways - allow up to (say) 3 over age players in U19 games which would allow players returning from injury some match practice, OR - scrap the U19s and U17s, replace with U18s and bring back the reserves. This would still allow clubs to effectively ditch around 12 players although savings might be less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debtor Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 It was all about money, although why the OF should push for this beats me. They have plenty of players doing nothing. Like us they surely need the reserve league? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
combo74 Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 I totally agree with this post, having no reserve league is an absolute joke and can only stunt the development of players. The examples you use of Suso, Wittenveen and Kucharski are perfect. In the past they would have come in played for a month or two in the reserves, got used to the speed and physicallity of the Scottish game before being gradually exposed to the first team. No matter what peoples views are on the standard of the SPL it is undoubtedly a step up from where the 3 players above have come from. The lack of reserve league means they are thrown straight into the first team to sink or swim. The majority sink and are lambasted by the ever so tolerant Hearts fans and written off after 1 or 2 games. Better players than the 3 above have struggled to adapt and have had to gradually bed themselves in via the reserve leagues (Thomas Flogel). The reserve leagues are also beneficial for more established players who suffer a drop in form. Take Obua for example. He is clearly suffering from a lack of form and/or confidence, which is only being made worse by the abuse he gets from the terracing. In the past he could have been dropped, spent a few weeks in the reserves, out of the limelight, allowing him to build up his confidence again. Now the choice is to drop him, leaving him to kick his heals with no competitive football, which is unlikely to help, or to persevere with him in the hope that he comes through the slump. Only in Scotland would such a decision be taken. We are a backward nation with no foresight, run by men who have not had an innovative thought since the 1980's. Every decision or change that is made just seems to further stifle any chance of progress further. Shambolic, Prehistoric, Laughable (SPL) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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