Ever since Alan Pardew restored the reserve team when he took over from Tommy Burns at the Madejski Stadium we have competed in the combination reserve league apart from out two years in the Premiership, when we played against the countries top second string sides.
However this season is going to be our last as the club confirmed on Tuesday that they will not play reserve league football next season, instead choosing to arrange their own reserve fixtures.
Whilst they have no problem with the running on that league, the standard of opposition has been a concern for many years and playing against reserve teams from the likes of Cheltenham and Lewes is not ideal for a club with Premiership ambitions.
We will now look to arrange games against Premiership and Championship clubs, as well as clubs who are over from abroad. This has been common for the past couple of seasons anyway and is sure to offer our young, or out of favour, players a better standard of opposition.
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Whilst it is always fun to hear that we have stuffed the likes of Aldershot and Swindon reserves, its not a great standard so as long as we get regular games it will be a good move
We have done the same thing – it seems a bit of a nonsense we have to travel so far when the competition isn’t reflective.
I agree – Watford stiffs walked the reserve league this year but the quality of opposition has been so shoddy. Championship / League One sides tend not to play fringe players these days as they can have 7 players on the bench.