Bob...... My youngest son was in Reading's Elite Academy at the age of 9-10. I'm not saying he was good enough to make it, but he was very skillful with a great first touch, good vision and a good "wrong" foot!! He was and still is a little small for his age. The coaches there were always favouring the big fast players, whether they could really play or not. As long as they were big, strong and fast they were preferred. They let my son go saying that he was getting out-muscled too much. I watched him against Fulham and he played some lovely passes and looked good on the ball...he was, however, indeed out-muscled a fair bit! A lot of the lads who were retained didn't have half his ability, but they were big and fast!! This is the problem with coaching in this country!! Sorry for going off topic, but this subject has been introduced into the thread.
Col that's been the state of English football for generations! Its not right and doesn't help ability development. things are slowly changing for the better. i coached a young kid called tom Holland from the age of 6 and although tiny i knew he was special. i took him to Bradford city for a few years but under bryan robson ( when he was there) the structure was based around strength and size which i didn't agree with and this kid got released. he has just signed for Manchester city at 16 years old and tipped to be the next best thing!
It's one of the reasons that England haven't won anything for so long.....in places like Spain/Holland etc they are taught from an early age to love the ball, playing small sided, non-competitive games until they're in their teens I believe. We have started to address this by playing small sided games on small pitches until the age of 11, but as soon as they reach that age. they're into leagues and playing on huge pitches!! My son is at under 13 now and has a good manager who encourages the boys to express themselves. I still see some of the kids who were retained by Reading and they're very average on the whole! I was very unimpressed by their coaches!!
In other coutries, kids dont have a position, they play everywhere so even the defenders are technically good. its only when they get to the mid teens that they will see what they are best suited too. Thats a big reason why lots of our players are technically crap because if they are a CB at 8 years old, they arent coached in anything apart from being a centre back. They also play on small pitches so you have to think quick and have good skill, here speed and stamina is more important as we put them on full size pitches. Agyemang is the ultimate example of whats wrong, he is less skillful than a lot of pub players (and Im not exaggerating there, I can trap a ball and have it remain within 5 yards of me!) and only played because he could run fast.
That's right Col. I have studied in both countries and at junior level teams were playing their most gifted players yet losing the game. this didn't bother them in the slightest as one coach at athletico Madrid told me that out of their u13 age group 3/4 would make professional players and losing to a bigger side was seen as development. he stated the opposition wouldn't have one professional in 10 years time. this said it all to me, we base our junior leagues around results instead of development. the closest i got to seeing that in this country was at middlesbrough although some are changing their emphasis now.
I firmly believe that there's a good chance that Messi wouldn't have made it through most of our academies because of his size!!
Iniesta, Xavi et al. Barca have seven or eight players in their side that are 5 feet something and make a mockery of the 'hulk' type players we seem to promote. When you can use the ball as if it's on a string size isn't really that important...
The worse and the most disappointing for me is Macheda. Can't believe how bad he has been. Will happy be more than happy if he proves me wrong but so far a waste of wages.
Bang on My mates lad has just signed pro terms with Brighton : Solomon March check him out on you tube At the age of 8 with my lads on the French beaches he could knock the ball into the waste bins from 20 yards He went onto the books at Pakace and played there for years eventually he was let go as he wasn't 6 foot at the age of 12 like the rest ... He went back to local football and luckily so as he rediscovered his passion and skill for the game and was then picked for the England team for independant schools Point is he retained his skills and most of the Palace players didn't make it as you said their original talent was drilled out ... He was then picked and a big offer was made from Newcastle and even Beardsley took out the parents out to dinner to try and sign him He chose Brighton as its local to them and I think he will be a big star Both Newcastle and Brighton also claimed to my mate that exactly what has been said is true ... There are too many young players turning into robots Hence that is why they scout everywhere in the UK and why so many foreign lads are used
Its a difficult nut to crack Dave as your mates kid has found out. 92 professional league clubs making that roughly 2500 professional players of which half are most likely foreign if not more. around 1250 British/English professional senior places. A country of our population should be producing some great talent but too much gets wasted in poor coaching, poor club etiquette, poor facilities (junior pitches) and clubs basing their academy teams around results rather than player development. i could go on with some right tales about wasted kids! I said years ago that with such an influx of foreign players that England would be picking its team from the lower leagues. we have some very special foreign players here but the majority are average at best!
Well fingers crossed for Solomon I think he will be close for a start next year or so Have a look put in Solomon March into You tube great talent IMO
Looks very comfortable on the ball which is one sign of a good footballer. for some reason i have always liked watching left footers. hope he makes it.
It's really interesting to hear these views. I think this topic deserves a thread of it's own. Some really good and interesting points are being made.
Just watched the Solomon vid on Youtube DT, what a quality player. Ironically, he reminds me of Dave Thomas.
I could name at least 10 players that have been crap this season, but I just can't be arsed anymore! last seasons glory has been overshadowed by this seasons rubbish...same ole...same ole...that's the R's for ya!
The difference is, i didnt expect much of Hill, Derry, Orr etc but I expected a lot from SWP and Barton but they are no better than what we had in the NPC despite costing a massive amount of money. I hope the board realise this and dont blow more money on 30 somethings we will never be able to get rid of.
Send it to MH Dave, he looks very good. He was already playing in hoops! My experience here is that Clubs prioritise the kids of the parents that are already in the Club as first pick, the ones that they think willl one day be skilfull enough second, and the biggest and the quickest third, even if these also have skills! Like having both physical and technical strength cannot be possible! Just possibly I'm cynical!
