UCL RESERVE DIVISION TWO

[judgejohn]

Dont agree with it myself. Mid week games are always hard to staff and Whitworths fielded maybe 1 or 2 during the last couple of games but as a club we felt it vitally important that the reserves who got themselves back into the top 3 should see the season out.

[lordbyron]

think its all irrelevant now ....st neots are up no matter how they got there .....dont think priciples really come into it .....its the long term ambitions of the club that matters to them.

Lets face it next season it will all be forgotten about as to how st neots got there ......maybe other clubs should follow suit and then maybe they might find themselves playing at the level they want to get to..

Sorry but i'm of the opinion theres no room for sentiment in football

[judgejohn]

Fair point LB and had Whitworth Res been playing for the title who knows what team would have played. May seem a bit naive but I like to think it would have been the Reserves as it was a couple of years ago when we played Ford Sports for the Reserve Division 2 crown and on that occasion we lost and finished 2nd. We may have lost the title that year but i like to think that our stance has resulted in the squad we have this season finishing a very impressive 3rd in Res Div 1.

[captainsensible]

Fair enough, I think this episode is just something we will have to learn from for next year. Hopefully we can be in a position of getting promoted without it coming down to a last match decider.

On a slightly related point, does anyone know whether the league intends to continue with the same format for the reserve cup? This did not help our reserves (and I am sure many other teams) as we had only played 6 league games by christmas and had significant fixture congestion on the end of the season. Also I noticed that in most of the 'mini leagues' in the competition, the one team going through rule meant that most teams were out of the reckoning after a couple of games.

Anyone got any ideas?

[ps]

i think as first team manager i would know what team went to st neots. Also on that night went with no keeper and the first team assistant Andrew Tate (chick) played in goal. Lads that played that night may have had first team experience but like i said earlier only one regular played.

[lordbyron]

forget sentiment play your strongest team available to you ......after all as a manager you're judged on your results aren't you

[judgejohn]

Depends LB if you are trying to build a club or get as much success as you can potentially at the expense of the club. Example if I may: 2 years ago Whitworths 1st team finished the season 2nd on goal difference to Sileby. The reserves were relegated from the 1st div with hardly any points, no players and the club was most definately split. We changed the management team and got slated I might add, in order to bring in Joe, Meds etc to build a club. This season 1st and 3rd, most successful season in our history speaks for itself. I take this scenario everytime. The future of the club is the most important thing and if you can achieve success along the way then great. You are more likely to do this though on the back of a good club environment and infrastructure. Only my opinion of course...

[lordbyron]

good opinions to JJ ... and this is my opinion ...... st neots i'm led to believe want a strong club which starts with the success of the first team. now in order for players to be upto for want of a word ....standard ..... then its important for their ressies to be playing at the highest level they possibly can so that the step up to the first team isn't to high to climb. knowing the st neots ressies manager as i do i can with confidence say he is most definatly a club man and is not there purely to enhance his own status as a manageer at the expense of the club.
i cant accuratley answer this but ask how long he and his assistants have been at st neots and hopefully that will answer that question.

[judgejohn]

Good point LB. I understand that Wellingborough Town 2004 have struggled because they now look likely to go into the Southern league, yet their Reserves did not get promotion from Reserve Division 2. No-one in their first team wants to or will play in that Reserve team I suspect. They could use a good feeder club, not too far away and playing in the highest levels of the UCL

[thepinkun]

Controversial but could turn out to be beneficial for both clubs. Although that dual forms rule IMO is stupid. You should be able to sign for one club in the Pyramid and if you want to play for another you have to transfered.

[storm]

guna be a very interesting season this as both pns 1st and res will be using both sets of squads for div 1 and res div 2 as they want to win both leagues both sides have v good players

[chrissayles]

Come on Skully over to you your not normally shy