WHEN the chief executive of VfB Stuttgart started to question if having a second team in the fourth tier of German football was worth the expense a few years ago, Andreas Hinkel was concerned.
For a start, the former Celtic right back was in his second spell as manager of the VfB Stuttgart II side at the time.
But Hinkel also believed passionately that getting game time in the senior leagues, even at a lower level, helped talented youngsters to make the difficult transition into the senior game and fulfil their potential.
He was - having turned out for the “The Little VfB” as a teenager in the late 1990s and then gone on to feature for the Bundesliga club in the Champions League and win 21 caps for the four-time World Cup winners - living proof that it worked.
And he was far from the only one who had benefitted.
“A lot of good footballers have progressed through the second team at Stuttgart into the first team in the past,” he said. “Alexander Hleb, Kevin Kuranyi and Timo Hildebrand all came through with me. The CEO wanted to do away with it. Fortunately, many people in the club fought to retain it and it stayed.”
The introduction of Celtic, Hearts and Rangers B teams to the Lowland League two years ago has also divided opinion sharply in Scottish football and there are many critics who would like to see the experiment scrapped.
A controversial SFA motion to create a new fifth tier Conference League caused an outcry last month and was withdrawn before clubs had the chance to vote on it at their AGM.
However, second choice sides have been a fixture in the league system in Germany, as well as in many other major European football nations, for decades now and have helped numerous outstanding professionals to make their breakthrough.
Hinkel, who is currently the Belgium assistant manager, understands from personal experience exactly why.
“I am a guy who supports the second teams,” he said. “There has been a big discussion about them in Germany recently. A lot of people felt that having them in the leagues wasn’t necessary. They argued that if young players couldn’t make the step straight into the first team when they reached a certain age then it was too late for them.
“I thought a lot about this topic when I was the coach of the second team and I believe it is important. It definitely helps young players to take the next steps in their careers. At Stuttgart, it certainly works well.”
Hinkel, who won the Premiership and League Cup during the three-and-a-half years that he spent at Celtic, appreciates that every country faces its own particular challenges when it comes to youth development because of the size of their populations and standard of their leagues.
But he feels the approach that is taken in his homeland – where second teams are capable of winning promotion right up to the third tier 3.Liga - has much to commend it.
“It is difficult to speak in general terms about this subject,” he said. “You can’t compare the system we have in Germany to that in Scotland or another country. Every country is different, every league is different.
“In Spain, for example, their youth teams can play in the second highest league. In Germany, that is not allowed. Youth teams can only play in the third highest league.
“I think you need to analyse the system overall. How big is the league? How competitive is the league? How big is the gap in quality between the youth teams and the league? Are they capable of playing at that level?
“But B teams here play in a normal league system competitively. If they do well they can reach the highest level possible. I think you can develop young players in the third and fourth leagues. For me, it doesn’t make sense to develop youth in the fifth league. There is not a step up from the under-19 leagues we have for me.
“A lot depends on how strong the league is and if it can help the talent to make the next step in their career. But if it is good enough it can help them to get accustomed to the faster tempo before they make their first team debut. After half a season or so the club can decide whether to promote them or send them out on loan.
“But I am not a friend of cancelling the second team and sending the players out to second tier clubs. They could be fighting for relegation and they might not care about developing your talent. Their manager may be trying to stay in a league and may not really want to take a chance.
“If you keep a young player at your club they can play in a certain system, they can train with the first team, they can play for the second team at the weekend. A really good example of this working well in Germany is SC Freiburg. Both Borussia Dortmund and SC Freiburg have second teams who play in the third highest league and they are doing really good.”
Hinkel added: “Kevin Schade played for the Freiburg second team and then their first team. He made his debut for Germany earlier this year and has just signed for Brentford, who he spent last season on loan at, for €25m this summer.
“Nico Schlotterbeck came through at smaller clubs, at VfR Aalen and Karlsruher SC. Then he went to Freiburg and played for their second team. He is now a German internationalist as well and Borussia Dortmund signed him for €22m last year.
“Years ago, Marco Reus was in the youth set-up at Borussia Dortmund. He was considered too small and not good enough to play for them. He left and went and played for Rot Weiss Ahlen II. He developed there, won a move to Borussia Monchengladbach and ended up going back to Borussia Dortmund in a €17m transfer.”
Hinkel has been fascinated to see how the Belgians approach youth development since being appointed assistant to Domenico Tedesco, who he worked with at both Spartak Moscow and RB Leipzig, earlier this year.
Anderlecht, Club Brugge, Genk and Standard Liege all have second teams which play in the second tier Challenger Pro League there.
But he has been impressed by how willing the top flight teams are to take chances on kids and strongly suspects that is why they have produced so many world-class footballers in the modern era.
“The Belgian league is not as good as the Bundesliga, Premier League, La Liga or Serie A,” he said. “It is a little bit behind then. But the bigger clubs let young players play in their league. They trust them even if they make mistakes. It is a really good league for developing young players. It is a great strength of Belgian football.”
The 41-year-old helped to coach the under-12, under-15 and under-17 sides at VfB Stuttgart after retiring from playing following a final spell with Freiburg and knows that the work carried out at that level is absolutely vital as well.
“We call the years between 12 and 15 the ‘golden age’ in Germany,” he said. “The many hours of specific work that players at that age do helps them considerably when they are older. No talent is allowed to slip through the net. We also differentiate between players who are born in the first half of the year and the second half of the year.
“The players who are born between January and June may be bigger, faster and stronger than those in their age group who are born between July and December – but that does not necessarily mean that they will be more talented players when they are adults.
“We studied this at Stuttgart. The head of the youth academy asked this question. Why are most of the players who go on to become professionals born in the first quarter or half of the year? It was discussed and now there are other possibilities for players born in the second half of the year.
“But there are many, many possibilities in Germany. You can reach your goals by playing for youth sides, going to smaller teams, playing for the second team, being sent out on loan. Coaches support you no matter what stage you are at in your development. Overall, the system is working.”
