(08 May 2014, 10:28 pm)marxistafozzski wrote Fair point and I agree with you, B teams should be made to start in the Wearside League, Northern Alliance or Teesside League, but that would never happen, even an predominantly Under-21 team would smash there way up the Pyramid, I saw Sunderland Reserves play Wolviston from the Wearside League a few years ago and they won about 8-0. If the FA went along that route B teams would mostly likely be put at Step 4(Northern Premier League Division 1) or Step 6(Northern League Division 2).
The main problem with this proposal would be attendances for such games, West Allotment v Newcastle Reserves would be well attended at West Allotment, but Newcastle B home games would not be so well attended, as they are in the same league system, most fans will be watching 'Big' Newcastle at SJP or somewhere else in the country.
The proposal at the moment is forming a League 3 for 10 B teams and the rest from the Conference, the B teams would not be allowed to go higher than League 1 or lower than the Conference, they would not be allowed entry into the FA Cup or League Cup...
I personally think League 2 should be expanded to a North/South format with 10 B teams in each section with the current League 2 teams and 4 Conference clubs making up the rest to give the divisions a full quota of 24 each
Personally, I could care less whether Newcastle United B home games are well-attended when playing in Northern Alliance. The club gets 52,000 every week at St James Park and, even if they are placed on different tier of the pyramid, the same problem with attendance might surface as fan choose the 'big' club over the little club in League 3. However, West Allotment Celtic (and the league in general) would receive a short-term financial boost (something that might secure the status of the club for a season or two) and, personally, I would love to see more money going into clubs at a grassroots level through the participation of bigger clubs.
I am also supportive of a buddy-system where bigger clubs partner up with two or three smaller clubs and disperse their reserve and youth teams accordingly.