Leeds United man's youth football suggestion met with fierce EFL and fan opposition

The Leeds employee spoke with Training Ground Guru about his thoughts on the prospect of Premier League clubs’ B teams being introduced to the English Football League pyramid. His suggestion has been branded ‘nonsense’ by Tranmere Rovers’ vice chairman Nicola Palios, while the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) has dubbed the idea ‘as unpopular as the European Super League’.

Underwood did not explicitly advocate for the B team model to be introduced, but suggested it may need to be considered: “We are arriving at a juncture where there are questions around the suitability of Under-21s football for the development of players for the Premier League,” he said.

“Going out on loan is the best option at present and the challenges that come with that are clear - you don’t control what happens when they go."

“Ultimately, that exposure to senior football is key,” Underwood said, who has been in charge of the Whites’ academy since 2014. “Our experiences in the Papa Johns [Trophy] have been fantastic. The feedback we’ve had from the coaches in the clubs we’ve played has generally been really positive - they’ve enjoyed the game and found Leeds competitive. We are positive on it at our end.”

Since 2016, Premier League clubs with Category One academy status have been permitted to compete in the EFL Trophy with their Under-21 sides. Ordinarily contested by third and fourth tier clubs in England, no youth team of a Premier League club has reached the competition’s finale at Wembley Stadium as yet, but supporters of lower league clubs are largely unsupportive of the youngsters’ involvement.

“One of the options to explore there is what our counterparts in Europe do, which is the B team model," Underwood said. "Clearly there are some huge challenges in that ever becoming a reality and it may never become a reality, but it would be beneficial if steps were taken for us to have more exposure to senior football for our junior players.”

While there are obvious benefits to Premier League teams’ young players competing regularly against senior squads, those advantages are restricted to clubs who are already able to stockpile talent due to the financial inequality between England’s top flight and the divisions below.

Tranmere executive Nicola Palios tweeted in response to Underwood’s interview: “Absolute nonsense! EPL clubs should stop hoarding hundreds of young players and allow them to come through the ranks of the lower leagues like they used to.”

Clubs in Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands all have bigger clubs’ B teams operating in the second tier of their domestic football pyramid, while other nations such as Germany, Italy and France operate a B team model at the third tier and below.