Colt Teams In the Lower Divisions Of Scottish Football

Colt Teams In the Lower Divisions Of Scottish Football.

 

I have written about this before. But there are new rumours of Glasgow Rangers and Glasgow Celtic wanting this again.

 

I definitely support having B or colt teams in lower divisions of the Scottish football system.

 

One manager who criticised the idea, said it should not happen, because he claimed it was not the job of Scottish football to develop Old Firm Players. But that is not fair as an argument in my view.

 

It is the job of Scottish football to make sure every Scottish player is developed. Whether they be playing for Celtic, Rangers, Peterhead, Aberdeen, Dundee United, or any other club.

We want our clubs to do well in Europe, and that often means having good foreign players too. But the priority is to develop great Scottish players for the international side

The priority of Scottish football should be to develop good players. The more top players we have, the better chance we have of reaching international tournaments, and even doing well in them.

I cannot understand why anyone would want Scottish players to not develop, just because they play for the Old Firm.

I support Scottish football. I want all Scottish sides to develop good players.

I want all the Scottish clubs to do well in Europe, and sometimes that means buying non Scottish players to increase the quality.

Sometimes that means young players do not get first team football. But if we allowed the big sides to have B teams in the lower divisions, then that would enable every Scottish young player playing for the B teams to get regular competitive experience. 

I do not see it as a threat to the smaller clubs, to have B teams in the lower leagues.

How does a club finishing 4 or 5 places down the league system count as bigger crime against Scottish football, than the crime of letting players at big clubs go to waste?.

And I know someone will say, well Rangers and Celtic should play young players every game. But that is a nonsense. How are Scottish clubs supposed to do well in Europe and compete with other teams if they just have their entire first team made up of young inexperienced players?

What we need is a system that ensures our teams do well in Europe, but also allows young players to develop.

Having B teams in the lower league ensures this.

And it is a compliment to the lower leagues, to say this would be a good level to develop international players.  

That way Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs and Dundee United, can develop their top young players and at the same time can have experienced players in their first team for games in Europe.

I think the Old Firm, plus Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen, Dundee United and Motherwell, should all have colt teams playing in the lower leagues. It would be the perfect way to ensure Scottish players get early competitive football.

This idea of B teams in the lower divisions is tried in Germany, Croatia, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Spain. We even used to do it in Scotland with the old Division C.

I cannot see why some fans claim it is offensive to have B teams in the lower leagues, when they regularly allow the Old Firm and big foreign teams to play their second string sides against their first sides in friendlies. Why is it so wrong in the competitive leagues?

It seems some fans would rather cut off their noses to spite their faces. They would rather Scottish talent go to waste.

The Old Firm will buy top players from Europe, if their own players do not develop. So it is not as if Celtic and Rangers have the biggest impact from this. It is the Scottish international team that suffers most from young Scottish players not getting regular competitive football.

I want a system in Scotland, that;

A) Develops good Scottish players.

B) Develops club teams that do well in Europe.

C) Attracts and develops good players at all the clubs.

D) Makes Scottish football have well supported clubs.

E) Helps the small teams have rich histories.