David Moyes revealed his attempts to enlist a B team in the Conference were a non-starter because it would have taken a decade to happen.
Chelsea boss Andre Villas Boas suggested this week Premier League sides could mirror their Spanish counterparts in La Liga by fielding reserve teams in the lower divisions.
It’s an idea the Toffees chief admitted he investigated in the past, but the complexities of non-league football meant it would have taken 10 years to achieve Conference status.
“Four or five years ago, I would have liked to have put an Everton reserve team into the Conference because it would have been better football for them,” he said.
Conference
“My hope was that we could have used Widnes’ stadium as the home ground, and that when Everton were playing away, the B team would have played in the Conference there.
“But we would have had to have gone into Division Nine of the North-West Outer Counties or whatever you want to call it and it would have taken 10 or 11 years to get through.
“I would have been happy just to be in the Conference – no promotion, not involved in cups or anything – just so I could have got a good reserve team and given young players a game against men.”
Arsene Wenger believes because of the tradition associated with the English game that it would be very hard to implement such radical ideas.
Interests
“It is an idea we have heard before many times and it suits the bigger clubs, but it does not necessarily fit with the culture of English football. Why? Because everybody is supporting a club,” he said.
“The supporters of Barnet do not want their club to be stopped from promotion because the reserve team of Arsenal is in front of them.
“It is very difficult to mix the interests of the smaller clubs with the interests of the big clubs who have a second team and could be competitive in the smaller leagues.”
SkySports
Tags: david moyes, everton