Warnock hits out at B-team idea

NEIL Warnock has angrily hit out at renewed talk of Premier League B teams being admitted to the EFL.

The former promotion-winning Plymouth Argyle manager, now the boss of Championship club Middlesbrough, was responding to comments made by Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano.

He said the EFL was not a sustainable business even before the COVID-19 pandemic, which is putting many clubs under severe financial pressure while they play games behind closed doors.

Soriano also suggested that now was the time to look at a restructure, including the introduction of B teams, as they have in some European countries.

But Warnock, speaking on talkSPORT radio, said: “I’m not having that at all. Manchester City reserves? The way they played a couple of weeks ago against Leicester they wouldn’t beat my team (Middlesbrough), so I wouldn’t want to see that.

“Leagues One and Two are the greatest divisions in the world after the Championship.

“It involves cities and towns who have got a football club. The English Football League is amazing. We don’t want reserves from Man City or anybody else.”

The EFL Trophy was revamped in 2016 to include category one academy teams, mainly from the Premier League but also from the Championship.

That led to a lot of criticism from fans, who feared it would pave the way for B teams to eventually be allowed into the EFL itself.

Soriano, speaking at Leaders in Sport’s online forum, LeadersWeek.direct, said: “One of the challenges is the EFL (is) a business that is not sustainable enough.

“They were discussing ways to improve it, they were discussing salary caps. Now they were sort of nudged, almost pushed, to solve the existing problems because of the crisis.

“It’s a good opportunity for the different elements of the football business to get together and solve these problems.”