Is it time to remove Jong Utrecht from the Dutch second tier? | OneFootball

For the fifth season in a row, Jong Utrecht are languishing at the bottom of the Dutch second tier. While the first team are pushing for a top four finish in the Eredivisie, the Jong side are having another poor season. For the past two seasons they have finished rock bottom, and this year they would have been in the same situation had Vitesse not been deducted so many points. It begs the question as to whether or not it is time to change things up?

The Dutch system, for those who do not know, is a closed system. There is no relegation from the second tier, a move that one could argue allows for greater youth development. Without the fear of going down, sides in the second tier should be more willing to give young players a chance. What is more, there are a number of Jong sides in the league. PSV, Ajax and AZ are all represented in the second tier. Jong PSV are hardly faring much better, but they have not been as bad in recent years as Utrecht.

What is more, the idea of the Jong sides is to give players a chance to play senior football before transitioning to the first team. How many players have done that at Utrecht? More importantly, if the side are not able to be competitive at this level, for so long, why continue to have them in the league? Surely there are other teams in the Netherlands who could take their place? We have already seen in recent KNVB cup games that teams in the lower reaches have sprung upsets against sides in the top two leagues.

Now, I must admit that I do have a bias. Personally, I do not believe that sides academy teams should be part of senior football, especially not in a closed system such as the Netherlands. It would be better if sides that wanted to move into the professional system were able to do so, at the expense of these youth sides. Belgium has also introduced second teams into their second tier, and so far those games have been hard to watch. The lack of fans for the academy sides creates very little atmosphere at games. However, they can also be relegated, with Standard’s SL16 going down last year and Jong Genk looking set for relegation this year.

It is unlikely that Dutch football will change things in the summer, but it is certainly a conversation that needs to be had, and one that has already been taking place amongst fans on social media.

GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson