Reserves into League 1 : Mon Oct 23, 2023 10:35 am  

Not sure how reliable it is, but I've seen a few people on Twitter saying that there's a proposal from us and a few other SL clubs about putting reserve sides into League 1.

Personally, it's something I've wanted to see us do for quite a while now. Instead of farming players out to other clubs on loan, keep them in our system on a weekly basis but still reap the benefits of the increased playing level.

Running with the idea, I'd love to see us introduce a "reserve salary pot", basically a couple of players who are there to play for Wigan reserves in league one & nothing else. Their salary wouldn't count against the cap for the main squad and they wouldn't be available for the main squad either. Think a couple of experienced heads to help give some guidance to the younger squad members.

What are people's thoughts?

Re: Reserves into League 1 : Mon Oct 23, 2023 11:01 am  

sergeant pepper wrote:

Not sure how reliable it is, but I've seen a few people on Twitter saying that there's a proposal from us and a few other SL clubs about putting reserve sides into League 1.

Personally, it's something I've wanted to see us do for quite a while now. Instead of farming players out to other clubs on loan , keep them in the system on a weekly basis but still gain the benefits of the increased playing level.

Running with the idea, I'd love to see us introduce a "reserve salary pot", basically a couple of players who are just there to play for Wigan reserves in league one. Their salary wouldn't count against the cap for the main squad and they wouldn't be available for the main squad either. Think a couple of experienced heads to help give some guidance to the younger squad members.

What are people's thoughts?

Think this would be a real positive for the league and player development.

It makes perfect sense but I wonder if politics would prevent it from happening.

Re: Reserves into League 1 : Mon Oct 23, 2023 11:09 am  

Works perfectly fine in Spanish football, there was even an occasion where Real Madrid had to play against their own reserves in the cup final.

Re: Reserves into League 1 : Mon Oct 23, 2023 11:12 am  

I’d be very much in favour of this. It would be a lot better than the limited number of fixtures the reserves have at present.

There would have to be a caveat preventing promotion though.

Re: Reserves into League 1 : Mon Oct 23, 2023 11:27 am  

It would be fantastic news for player development and the game in general but as pointed out, politics will stop it. The clubs who hold the game back will say it’s an unfair advantage for the clubs running reserve teams, all while they don’t run one and then fill their teams with players produced by said clubs running reserve teams.

Hope I’m wrong and it happens. The opportunities it would give young players would be fantastic.

Re: Reserves into League 1 : Mon Oct 23, 2023 3:33 pm  

far too sensible for it to come to fruition...

Re: Reserves into League 1 : Mon Oct 23, 2023 4:10 pm  

How would this work with first team players who get suspended, it really would blow the open the loop hole for using reserve grade games. I do like the idea but at the moment there are more questions than answers

Re: Reserves into League 1 : Mon Oct 23, 2023 4:20 pm  

hatty wrote:

How would this work with first team players who get suspended, it really would blow the open the loop hole for using reserve grade games. I do like the idea but at the moment there are more questions than answers

Stays the way it is now IMO, reserve games only count on weeks when there is no first team game anyway, so the only time it'd possibly have any effect is if there's a League 1 fixture during an international break.

Re: Reserves into League 1 : Mon Oct 23, 2023 11:44 pm  

And what happens when an SL reserve team wins league one?

Re: Reserves into League 1 : Tue Oct 24, 2023 3:22 am  

Jack Burton wrote:

And what happens when an SL reserve team wins league one?

In Spanish football, the reserve sides playing in their first team league system cannot be promoted, so it would presumably follow that model.