The Premier League is something of a school of hard knocks. It’s an outlandish minefield in which everyone from Joey Barton-like bandits to Ali Dia-like imposters can cost your club dearly.

But it’s how your club learns from those mistakes, which is the most important part of League prosperity. Tottenham Hotspur’s decision to pull out of the Barclays Premier Reserve League in 2009, isn’t quite on a par with Tony Fernandes’ decision to hand Kieron Dyer a new contract, but it has ultimately proved adetriment to the Lilywhite’s. Spurs need to put the pride away and make a swift return to the reserves.

When Spurs first announced their decisions to part ways with the Premier Reserve League, supporters were initially well behind the idea. The decision was made with the right intentions and solid, logical principles.

The idea was that the youngsters within the ranks of White Hart Lane, would benefit far more from a ‘tailor-made games programme’ which included experiencing ‘competitive football with loan transfers, tournaments and private friends fixtures’. Specifically aimed to benefit those aged 18-21, it was thought that the new set-up would help promising youngsters get game time at an age in which first-team football is absolutely crucial to development. Game time in a first team that was looking to push on for Champions League football was an unlikely reality.

Faults in this stance, however, were detectable from the outset. Of course, the development of Tottenham’s youth side was of paramount importance to all involved. But for a team who even in 2009, had a benchful of international footballers who were not playing an awful lot of football, it appeared that professionals who floated along the fringes of the reserves and the first team, had been lost in the shuffle.

Although Spurs fans needn’t have feared, as Harry Redknapp was on hand to soothe any concerns raised by supporters.

 “This way we can create our own schedule and play games when we want to. There are always clubs looking for games so I think this will suit us better,” said Redknapp in 2009.

“The youngsters need to go out on loan and get playing like they did last year. It was a great experience for those lads who went out so we will be looking to do the same again this season.”

The problem for Tottenham has been though, that the replacement Spurs XI set-up, has left all involved in a form of footballing purgatory. The young players of which the new look regime set-up had been tailor made for, such as Ryan Mason, Jon Bostock and Simon Dawkins, have all seen their time in the Spurs XI sandwiched between a catalogue of loan moves. So they’re not getting the full experience of being developed in-house, learning a Spurs way with top class internationals, as at Manchester United.  Yet equally, they’re not fulfilling an entire loan move either, thus loosing the initial idea of gaining first-team football.

Dawkins made sporadic appearances for the Spurs XI before he was sent to the San Jose Earthquakes in March. Jon Bostock scored several times in his outings for the XI before he was sent to Sheffield Wednesday and Swindon Town in the second half of the season, making only seven appearances for both. And Ryan Mason seems to have spent an eternity yo-yo-ing between loan spells at Yeovil Town and Doncaster Rovers- he spent the last half of the season on loan at Millwall.

This isn’t to say that there haven’t been success stories. Harry Kane made waves in Tim Sherwood’s Spurs XI side and when he was sent to Millwall on loan in January, he made a profound impact, scoring nine in 27 for the Lions. Progress does appear to have been made in the development of quite a few young, Tottenham starlets.

But one of the biggest issues that blighted Harry Redknapp’s team last season, was an element of genuine squad depth and the ability to rotate. The likes of Niko Kranjcar , Giovani Dos Santos and even Roman Pavlyuchenko, came in for some stick for their perceived poor performances when called into the Spurs team. But how can people expect them to simply hit the ground running when they’ve not been playing any football whatsoever?

Dos Santos made some sporadic appearances for the Spurs XI but the list of opponents didn’t constitute anything like a realistic interpretation of a Premier League game.  Granted, the Premier Reserve League is not going to replicate it either, but Premier League teams still use it to give seasoned professionals game time. Giving William Gallas a run out against players such as David Ngog, Tuncay and Romelu Lukaku would have surely only benefitted his match sharpness. It’s hard to believe an outing against the Nike Academy would have helped him too much and this is where the issue lies. Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea all see fit to utilize the Barclays Premier Reserve League. Sir Alex Ferguson deems this the best place to deploy the talent that they have developed within the club. He didn’t want to send his brightest talents such as Will Keane or Davide Petrucci on loan to Yeovil or Swindon. Chelsea would rather blood Lucas Piazon in the Premier Reserve League before they decide whether he’s ready to be loaned- not both at once. And Arsene Wenger is happy to play talents like Nico Yennaris in the Reserve League, but most importantly, let the likes of Yossi Benayoun and Abou Diaby regain their fitness and match sharpness back.

Leon Osman, Yakubu, Andrei Arshavin, Royston Drenthe and Sebastian Coates. These are the names of players who made at least one appearance in the Premier Reserve League last season, either getting their fitness back or looking to feel their way back into first team. Fringe players cannot be expected to be brought in at Tottenham and perform in a league that demands rotation, if they’ve not had proper game time. The Premier Reserve League must be the best platform to do this.

Tim Sherwood should be applauded for the work he’s done with the Tottenham youngsters. The Spurs XI concept hasn’t been a failure as such,  it just hasn’t completely worked as planned. The Premier Reserve League offers Premier League fringe players the best chance to regain fitness and youngsters a real platform to impress. Spurs shouldn’t blaze a trail for the sake of doing it.

What do you think about Spurs absence from the Premier Reserve League? Would you be loathe to a return or do you think it’s time we went back to basics? Tell me what you think, for all things Spurs, follow @samuel_antrobus 

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