Substitutes killed reserve football - a rant

When I was a kid in the 60's my grandfather used to take me to the Dell for Southampton Reserve matches alternate Saturdays when the fist team were away, often against the same club the first were playing. With only one sub, even a squad as small as ours is now could put out 2 teams, maybe using a few "A" team players. There also seemed to be fewer injuries (that's another debate).

It was decent football, occasional sightings of the stars (Chivers, Davies, Paine) and competitive - the Football Combination and Combination Cup were seen as worth winning.

Multiple substitutes suited clubs with big squads, reduced the chances of smaller clubs winning (if you get selection wrong, you can bring on £100m "worth" of alternatives). They also became obsessed with European competition and the greed of the Premier League and killed off the old reserve competitions. I'm sure player attitudes changed as well, with little incentive to win reserve leagues.

My conclusion is that the current situation is caused by the big clubs and the rest of us should not have to have our league ruined and our clubs' prospects diminshed to suit them. If they want a competitive reserve league, then they should organise one.

Posted By: watfordcanary on March 21st 2007 at 11:20:43

Message Thread

christ football is going (gone) mad (Other Football) - megson, Mar 21, 09:22:34
- Substitutes killed reserve football - a rant (Other Football) - watfordcanary, Mar 21, 11:20:43
- Used to happen in Spain I think, Getafe used to be Real Madrid's reserve team I think (n/m) (Other Football) - pants, Mar 21, 10:28:26
  - Nope. Still does happen in Spain (Other Football) - Tricky Hawes, Mar 21, 10:30:20
    - I should stop listening to Gerry Armstrong I think (n/m) (Other Football) - pants, Mar 21, 12:40:03
- These foreign managers (Other Football) - Charles21, Mar 21, 10:12:31
  - Smaller clubs who get promoted to the prem (Other Football) - DiscoDaleGordon, Mar 21, 10:13:57
- irritating thing is... (Other Football) - mr carra, Mar 21, 09:31:07
  - my fear is that you could be right (Other Football) - megson, Mar 21, 09:44:57
    - Yes, but in one way it could be a good thing! (Other Football) - DiscoDaleGordon, Mar 21, 09:48:50
      - could well be right (Other Football) - megson, Mar 21, 09:56:10
        
        not sure - virtually all the media attention focuses on the Big Four though (Other Football) - mr carra, Mar 21, 10:14:13
        
        But (Other Football) - DiscoDaleGordon, Mar 21, 10:17:06
        
        they don't care about us (Other Football) - mr carra, Mar 21, 10:50:26
        
        Exactly (Other Football) - DiscoDaleGordon, Mar 21, 09:57:55
- WWII, that story is a re-hash from a few months back. (Other Football) - mike_the_sphinx, Mar 21, 09:27:55
  - really? missed it then (Other Football) - megson, Mar 21, 09:29:31
- It's because they do it in Spain (n/m) (Other Football) - duke of york, Mar 21, 09:24:59
  - and Germany (n/m) (Other Football) - mr carra, Mar 21, 09:31:25

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