The National League’s latest developments, including the introduction of a new competition and more substitutes, have been welcomed by Town manager Chris Millington.
The Athletic recently disclosed that negotiations have been held to match 16 Premier League under-21 teams with the top 16 teams in the fifth division.
Four groups of eight teams, one from each division, are thought to comprise the proposed competition. The National League teams would play the Premier League youth teams at home.
The 56 National League teams—National League North and National League South—that were not competing in the competition would split the remaining half of the prize money. The National League clubs would not play each other and would keep all gate receipts and half of the prize money.
The final format of the competition has not yet been decided, but the groups would be selected regionally.
“There’s two sides to every story, yes there’s a real challenge in adding games to the programme, especially if we’ve got to play home games,” Millington stated to the Courier.
“The more home games we play, the more difficult the pitch will get—just look at our record of winning home games both this season and in prior seasons.
In addition, we’re a small, tight team, so we’ll need to manage the bodies even more carefully because we won’t have the funds to start adding two, three, or four more players.
These are the difficulties, but there are also some major advantages: players like Ted Lavelle, Frankie Sinfield, and Jimiel Chikukwa will play more games with the first team, and we’ll get to experience playing against some really good football teams. Additionally, it aids in our recruiting process because many of the players we’ll face frequently are ones we watch in under-21 football; seeing them in a more authentic senior football environment will help us better understand their personalities and determine whether some of them are potential future additions.
“I myself am in favour of this. We must carefully manage any potential negative effects since we don’t want them to interfere with our league season. However, if we can avoid any negative effects from interfering with our efforts on the pitch and in the league, this could be a very beneficial arrangement for us.
Additionally, it was recently announced that starting with the upcoming season, five substitutions will be permitted per game on National League matchdays, for a total of seven substitutes.
“I think it’s of benefit to us in football terms, it means we have more options and more possibility to change games, we have more players involved in the matchday squad so there’s less players missing out,” Millington stated.
Thus, there are numerous advantages in that regard. Every matchday squad will have the option to include a substitute custodian, reducing risk. Throughout the season, there has been discussion about whether or not to sacrifice an outfield substitute in order to have a sub custodian on the bench.
“I understand there will be some confusion about how we will cover the cost of additional players’ travel and lodging while we’re away from home.
Like anything else, there will be a financial cost that needs to be met, and the club will need to find additional revenue in order to do so.
“So nothing negative from a football sense but these things have a wider impact for the club which we have to consider.”
