Lord Snooty Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 I'd like to see it come back. I know there's the U23's and clubs arrange the odd behind closed doors Freindly games. But I'd really like to see the stiffs brought back full time. It's not the same tempo. But it's football. It's match action on a full sized pitch. There's no amount of training and 5-a-sides that can replicate being on a 115x75 pitch m with proper dimensions, against 11 a side opposition. I look at the likes of Rhodes, Winnall, etc and they're getting no football. An odd game here or there with he kids is no use to man nor beast. Rattling a few goals in for a proper stiffs team wouldn't do them any harm at all and might even give them a little boost for when they do get a call to the firsts. Similarly those kids who aren't out on loan but are ready for a bit more than playing other kids. It would benefit them surely? BRING BACK THE STIFFS LEAGUE! 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S36 OWL Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 I used to love going down to watch the reserves . Sat in the old south stand , free entry for ST holders for the central league. I've still got a load of the old team sheets that's printed on a sheet of A4 paper and given out free. I'd love to see it back . 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
room0035 Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 Can you remember our prolific reserve striker from the 90's who never played a first team game, we thought he was the coaches son, Richie Barker, or the Australia player we had that played for the reserves every week but barely saw in the first team Adam Poric. How many reserve games did it take to get a player match fit compared to now with the Under 23's. Bring back reserve, football modern football with 25-30 man squads need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest addedtime Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 I went and watched Park Steels reserves on Wednesday night. Great game and free entry. Kids giving it their all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owl 44 Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 I remember going to watch David Hirst in the reserves after his long injury lay off. There were about 8,000 there. Incredible really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leaping Lannys Perm Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 I completely agree with this. The quality of the U23 league is just not good enough for seniors to get suitable game time in. Even the top U23 Teams in the country struggle against League 1 and 2 opposition in the Paint Pot Trophy. Whilst a reserve league isn't going to be championship quality, it has to be better than the level below the teams that can't compete with League 2 teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEnchanter Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 Other clubs are bringing through plenty of talent at under 23 level into their first teams. Seems to work ok for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blatter Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 1 hour ago, S36 OWL said: I used to love going down to watch the reserves . Sat in the old south stand , free entry for ST holders for the central league. I've still got a load of the old team sheets that's printed on a sheet of A4 paper and given out free. I'd love to see it back . Loved the reserve games as a kid many many years ago. Teams were a mixture of up and coming kids and senior pro’s returning from injury etc. A couple of things really stick in my memory. First one was how after the Boxing Day coach crash 1960 we had to field a reserve centre half due to Peter Swan’s injury. Ralph O’Donnel a P E .teacher and part time footballer came into the first eleven.He had been playing reserve team football all season and stepped in without a problem in the first (top ) division. My other great memory from the early 60’s was going to see Wednesday v Leeds reserve teams. Got behind the Kop goal with a couple of school pals. Hillsborough nearly empty so you could hear every word from the players on the pitch. Leeds got a corner right in front of us. We all clearly heard the words ‘look out for that big bloke he’s a dirty b*******d’ from one of our youngsters. The player he was marking was Don Revie, later to become Leeds captain and England Manager. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogbad Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 4 hours ago, S36 OWL said: I used to love going down to watch the reserves . Sat in the old south stand , free entry for ST holders for the central league. I've still got a load of the old team sheets that's printed on a sheet of A4 paper and given out free. I'd love to see it back . Plus keeping an eye on the old scoreboard at the back of the kop to see how the 1st team were going on in their away match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cognacbarnowl Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 4 hours ago, Lord Snooty said: I'd like to see it come back. I know there's the U23's and clubs arrange the odd behind closed doors Freindly games. But I'd really like to see the stiffs brought back full time. It's not the same tempo. But it's football. It's match action on a full sized pitch. There's no amount of training and 5-a-sides that can replicate being on a 115x75 pitch m with proper dimensions, against 11 a side opposition. I look at the likes of Rhodes, Winnall, etc and they're getting no football. An odd game here or there with he kids is no use to man nor beast. Rattling a few goals in for a proper stiffs team wouldn't do them any harm at all and might even give them a little boost for when they do get a call to the firsts. Similarly those kids who aren't out on loan but are ready for a bit more than playing other kids. It would benefit them surely? BRING BACK THE STIFFS LEAGUE! Got to agree with this 100% Snoots. I used to love going to watch a reserve match if I couldn't get to the away game with the first team. Quite a few of those lads made it to the first team too. They would often get to play against some quality opposition when they were up against good players coming back from injury or others who had been "dropped" and were trying their damnedest to get back into their first team. They also got to play alongside our own good players who were in the same position too. Nostalgia just ain't what it used to be , is it. BRING BACK THE STIFFS !!! FFS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torryowl Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 wonder why they did away with the central league …..I cant see a reason but there obviously must be one as all the clubs seemed happy to dump there reserve team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parkfieldowl14 Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 9 hours ago, S36 OWL said: I used to love going down to watch the reserves . Sat in the old south stand , free entry for ST holders for the central league. I've still got a load of the old team sheets that's printed on a sheet of A4 paper and given out free. I'd love to see it back . Central League was for Football League Teams in the North and the Football Combination League was for the Football League Clubs in the Midlands and the South.If i'm not mistaken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorfolkNChance Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 10 hours ago, room0035 said: Can you remember our prolific reserve striker from the 90's who never played a first team game, we thought he was the coaches son, Richie Barker, or the Australia player we had that played for the reserves every week but barely saw in the first team Adam Poric. How many reserve games did it take to get a player match fit compared to now with the Under 23's. Bring back reserve, football modern football with 25-30 man squads need it. I think you mean Leroy Chambers - was at the Owls for 5 years and pretty prolific but never made a first team performance. Unless of course there was a kid called Barker but I do recall Chambers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckwheat Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 Used to love the Central League and Northern Intermediate League, both seemed like there was something to play for in end of season positions. The derby games were always well attended and sometimes better than the senior derbies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinnishOwl Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 10 hours ago, NorfolkNChance said: I think you mean Leroy Chambers - was at the Owls for 5 years and pretty prolific but never made a first team performance. Unless of course there was a kid called Barker but I do recall Chambers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richie_Barker_(footballer,_born_1975) I remember him only from some old Rothmans Football Yearbooks so cannot tell how he did in the reserves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Snooty Posted November 11, 2019 Author Share Posted November 11, 2019 20 hours ago, TheEnchanter said: Other clubs are bringing through plenty of talent at under 23 level into their first teams. Seems to work ok for them. True enough for some of the kids. Obviously we've had a few of our own make the first teams squad. But the bench lads, the likes of Rhodes, Winnall, Odubajo, Bates etc. I just can't help but think it would aid them when they do need to step in if they've been getting a bit of adult age 11-a-side. Especially for the strikers. Just keeping their eye in and rattling a few goals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
room0035 Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 11 hours ago, NorfolkNChance said: I think you mean Leroy Chambers - was at the Owls for 5 years and pretty prolific but never made a first team performance. Unless of course there was a kid called Barker but I do recall Chambers Richie barker ended up playing for Toy town but never really played for the Owls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etchesketch Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 18 hours ago, FinnishOwl said: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richie_Barker_(footballer,_born_1975) I remember him only from some old Rothmans Football Yearbooks so cannot tell how he did in the reserves. He is currently the assistant manager at Rotherham. Played in a couple of first team games in the Intertoto Cup in 95. Remember 94/95 he went on a crazy scoring run in the reserves where he got about 12 goals in 5 games or something. Had a decent career in the lower leagues. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legendaryswan Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 On 10/11/2019 at 22:31, torryowl said: wonder why they did away with the central league …..I cant see a reason but there obviously must be one as all the clubs seemed happy to dump there reserve team. From memory it had something to do with the Premier league,they formed their own reserve league,restricted to prem clubs,which decimated the numbers and possibly the quality? I used to love watching the games when I wasnt at away games,mostly in my young days,some of the 1st team would make their injury comebacks,or if a player was dropped for form reasons,saw brilliant games,used to open the leppings lane lower or you could go in the south for a few pence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Snooty Posted November 12, 2019 Author Share Posted November 12, 2019 Wasn't Keegan something to do with ditching the reserves. Or the first to do it? Hazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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