I was looking at the age make up of all squads in the top two tiers in terms of actual minutes played and there were some interesting numbers which appeared to suggest and not for the first time, that youth was the way to go. 

 

This was especially true in the Championship, where for the second season running Barnsley and Brentford had the youngest squads and they finished 5th and 3rd with the Bees winning the playoffs (sorry, I am not going to let the chance to mention that pass any time soon !). The four youngest groups were, in order Barnsley (finished 5th), Brentford (3rd), Reading (7th) and Blackburn (15th), Rovers might have finished bottom half, but we spoke often of them being better than that and they were actually 5th for xP. If we extend that young end of the league a little further, the next three teams were Coventry (the only one of the promoted teams to survive), Swansea (4th) and Norwich (champions). The four oldest groups were Sheffield Wednesday (24th), Birmingham City (18th), Millwall (11th) and Wycombe 22nd), two were relegated and only one of the seven oldest made the top 10 .

 

In the Premier League, the four oldest groups were Crystal Palace (14th), Burnley (17th) , West Ham (6th) and Newcastle United (12th), the next four were in order Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, Sheffield United and Wolves, you can make a case for all of that quartet having "terrible" seasons, albeit in some cases from a sky high level, but of that eight only the Hammers can be really happy with how 2020-21 played out. 

 

The four youngest squads used were at Fulham (18th), Villa (11th) , Manchester United (2nd) and Brighton (16th). This might not be as cut and dried as Fulham were relegated ( stop cheering !)  and Brighton struggled but the pair were 16th and 5th for xP respectively, Villa had their best season in a decade ( since 2010-11) and United were top 2 for only the second time in eight campaigns and also made the Europa League final. The 5th youngest team were Chelsea (4th) , who also made the FA Cup final and won the Champions League, champions Man City who also made the Champions League final, had the 7th youngest group.

 

The more mature groups did better further down the footballing pyramid, but Lincoln (5th) and Hull City (champions) had two of the three youngest squads used in League 1.

 

With 15 of the England squad for the Euros aged 25 or younger, following just 9 in 2012, 11 in 2016 and way up from just five at the 2010 World Cup, it is clear the way things are going and the more reliable old adage (than the one we started with),that they are old enough if they are good enough, rings loud and true. The benefits of blooding youngsters are clear and the added bonus is that they are only going to get better with game time, as we saw with Brentford and Barsley this season.

 

 

Good luck !