Could Darlington Be Newcastle's "Feeder Club"?

Last Updated : 05-Apr-2007 by
... suggested some League club like Darlington should be Newcastle's feeder club.

Suddenly, ten years on, other managers are latching onto the idea.

Arsene Wenger, for one, says he would welcome Arsenal fielding a reserve side in the Football League. Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez and Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho have shown support for the idea of a second XI competing in the lower leagues, a system which is already in place in Spain.

Wenger has loaned out the likes of emerging talent Nicklas Bendtner, Alex Song, Fabrice Muamba and Matthew Connolly to help them get regular first-team action. The Arsenal manager says he would have no problems with scrapping the Gunners reserve side if they could play in the league.

Wenger: "I would love it.

"What used to happen is that you had a Reserve League and an Under-18s League, which was very important.

"What has happened now is the Under-18s League has transferred to the Reserve League while the Under-18s has lost a little.

"When you look at it these days, 90% of the reserve games are played with Under-18s players so one may have to be cut off.

"We have many players who play on Saturday [for the Under-18s] and on Monday for the reserves. That means they play too many games and cannot practice."

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