Club have confirmed they're splitting from the reserve team, which will carry on under a different name in the Wearside League. Did seem a little redundant in recent seasons, and I wasn't really sure what its purpose was.

The club say they're looking at setting up an U23 team, which does seem a bit more logical for our squad size and structure.

http://darlingtonfootballclub.co.uk/clu ... -reserves/

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This is certainly the right decision, I also could never understand how this could ever produce competition for First team places. I personally am not sure about any Under 23 Team, surely at this level of football, if you are nudging 23 you are either good enough to be playing already or just not good enough aren't you? Others may disagree.

Actually that's a very fair point. Is it plausible for a squad of our level to have a 22-year-old still in a reserves/U23 team? Probably not. They'd either have progressed to the senior squad or been released.

I guess the flip side is, if we're looking to develop our youth players (as every club should look to do), how do we best prepare them?

A reserve/U23 team would seem ideal to bridge the gap, but needs to be competitive enough to be beneficial.

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I don't think I even know who was playing for our reserves last season, in the main. Was it purely youth players? This definitely sounds like the right thing to do, all things considered.

Not sure whether setting ourselves up as an u23s team provides opportunity to compete alongside EFL and PL u23s teams (their alternative to having a 'reserve' setup).

Regards your last sentence that to me is/always has been the issue with the Reserves and any under 23 Team. I remain to be convinced that any Under 23 Team could be any more competitive than the Reserves ever were. Hope fully the club will research this thoroughly before making a decision. I appreciate where Darlington RA are now, but surely now could be the time to start to build relations with them again in the hope they get promoted?

Seems the right decision to me, i can't see the point when absolutely no one seemed to ever progress to the first team squad. Focus on youth development. Youth players at this level, if they're good enough, will begin to push for the first team.

If we have players on the books that we want to gain some first team experience, we can loan them out.

Hopefully the enforced promotion from the Northern League helps this situation somewhat. More NE clubs in the Evostik leagues will perhaps make it easier to loan players out to levels not too far below ours

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