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Spurs under 21, under 18 Leagues and other youth news

Spursidol

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Sep 15, 2007
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Details of the new Under 21 Premier League (replacing the old Reserve League) and re-branded under 18 leagues (and under 16 leagues) are starting to appear. These leagues will all be played on a national basis replacing the old regional structure.

There will be 23 teams in total in each, made up of 17 Premier League teams (excluding Swansea, QPR, Wigan who did not achieve Tier 1 Academy status), plus Blackburn, Bolton, Watford, Crystal Palace, Middlesbrough and Wolves.

These 23 teams are divided into 3 groups :
Group A : Arsenal, Blackburn, Bolton, Everton, Norwich, Reading, West Brom and West Ham.
Group B : Fulham, Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Crystal Palace and Wolves
Group C : Newcastle, Tottenham, Southampton, Stoke, Man Utd, Watford, Sunderland and Aston Villa.

Each team in the group will play the others home and away before Christmas to determine their League placing. The top 2 in each group along with the two best third placed teams in the groups go through to an Elite Round in January, other teams play those around same point totals in Tier 2/3.

In each case case player eligibility will almost certainly follow the standard definition of being under 15/18/21 on the 1 January in the year that the season starts (eg under 16/18/21 on 1 January 2012 for 2012/13 season). However provision has been made for three outfield over-age players and one goalkeeper, at least for under 21 League.

Newcastle are the only club inn Spurs group to have released fixture dates that I can find http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20120731/youth-and-second-string-fixtures-released_2281670_2866727 and as you will see the fixture dates seem to closely marry Premiership fixture dates where possible.

No doubt Spurs OS will update us in due course with details of how the leagues work, fixtures, player eligibility etc - and further details may also appear before then so will try to update this thread when they do !
 

Spursidol

Well-Known Member
Sep 15, 2007
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Not sure about your confidence in the OS keeping us updated...

Nor am I, hence the phrase following that of :

No doubt Spurs OS will update us in due course with details of how the leagues work, fixtures, player eligibility etc - and further details may also appear before then so will try to update this thread when they do ! :D
 

Pringle

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Dec 25, 2006
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so the reserve league is being scrapped all together? Wonder what will happen to the players aged over 21 who cant get a first team game (I read that a couple can play as an over aged player but thats only a couple!!)
 

Spursidol

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Sep 15, 2007
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so the reserve league is being scrapped all together? Wonder what will happen to the players aged over 21 who cant get a first team game (I read that a couple can play as an over aged player but thats only a couple!!)

Spurs have not played in the reserve league fir 3 or 4 years - and several other sides have pulled out as it was not competitive, nobody interested etc, so any first team players wanting fitness are no worse off - and that is one of the reasons why it has now been scrapped completely.

In place of the reserve league, Spurs have put out Spurs X1 sides, usually playing more regularly than the old reserve league, but these have mainly been for the development squad - rarely has a returning first team player played.
 

Pringle

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Dec 25, 2006
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Oh i know spurs have pulled out of the reserve leagues for the past few years but some teams clearly thought it was worthwhile - just wondering how clubs with larger squads will feel about the change. I do like the new idea though - means the likes of Parrett, Bostock and Mason will still play fairly decent level football and the likes of Jenas (at other clubs who played reserve team football) will either have to go without games or move on to a team where they will play more 1st team games.
 

Spursidol

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Sep 15, 2007
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Oh i know spurs have pulled out of the reserve leagues for the past few years but some teams clearly thought it was worthwhile - just wondering how clubs with larger squads will feel about the change. I do like the new idea though - means the likes of Parrett, Bostock and Mason will still play fairly decent level football and the likes of Jenas (at other clubs who played reserve team football) will either have to go without games or move on to a team where they will play more 1st team games.

Think everyone gave up on the reserve league eventually because it was doing very little for any of the clubs
 

Spursidol

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Sep 15, 2007
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http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896...-blackburn-and-crystal-palace-miss-out-on-top

Unexpected revelation - the 23 competitors in these leagues are the applicants for Tier 1 Academy status, with only about half of them having been audited.

The rest, including Spurs, will not be audited until September (after the league has started) - sounds a complete cock up that they cannot arrange the audits by now ! So Spurs may not announce their status until September. Whilst Spurs easily tick most of the boxes in the academy set up, one draft of the requirements was for residential accomodation, and not sure if there is any on the nerw training ground. However, not sure if the final specification for Tier 1 status has been made public !

I guess anyone failing the audit has time to rectify any failings revealed by the audits, get re-audited and hopefully pass before the start of 2013./14 - wonder if those academy's awarded Tier 2 status will upgrade their facilities and try to get Tier 1 status in 2013/14 as well (plenty of good academies not applying for Tier 1 status eg. Ipswuch, Watford).
 

lillywhites61

SC Supporter
Aug 11, 2009
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I like the idea of this, it seems a lot more competetive and aimed towards the younger players so trying develop everywhere at each age.

I think this could be good for the game in this country
 

Spursidol

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Sep 15, 2007
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Chelsea are unfortunately ahead of Spurs OS in giving information. The link below is for the best of a suite oif articles and talks generally about the u 21 league - raising one particular unanswered question which is where will the u 21 league games be played, In Spurs case it seems likely that a few will be played at White Hart Lane, and maybe a few other at a smaller ground (eg Leyton Orient Brisbane Road or a smaller 5,000 stadium if we can locate one) rather than just the training ground.

Well worth a read though

http://thechels.net/2012/08/the-pro...ge/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
 

Spursidol

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Sep 15, 2007
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http://www.premierleague.com/conten...ins/barclays-u21-premier-league-2012-2013.pdf

Fixture List for the u 21 league.

Please note I have not copied out Spurs fixtures in case the Premier League apply the same copyright nonsense that they do to first team games - ie do not allow publishing on fans sites without a fee !

Note also that there is no decision yet on where Spurs play their home games although 'There is a requirement that at least two Barclays U21 Premier League matches must be at the main ground of each club and the play-offs, semi-finals and final also be played at the main grounds of the home clubs'
 

Spursidol

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Sep 15, 2007
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First game of the season at Newcastle Training Ground in the new under 21's league on Saturday @ 12.00 - 3 hours before the first team kick off.

The under 21 squad is likely to be drawn from :

Goalkeepers : Jordan Archer, Jonthan Miles, Lawrence Vigouroux (and maybe David Button as an over age player)

Defenders : Adam Smith (RB), Grant Hall (CB), Kevin Stewart (CB/RB/LB), Jack Barthram (RB), Zeki Fryers (LB/CB), Nathan Byrne (RB/utility), William Ekong (CB)

Midfield : Giancarlo Galifucco, John Bostock, Dean Parrett, Thomas Carroll, iago Falque (as an over age player), Ryan Mason, Cristian Ceballos, Alex Pritchard, Jack Munns, (and Andros Townsend, if not involved with first team squad)

Forwards : Souleymane Coulibally, Jonathan Obika (and Harry Kane if not involved with first team)

Injured : Jake Nicholson, Carmeron Lancaster

One or two over-age fringe first team players could also feature as over age players, although I doubt it.

The under 18's are also in Newcastle to play in their league - I have assumed that Milos Veljkovic, Tomislav Gomelt and Nabil Bentelab will play at that level, although all could equally line up in under 21's
 

eddiebailey

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Oct 12, 2004
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Could see Rose featuring as an overage player against the barcodes, maybe even Caulker given our current strength in depth at CB.

How about Veljikovic, Gomelt and Bentilab? They all seem more involved with the development squad than the youth team.
 

eddiebailey

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Oct 12, 2004
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So the first game if the new U21 League has now been played. Good to see it getting such a high profile.
 
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