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QPR chief Les Ferdinand: U21 league not working

Les Ferdinand QPR
Image: Les Ferdinand QPR

The U21 Premier League is hampering young players' progress to first-team level, according to Les Ferdinand.

The former England striker is now director of football at QPR, the club where he turned professional in 1987, and a big part of his remit is to establish a system that produces young first-team players.

Ferdinand believes his own development was accelerated by playing against and alongside internationals at reserve-team level, an experience today's youngsters are less likely to have.

And his verdict on the U21 Premier League, inaugurated in 2012 as the replacement for the Premier Reserve League, is damning.

"I don't know how many people will have my opinion," he told Sky Sports News HQ, "but I don't believe the U21 league is working.

"I gained a lot of experiences playing in the reserve team. When I came to QPR there were the likes of Peter Reid and Ray Wilkins. I remember in my first reserve game I played with Kenny Sansom at Southampton, and Jimmy Case was playing on the other side - what experience that was.

"Now we've got U21s playing against U21s - no disrespect as we've got some talented young players in those 21s - but I just don't believe the U21 league is competitive enough for the managers to say 'right, I'm going to get him and play him in my first team'.

"Until they change something in that department you'll continue to see a struggle for players to come through those U21 games to the first team."

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