[Archived] Premier league 2

[AshleyClifford]

What is the entry requirements for premier league 2 ? Is it just academy 1 status ? 2 things I do know there is no relagation from premier league 2 division 2 and the league only features premier league and championship teams ?

will we meet academy 1 status and is this enough ? I feel it's important to still be part of this.

 

[blueboy3333]

Is the Prem League 2 actually a thing?

[lraC]

In the event of this happening, I think it will kill domestic football. if we have for example 20 premier league one teams and 24 premier league 2 teams with no way of entering into or falling out of premier league 2 we have a problem. Ridiculous as it might sound, imagine this season being run again, knowing that the worst that could happen, is we finish bottom and just start again next season. Yes it was awful what happened and I am upset as anyone, but a closed shop won't work. Not only that, but imagine if we were excluded for some reason, so our future was the best we could ever do it win the third division and carry on in there, the following season.

[JHRover]

I heard that our Category A status had been renewed last summer for several years (3 I think) so we should still have two years left to run beyond this.

As ever it will not be external factors like FFP or rules that determine whether we retain Category A status, it will be Venkys and whether they are prepared to continue to fund it or whether they are going to wreck another aspect of Jack Walker's proud legacy at the club. Given they've withdrawn £20 million in the last couple of summers through sales thanks to good management I don't think 'investing' at most £2 million per annum into maintaining the academy is too much to ask for. Especially when they will be no doubt hoping that another crop of youngsters will be coming through shortly to sell/fill up the squad so they don't have to spend on transfers.

As long as a club possesses Category A academy status they are eligible to compete in the Premier League 2. Wolverhampton Wanderers continued to have a Category A academy and competed in Premier League 2 whilst they were in League One recently so I presume relegation doesn't immediately mean we lose it.

[Leyland-Rover]

I thought it was just the league the each clubs Development Squad plays in. So our U23's, who play at Leyland on the Lancashire FA County Ground.

[Stuart]

On 12/05/2017 at 09:32, lraC said:

In the event of this happening, I think it will kill domestic football. if we have for example 20 premier league one teams and 24 premier league 2 teams with no way of entering into or falling out of premier league 2 we have a problem. Ridiculous as it might sound, imagine this season being run again, knowing that the worst that could happen, is we finish bottom and just start again next season. Yes it was awful what happened and I am upset as anyone, but a closed shop won't work. Not only that, but imagine if we were excluded for some reason, so our future was the best we could ever do it win the third division and carry on in there, the following season.

Think you might have misread (or not read) the OP...

[Rover_Shaun]

20 hours ago, Stuart said:

Think you might have misread (or not read) the OP...

I have and still haven't got the foggiest

[Stuart]

Just now, Rover_Shaun said:

I have and still haven't got the foggiest

http://playerscout.co.uk/football-development/football-academy-categories/

It's not the Premier League 2 proposed by the late Phil Gartside, it's an Academy competition.

Although Bolton were in it last season I can't see that League One clubs are normally invited - probably because most of them don't have the infrastructure.

This is another reason for us not to accept that we are a League One club. Our facilities and infrastructure make us too good for this division. That's not conceit or arrogance, it's a fact. However, without this being maintained we soon won't be.

The fact that we have had League One standard managers (at best) for the last 7 years and created a League One team with all of Venkys 'investment' is a different kettle of fish.

[JHRover]

Correct. Although in the case of Bolton it wasn't that they weren't invited, it was because they chose to relinquish Category A status as a way of saving money, as it requires a certain level of investment every year into coaches/facilities etc. If Bolton hadn't been on the brink of bankruptcy last year and had found the cash to keep the academy open then they could have had it in Lge 1 this year.

So it comes down to what we chose to do. We could follow Bolton and cease funding the academy and lose Category A status, or we could follow Wolves, treat this as a 'temporary setback and continue to fund the academy at the same levels and in doing so keep hold of Category A status and the right to play in Premier League 2.

The really interesting part will be if the big boys decline their invitations to join in the Checkatrade Trophy next season as they did last summer. If they do that then we will be in line for an invitation as there are only 16 teams with Category A status. All it takes is for the likes of City and United to turn it down again and then we won't be far off getting an invite. It will create an embarrassing headache for the League if our academy is in line for an invite whilst our first team is also in the competition.