Breaking Down a League Two Squad

[numerista]

I wanted to get a flavor for what a run-of-the-mill League Two team looks like, and I ended up choosing Boston United. They might reasonably be expected to be one of the more nondescript clubs at this level, currently standing 12th of 24 teams and having finished around mid-table (usually a bit below) every season since they were promoted from the Conference in 2000-01.

Year of Birth
70
71 71

73
74 74 74 74
75 75
76



80 80 80 80
81 81 81
82



86 86
87
(one unlisted)

Curiously, the squad breaks into chunks. There are veterans at 30 or older, most of whom have high-level experience, and there are also many players in their early-to-mid 20s, most of whom already have a considerable amount of moderate-level experience. In addition, there are a few youngsters who don't play much.
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Nationality
England 21, Scotland 1

Overwhelmingly, the team consists of domestic players.

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Highest Level of Experience as a Regular
Listed with a club (in parens) where a player appeared regularly for at least one season

Starter, Premiership - 4 (Aston Villa, Ipswich, Nott. Forest, Coventry)
Starter, Championship - 1 (Rotherham)
Starter, SPL - 1 (Hearts)
Starter, League One - 4 (Huddersfield, Luton 2, Torquay)
Starter, League Two - 8 (Lincoln, Hull 2, Swansea, Boston only 4)
None - 4

Most of the team's players are very well established, with a lot of first-team games under their belts. The only ones who haven't made regular appearances in the past are the youngsters. Of them, two are home-grown, one is a recent arrival from Arsenal's reserve team, and a fourth is on loan from Sheffield United and is currently starting.

Quite a few of the low-level regulars did manage to appear at a higher level, usually at a young age ... a couple of them even logged some minutes in the Premiership. The players who make me most curious, however, are the ones like Alan White, who spent 7 years playing regularly in League One but never went any higher. For a player like him who broke in relatively low on the totem pole, there doesn't seem to be a lot of upward mobility. In general, I think we see that pattern: many players slide gradually down the ladder, but few advance.

Finally, the most famous player on the team is Julian Joachim, who scored a lot of Premiership goals and is still only 31 years old. If I were in an MLS front office, I'd be on the lookout for someone like that.

[Elninho]

To complete the picture of the Boston United squad, here's their transfers in and out for this season (leagues listed for former clubs are last season):

In:
Julian Joachim, age 31, from Leeds United (Championship), free
Lawrie Dudfield, age 25, from Northampton Town (League 2), free
Ian Ross, age 19, from Sheffield United (Championship), loan

Out:
Daryl Clare, age 27, to Crawley Town (Conference), undisclosed fee
Gavin Johnson, age 35, to Northampton Town (League 2), free
Stephen O'Donnell, age 22, released
Courtney Pitt, age 23, to Cambridge United (Conference), free
Ian Ross, age 19, to Sheffield United (Championship), loan return
Lee Thompson, age 23, to Kidderminster (Conference), free
Dean West, age 32, released

Boston United has never paid a transfer fee since being promoted into the League; the record transfer fee for a player leaving the club is £125,000.

It is interesting that every single personnel move this season has been a player moving laterally or downward (unless you count the return of a loaned player to his upper-division club). Also worth noting is the fact that every single one of the players on the squad, including four listed as youth players, began his career at a club other than Boston United.


Then again, there's one factor that biases this analysis: Boston United was promoted into the League fairly recently, and may still be in the process of clearing out Conference-quality players and replacing them with League-quality players.

[numerista]

Also worth noting is the fact that every single one of the players on the squad, including four listed as youth players, began his career at a club other than Boston United.

Nice catch ... this background wasn't available on the stats website I checked (soccerbase). On balance, however, it's not too surprising, since Boston's "Centre for Excellence" only opened in 2003.

Also, Boston (pop ~35K) is one of the smallest places in the League, with no significant cities nearby. As a result, their youth team has a limited pool of available players, especially relative to other League Two clubs like Notts County, Bristol Rovers, and Southend. (The Greater London clubs have big populations, too, but also more competition for players.)

[numerista]

To see whether a big-city League Two side was built more upon its youth, I checked Notts County's squad (23 players).

They don't have any homegrown players older than 20, either. Among the youngsters, between 2 and 4 squad members could be counted as homegrown, including one who is a full-time starter. (A couple of players had stretches with other teams, but it isn't obvious whether to count them.)

Again, the pattern of lateral and downward movements seems to be generally true. The squad does have two over-20 players who began as non-league players, although both of them were in The League by age 20. In addition, the team's leading scorer Glynn Hurst dropped into non-league football for one year before working his way back up.