Arsenal have back tracked on their proposed plan to disband the Reserve team after discussions with the Premier Reserve League. The club had originally planned on leaving second string football for good, despite leaked rumours of a revamp.
The details of a new group style setup, similar to the Premier Academy League, were discussed at the end of last season. Young Guns published the proposed details last month, which features a more open format. Arsenal were happy with this, with Neil Banfield repeatedly stressing his desire to face sides in the North and vice-versa.
However, the club were dissatisfied that they couldn’t play their matches ‘behind closed doors’ at the training ground. The state of the pitches used at Reserves level has often been a a contentious subject, but now the governing body have approved the use of training grounds instead. The Gunners have changed their stance and will now compete next season.
The reason why Arsenal wanted to use the training ground for matches goes far beyond the state of the pitches. The move is seen as a part of a series of apparent secrecy steps which have been introduced, with a clamp down on those being able to watch Arsenal’s potential stars of the future. Liam Brady has frequently spoken about the intense coverage of the club’s prospects, and extra security was added to London Colney half way through last season. Anybody who was suspected of taking pictures or reporting on the games was asked to leave.
FA Youth Cup home matches until the sixth round will still take place at Underhill, as well as selected fixtures when the pitch is in good condition as a way of acknowledging the efforts Barnet have gone to when looking after the Gunners second string. All games will take place now during the afternoon instead of the evening. You can view full details on the official website.
The fixture list for the 2010/2011 season is out today.
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So basically they want to stop the hype crated by sites such as yours? (No offense).
I have to say I think it’s the right thing to do and I’m one of those people who loves hearing about new youngsters to get excited about. But it can’t be good to be hyped up so much at a such a young age when you’ve yet to achieve anything. I imagine most of those players come on to sites lie these and let their heads swell enough.
LOL i like the reserves but we need to what the spanish teams do have an Arsenal B team playing in the championship, league 1 or league 2
You know what would be a great idea. If we could have all the european youth teams competing in a league format. So arsenal youth could play Barcelona youth, Ac milan youth in a league format. That would be something i would love to see.
JS i just want to get your opinion on Matty Connolly? I was just taliking with some of my QPR mates they seem to rate him very highly hes bulked up alot apparently and hes alot more physical. They think hes a premier league footballer but hes gets alot of injuries. But hes 22 though
Do you think Matty Connolly would have made it at arsenal if he was more physical and if he wasnt injured as much?
Yea, well said John. Very good idea.
An Arsenal B Team or Junior Team playing the juniors at other top clubs throughout Europe would be an excellent idea, and great for our kids’ development. Probably very long and difficult to work out but not at all impossible; I would also love to see it!
hey is samuel going to racing?
great team with a good coach any truth in that?
Good. The alternative, loan spells with the troll clubs where they’d sit on the bench and pick up bad habits, was a giant step in the wrong direction, I thought. We need to educate players in our pass-and-move style, not to turn them into the club-wielding cavemen of the Championship. And decent pitches and privacy to develop out of the gaze the media are important.
will this mean us sending less players on loan and more into the first team who will train with the first play carling and fa cup games and also provide experience for the young players who play in the reserve league
Good old Arsenal, secrecy rules !!! Cant wait to take peoples enjoyment away
I’m with you on the enjoyment thing. But Arsenal have reasons for doing this that I don’t know about. I’ve never been an AKB sycophant yet I have to believe this is the right thing to do.
I think another reason for secrecy is not just for our players but also for trialists. Whats the point of us paying for a massive scouting network, finding someone very special only for another club to spot the trialist at our place, and for pence, and try and out bid us for him.
Boomer … J’s site is for us fans who enjoy hearing about our youth teams and the progress players are making – not for clubs to find out about our top talents and then cherry pick our youngsters. And if some of our youth players do come onto the site, see the hype, and let it get to their heads then that will only show our coaches that some of our players may have character flaws, and need to mature in certain areas.
sounds like a bit of signal jamming by arsenal…clamping down on any coverage of their kids…i’m not sure i like it…ok you don’t want clubs to take your best prospects, but if a player is going to succeed at arsenal they need to be able to live with being under the public gaze.
a bit of media attention can also reveal a players mentality. i suspect many a propsect has gotten awfully bigheaded by a bit of news coverage. media attention can help weed out the playas from the players.
its better to be safe than sorry
Makes us look like big time hypocrits cesc, nazer, merida anelka nordveit etc were stolen from foriegn clubs for peanuts by scouts who attended u15-18 games. But now other clubs are playing us at their own game with cash and the offer of 1st team football. the internet genie is out of the bottle. Banning the public from reserves games is childish and reflects badly on the club
cesc was taken when AW saw him at a international championship… he couldn`t see them at barca…
earth to slimshady you cannot “steal” people! they got their own head and can do their own choices. cesc forexample could have choosen to stay at Barcelona, nordveid could have choosen to stay in norway. The fact that they did not was not because arsenal stole anyone, are you a retard or something?
I don’t understand all this hostility towards slimshady for making a very fair point. I am very sad to say that Arsenal FC has lost all its credibility with its fans. Everything about the club is to make money for the board and meanwhile give no reward to its loyal support.
Emirates stadium is always hailed for everything left, right and centre, but the truth is that the average fans are priced out for the corporate fans and which is why Emirates has no atmosphere at all.
It doesn’t make us hypocritical at all. You might want to look that word up in the dictionary.
We are not telling other clubs to keep their training games open. We are merely closing ours.
It makes a lot of sense.
FYI Cesc was not stolen ‘stolen’ or ‘poached’; he sensed that he wouldn’t have opportunities at Barca so he came to us, we paid around 875k or so for him, and let Gio go cheaply too.
And I thought we bought Nordveit as a 16 year old or so for 1.5m? Lots of money for a 16 year old.
according to the matches schedule on arsenal.com the reserves will NOT be playing any northern team until the league games are over. That is worthless. What is the point of leaving the reserves league and then come back and still face the same 6 teams over and over and over during the season?
I remember Wenger talking about how he wouldn’t exacty be welcomed if he went and watched the Barca youth team play so I guess we need to do our bit to make sure they are not being scouted.
I wonder whether Arsenal might also discourage their players from playing u17 international competitions and the like. Afterall that’s where we saw the likes of Vela and Cesc play before making our move.
What would happen if arsenal U18s played barcelona U18s J ?
Just to answer some of your questions:
I don’t think it is to do with sites like this causing the hype, because I just report on the details and then it’s down to people’s own opinions. It’s the reader who creates their own opinions, and some decide to hype players, some don’t. Obviously in revealing the information, we play our part.
No9 – How do you mean?
he means who has the better youth team?
J one things I wanna know
hey is samuel going to racing?
great team with a good coach any truth in that?
Wow Jay gr8.. u once again dug out the reason why we were wanting to move out of the reserves league.. bang on.. because of this behind closed doors rule may be we wont be able to know much about our reserves ‘but’ as long as it is helping ARSENAL we should be very very happy.. but still Jay what all ‘profits’ do you think this revamp will bring about.. we still don’t play the Northern sides in a league system….
Jamie, being new to the site, did you go to the reserve games last season? how will the changes effect your coverage on YG?
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2010/07/12/2021469/arsenal-to-loan-youngster-samuel-galindo-to-racing-santander-for-
Galindo could join la liga side Santander…
Young Guns any new transfer news ? Joe Cole ? Mark Schwarzer ? thanks for a great blog
Does anybody think Gosling might be worth a punt? i dont really think hes Arsenal standard or near that but i think he has alot of potential and could be sold on
J. anything about the u19 championship that is going to start on the 18th of july ?
how many gunners do we have?
The under-19s? I think just Cruise.
Also Sanchez Watt is listed as of 7/9/2010?
Thomas Cruise for England and Gilles Sunu for France
Just another Arsenal backtrack like the “Patrick Vieira wont be sold” one, the “Thierry Henry wont be leaving Arsenal” one, I even remember the “we will never leave Highbury one” the older people will remind you of the “Liam Brady will leave Arsenal over my dead body” statement, only another couple of weeks to wait, all the season tickets will be sold and the emirates cup should then be sold out, then for the Cesc backtrack story. “The club has decided that is in the interest of Arsenal and the player to accept the substantial offer made by Barcelona” ” Everyone at Arsenal would like to wish him well at his new club” I can hear it now>
We only have Watt and Cruise in the England squad, but Ozyakup, Coquelin, and Sunu will probably be there as well. I know it’s small consolation, but at least some of our other players are receiving international plaudits right?? bc I know what you mean. I think it could happen, but so what?? I mean really, who cares?? We have brilliant and I mean BRILLIANT young players who can combine and do as good a job as Cesc has done. Nasri, Wilshere, Ramsey, Aneke, Ozyakup, etc. Rosicky may play a more major role as well. If anything, I am hoping that he does go now instead of later, because I want to see players who are fully committed to Arsenal and only Arsenal. I hope that none of the players whom I have listed leave, or let me down!! It’s not the end of the world, but the beginning of a new one!! That is how I see it.
cheers mate … hope they all have good performances…
For the U-19 Euro Champs we only have Cruise and Sunu. I’m pretty sure all the lineups have been announced and those were the only 2 that I saw.
Any one see the antics of the Barca lot tonight with Cesc? And what was with Reina leading the procession to do it…Sickening!! JS who of the Irish contingent, if any do you think could make an impact over the next few years within the first team?
No, what happened??
they forced a barca shirt on fabregas and called him the future star of barca
J cant arsenal take any legal action against them?
Galway Gooner and Andrew … could one of you send me a link through showing me what they did with Cesc?
Don’t worry – I found it …
arsenal are about to file charges against Barcelona for excessive tapping of a player
According to sources Arsenal were collecting evidence till now and were hoping to avoid the situation but after the latest escapade they have left Arsenal with no other choice
It seems strange that they withdrew (or threatened to?) because they wanted games “behnd closed doors”. Some Premiership clubs had some of their reserve games already “behind closed doors” last season. Would Arsenal threaten to withdraw just to get something which clubs were doing last season anyway?
Anyway, I agree with the general sentiment here that is is a shame. With the calls (from teams including Arsenal) for B teams (which we know will never happen) it does seem a bit strange, they couldn’t be behind closed doors for example.
i agree with the second comment from john….an arsenal b team in a competative league is the way forward….its more like a real club the barce b team and they get experiance
Boateng is wanted by milan and chelsea really
never rated him as a good CB I always thought Miguel and Harjovic were better than him
Secrecy is one thing – having a reason to subscribe to ATvO is another. I wonder what Stan Kroenke thinks about this given that he owns 50% of Arsenal Broadband/
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