A host of lower league clubs have launched a stinging rebuff to Rafa Benitez's plans to allow reserve teams to enter the Football League.
Benitez and Premiership counterpart Jose Mourinho feel England should adopt the Spanish approach at lower levels, which allows 'B' sides from the country's big clubs to compete in league.
Benitez feels the current reserve format does not offer enough competitive football to his young players.
However, his ideas have been met with dismay in some quarters.
"It would never happen here, not in a million years," said Peterborough director football Barry Fry.
"The Football League is a thriving, 72-club competitive competition which is one of the best supported in the world - 16 million people watch it every season.
"No-one would want to watch the reserve teams of any club - I don't care if they're Real Madrid, Juventus or Fray Bentos!
"If Rafa Benitez wants his young players to get competitive games then all he has to do is loan them out to clubs like us."
Gillingham chairman Paul Scally added: "I can understand the rationale in loaning them out to Football League clubs, which is available to them now, but I don't envisage the situation of a nursery club system.
"That's not going to happen in our lifetime. It's insulting to suggest that a bunch of Liverpool kids could hack it as their own club in the Football League.
"The Football League has got far greater qualities than that.
"We've taken a lot of players on loan from the Premiership in the past and they haven't been up to it to be frank because they haven't had the grounding of coming through the youth system of a Football League club.
"Without a shadow of a doubt, if Premiership clubs want to blood their stars of the future, they should loan them out to the right clubs where they can cut their teeth."
Swindon chief Willie Carson was equally scathing of Benitez's plans.
"Why on Earth did this man say this? The system has worked just fine for years," he said.
"The top clubs loan their reserve players out to get top experience, so we take them on; they get better and we get better.
"Clubs like Manchester United are forever sending their youngsters out and it helps us and it helps them. It helps football. Rafael Benitez is being selfish. Simple.
"He wants his players to get better but no one else to get better with it.
"This system would help his lot for sure, but what about us lot that get pushed out? Someone has to make way for these teams.
"He should put something back into the game. His club has lots of money, why don't they see it better distributed? No, they want more, and we suffer for it."
