Football League Expected To Vote Down FA Chair Dyke's Proposed 'B League'

Football League clubs "are expected to give" FA Chair Greg Dyke's "controversial 'B league' proposals the thumbs down at their summer meeting in Portugal on Thursday," according to Martyn Ziegler of the PA. Dyke "has proposed a new division be created between the Conference and League Two which would include a number of Premier League clubs' B teams." Bradford City Chair Mark Lawn said there was a "general consensus" among the 72 Football League clubs that the B league "would not work." Lawn: "Nobody understands how playing at Conference or League One level can help any player make it to play for England." Blackburn Managing Dir Derek Shaw "echoed Lawn in claiming the current loan system works better than a B league would." Football League officials "are due to present an alternative proposal which would see some Premier League B teams play in an expanded Johnstone's Paint Trophy, which would include a group stage" (PA, 6/4).