The Decline in Reserve Team Football

[fan_of_mulligan]

One thing I have thought off and is worth taking into consideration is this.......

If we're sending Tom Hadler, Matt Fish, Callum Davies, Devante McKain and Josh Hare out on loan then surely this tells you that Reserve Team / Development Squad Football is on a downhill spiral and these games are either not competitive enough or there is not enough of these matches through-out the year, What Gillingham have done in The U21 Premier League Cup is remarkable and I don't want to criticise or belittle there achievements because beating Cardiff City away from home and losing narrowly to Watford is quite a achievement.

There used to be a pathway into The First Team with The Youth Team - Reserves and The First Team, Youth and Reserves have blurred together it seems now, Perhaps most teams prefer to send there young players / squad players out on loan to play competitive first team football.

What does everyone else on here think ???