Season › 2012-13 › News Everton start in Elite Under-21 Group Michael Kenrick , 15 August, 10comments | Jump to most recent More details are appearing regarding the efforts being made to enhance professional youth football in England & Wales through the rebranding of Reserves football as a new Under-21 Premier League competition. On 3 August it was formally announced that the Premier Reserve League will cease to exist, to be replaced by a new Professional Development League 1, to be commonly known as the U21 Premier Reserve League. A similar U18 league will also be created, and the system will be mapped across the Football League, additionally creating Professional Development Leagues 2 and 3. Teams are ranked according to the categorising of the club academy (a categorisation that will be re-assessed every three years). The competition is not optional, and participation from all 20 Premier League clubs is therefore confirmed (although Wigan, QPR and Swansea will be in Professional Development League 2, sitting outside of the U21 Premier Reserve League. UNDER-21 LEAGUE FORMAT 2012-13 National Group 1 National Group 2 National Group 3 Arsenal Aston Villa Chelsea Blackburn Rovers Manchester United Crystal Palace Bolton Wanderers Newcastle United Fulham Everton Southampton Liverpool Norwich City Stoke City Manchester City Reading Sunderland Middlesbrough West Bromwich Albion Tottenham Hotspur Wolverhampton Wanderers West Ham United Watford The 23 clubs in the U21 Premier Reserve League are split into three groups. After a double round robin group stage, clubs will be promoted and relegated between the three groups for the second half of the season, with the aim of ensuring competitive football and closely-matched games throughout. At the end of the season, a play-off style knock-out competition will take place between the winners of Groups 2 and 3 (Qualification Groups) and the three top teams in the Elite Group to determine the overall winner. Matches must be played between Friday and Monday, demonstrating increased relevance, and games will be played at lower-league stadia rather than training grounds. Chelsea, for example will host their U18 games at Staines Town and the U21 team will be playing at Brentford's Griffin Park. In addition, each U21 team must play at least two games at the home stadium of the club, allowing young players to perform in venues and atmospheres to which they must become accustomed. Discounted tickets will be available for all games to persuade families to watch the teams, hopefully attracting those that could otherwise not afford to visit Old Trafford or the Emirates on a match day. Finally, rules dictate that in the U21 league, three over-age outfield players and one over-age goalkeeper may be used, a stipulation that allows for injured players to make effective returns from a lay-off before first-team action. Quotes or other material sourced from Football 365 Reader Comments (10) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer Michael Kenrick 1 Posted 15/08/2012 at 17:01:51 A couple of interesting things here: it appears that Everton are a top-ranked club and start in the so-called Elite Group 1, while the other two are only qualifying groups.Also great to see that they have stopped them from playing games at training grounds. I think that step alone significantly devalued the Reserves... in fact, I'm old school on this: the rot set in when the Reserves stopped playing games at Goodison Park.But the level of public interest will be the biggest challenge. The effort is admirable but the challenge of engendering interest for a demographic that already has their appetite for watching football more than massively satiated.... well, wasn't that the lesson of the unsold Olympic tickets?!?! Louis Platt 2 Posted 15/08/2012 at 17:52:46 Everton don't start in the Elite Group, that's the second stage (of three) of the competition. Everton hae been drawn in Group 1 of the competition's first stage. Everton would need to either win or finish second in Group 1 to qualify for the Elite Group Stage. How teams qualify for the second stage may be changed after Watford withdrew from the tournament earlier today. As it stands, Everton are in the largest group (eight teams) as the other two groups in the first stage have seven teams each.The Everton youth blog reports that Everton U21s will play some home games at Langtree Park in St. Helens although the Premier League's published fixtures show that the home game against West Ham U21s will be played at Finch Farm. Nick Entwistle 3 Posted 15/08/2012 at 18:12:51 F#@$! is heard as the Sports Interactive team realise they have a few late nights ahead. Kev Johnson 4 Posted 15/08/2012 at 19:23:38 Michael, I agree with you about the wisdom of not playing reserve games on training grounds, but what are the financial implications of playing at Goodison - which I suppose isn't going to happen - or in Widnes, at that place we've used sometimes? If no one turns up, presumably we lose money? Andy Callen 5 Posted 15/08/2012 at 20:39:35 If they wish to give young players the experience of playing in front of a 'larger' crowd, why not when a team is scheduled to play at 17.45 on a Saturday, have the U21's kick off at 15.00? Ok the main game might have to be put back an extra hour, but a ticket for the 1st team could also be used for the U21 game - similar to what they did during the Olympics with two games at the same venue in the same evening. I think this might encourage a fair few thousand to turn up early enough to see both games NSNO Eric Myles 6 Posted 16/08/2012 at 04:46:36 Kev #168, "but what are the financial implications of playing at Goodison - which I suppose isn't going to happen"The article states that 2 games MUST be played at the home ground of each team. Andrew Bone 7 Posted 17/08/2012 at 08:14:29 Is there any scope for the official site to stream these at a reduced pay per view rate? It could bring in a little more revenue - it all helps. I think this is a positive move and provides viable competition for the development of the younger members of the squad.Agree with not playing at Finch Farm. Andrew Bone 8 Posted 17/08/2012 at 08:14:29 Is there any scope for the official site to stream these at a reduced pay per view rate? It could bring in a little more revenue - it all helps. I think this is a positive move and provides viable competition for the development of the younger members of the squad.Agree with not playing at Finch Farm. Ernie Baywood 9 Posted 17/08/2012 at 08:57:11 Andy, I would hope this is exactly what will happen, the reserves will play an early game at Goodison before a Saturday game.The stadium's open anyway, we would just need a few stewards on an early shift.People will turn up for that. Not in tens of thousands, but families might make a day of it? John House 10 Posted 17/08/2012 at 09:22:44 Does anyone know how the over 21's get match fit. Is there any form of reserve game or has that been completely scrapped? Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. About these ads