New Premier League U21 Competition..Saints are in

[Dig Dig]

@officialsaints: #SaintsFC will participate in the newly-created Barclays U21 Premier League in the coming season. Details to follow at http://t.co/uOy2bQWx.

[Matthew Le God]

Groups...

 

Bolton Wanderers, Norwich City, Everton, West Ham United, Blackburn Rovers, Arsenal, West Bromwich Albion, Reading.

 

Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Watford, Sunderland, Southampton, Aston Villa, Stoke City.

 

Manchester City, Crystal Palace, Middlesbrough, Chelsea, Liverpool, Fulham, Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Edited 3 August, 2012 by Matthew Le God

[Dig Dig]

Should be a decent group and a good test against Spurs and Utd.

[Matthew Le God]

That is only the league until Christmas. After Christmas the top 3 teams from group 1 + 2 join the top two teams from group 3 to find the best team. The remaining teams also form two other leagues so the second half of the season has a 3 tier system.

 

Will be less teams in it in 2013/14 as for this season they just let in everyone that applied for category one status. Next season will only be for those clubs that got cat 1 status.

[Sour Mash]

Will the games be played behind closed doors anyone know?

[Matthew Le God]

Will the games be played behind closed doors anyone know?

 

A minimum of two games have to be played at the club's stadium, the public will be able to watch them. The club can also let the public into the training ground games if it wants and the plan is for this competition to be televised at some point.

 

The under 21's, under 18's and under 16's will all have the same league/team structure.

[oldsarum]

Will the games be played behind closed doors anyone know?

 

Says behind close doors at at Staplewood due to building works, in U21 fixtures section on OS

[Matthew Le God]

Says behind close doors at at Staplewood due to building works, in U21 fixtures section on OS

 

At least two games have to be at St Mary's.

[Saint_clark]

Is this formed of clubs that have achieved category 1 in the EPPPPPPPP thing?

[Dig Dig]

MLG, you mentioned a potential U21 European Competition on here before? If so, will qualification be via the PL competition do you think?

[Dig Dig]

Is this formed of clubs that have achieved category 1 in the EPPPPPPPP thing?

 

From next season it will be but open for all for now I believe (from previous posts)

[oldsarum]

At least two games have to be at St Mary's.

 

 

Doesn't mention that in article

 

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/fixtures-results/u21-fixtures/

[Matthew Le God]

Is this formed of clubs that have achieved category 1 in the EPPPPPPPP thing?

 

From next season it will be but open for all for now I believe (from previous posts)

 

For this season they just let in everyone that applied for category one status, so 23 clubs. Next season will only be for those clubs that actually got cat 1 status, so will be less than 23 clubs.

[maysie]

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/saints-enter-u21-premier-league-290700.aspx

[Turkish]

For this season they just let in everyone that applied for category one status, so 23 clubs. Next season will only be for those clubs that actually got cat 1 status, so will be less than 23 clubs.

 

Why have they done that? Have they not finished the audit for all Cat A applicants?

[Matthew Le God]

Doesn't mention that in article

 

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/fixtures-results/u21-fixtures/

 

So what? It is still true.

[Matthew Le God]

Why have they done that? Have they not finished the audit for all Cat A applicants?

 

They are halfway through the audit, rest being done in Sept and Oct. It won't be the proper cat 1 league until 2013/14, at the moment it is just all those that applied for cat 1.

[Turkish]

They are halfway through the audit, rest being done in Sept and Oct. It won't be the proper cat 1 league until 2013/14, at the moment it is just all those that applied for cat 1.

 

fair enough, thanks. So to confirm it contains everyone that has got cat A and the rest that have applied but haven't been audited yet?

[Matthew Le God]

In other south coast youth football news...

 

Portsmouth Supporters Trust revealed their plans for a "community club" by saying if they took charge they are likely to close the academy in 2014...

 

"6.7 Academy Costs

PST plan to maintain the academy at category three. The effectiveness and cost of the academy would then be closely monitored and reviewed throughout the first two seasons, with a decision made on the future of the academy by the beginning of the 2014/15 season. The forecasts show no cost in the 2014/15 season for the academy, as it is believed that the board will have decided the Academy is too costly to run by this point."

Edited 3 August, 2012 by Matthew Le God

[Matthew Le God]

fair enough, thanks. So to confirm it contains everyone that has got cat A and the rest that have applied but haven't been audited yet?

 

Correct. Crystal Palace for example are in it this season, but won't next season as they failed to get cat 1. Same applies to Newcastle and Blackburn apparently.

 

I would imagine Les Reed's comment about Saints coming out on top in the audit will still apply once the rest have been audited, after all we already came above Man Utd and Man City in the first half of the audit. And there were prelimerary audits in order to gauge levels of academies. Saints will be used as a benchmark and example for all other clubs at the National Football Centre/St George's Park in Buxton.

Edited 3 August, 2012 by Matthew Le God

[Give it to Ron]

At least two games have to be at St Mary's.

 

Southampton FC ‏@officialsaints

 

#SaintsFC will play three of their first seven U21 home games at St Mary's: Spurs (24th Sep), Newcastle (29th Oct) and Man Utd (3rd Dec).

[Mattio]

Will this be reflected in FM13 MLG?

Looks like SI have a lot of coding to do!

[Turkish]

Correct. Crystal Palace for example are in it this season, but won't next season as they failed to get cat 1. Same applies to Newcastle and Blackburn apparently.

 

I would imagine Les Reed's comment about Saints coming out on top in the audit will still apply once the rest have been audited, after all we already came above Man Utd and Man City in the first half of the audit. And there were prelimerary audits in order to gauge levels of academies. Saints will be used as a benchmark and example for all other clubs at the National Football Centre/St George's Park in Buxton.

 

Was it ever established who the other two European clubs were that we were being used as an example with?

[Matthew Le God]

Was it ever established who the other two European clubs were that we were being used as an example with?

 

Nope.

 

But I will still stand by my original guess of Barcelona and Ajax.

[Turkish]

Nope.

 

But I will still stand by my original guess of Barcelona and Ajax.

 

They would be the obvious one, although werent a Russian club mentioned?

[Matthew Le God]

They would be the obvious one, although werent a Russian club mentioned?

 

I assumed he was joking, as if true that would be very odd. I don't think it was even one of the big Russian sides.

[pap]

They should market this league in a similar way to College Sports in the US. I wouldn't mind watching it; up and coming players. The trick is convincing people its worth their time by telling them they're seeing the stars of the future.

[Saint Charlie]

I assumed he was joking, as if true that would be very odd. I don't think it was even one of the big Russian sides.

 

It was Metalist Kharkiv - they were in the Champions League a couple of years ago and have a good record with youth players. No idea of facilities but saw it mentioned on a Russian site.

 

Bayern sprung to my mind also as well as Ajax and Barca but it seems Metalist are well versed in bringing young players through, and the Russian technique in the Euros was second only to Spain and probably Germany.

[Dig Dig]

I assumed he was joking, as if true that would be very odd. I don't think it was even one of the big Russian sides.

 

Well we're not a "big" English side so it's about quality not prestige.

[DJ_TOAST]

Southampton FC ‏@officialsaints

 

#SaintsFC will play three of their first seven U21 home games at St Mary's: Spurs (24th Sep), Newcastle (29th Oct) and Man Utd (3rd Dec).

 

This is good news but lets hope Saints are a bit more sensible about things and don't charge stupid prices for tickets, although I suspect they will same as the friendlies, shame really.

[Saint Fan CaM]

I think this can only be good for the game in England, however IMO there is still a long way to go to really focus on ensuring the England team have top stars coached in a consistent way for the future.

[JRM]

if they let in season ticket holders for free i'll definitely go along, would be good to see some of the young players.

[Golden Balls]

They should market this league in a similar way to College Sports in the US. I wouldn't mind watching it; up and coming players. The trick is convincing people its worth their time by telling them they're seeing the stars of the future.

 

This would be brilliant if they did!

 

They need to make sure prices to watch are extremely low/free

[pap]

This would be brilliant if they did!

 

They need to make sure prices to watch are extremely low/free

 

Definitely agree on the low cost, not so sure about the 'free'. If they did a family ticket at £20, that'd be a good day or night out. Even if they gave away tickets to schools, etc - would be a good thing.

 

Really though, it'll get as much respect as the media are prepared to give it, or to quote Phoneshop - "man say he's a ting, he's a ting". Not necessarily saying that it should be front page news, but I really hope they make a big thing of the later stages, particularly any final.