Can't blame the EU rules nor the foreigners. It was max 3 players 20 years ago yet we already hadn't won the world cup for 30 years
Nearly all of the 92 professional clubs have a youth program and every PL club (quite a few Championship, L1 and L2 clubs too) pile every spare penny into their academies. There's no shortage of kids who want to be footballers and no lack of desire from the clubs to produce their own players.
One thing that struck me at the weekend against Man U was how poor a player Cleverly is - Lallana and JWP are head and shoulders above him yet he gets in the England team...
Yes, you can.With the EU's free movement of trade, goods and citizens the possibilty of introducing a cap on the number of foreigners in the first team is impossible. I sent the FA a letter after we lost to Italy, giving them some ideas on how to change english football.
JWP is a bit special. At his age, if he keeps playing regularly for us then he'll be in the England team by the end of the season. Roy would be mental to ignore a 17/18 year old at any of the 20 PL clubs in the circumstances where players of that age playing regularly at the top level and looking like consumate professionals too are so hard to come by.
JWP has really surprised me. I saw him play a couple of years ago, and have heard a lot about him since, but he seems to have come out of the box fully formed as a mature player.
That's all very well, INM, but the coaches won't be of the very best everywhere and the facilities also. Quality foreign youngsters are often cherry picked by the bigger clubs, just as much as the ones from home shores. It means that there ends up a shortage especially when most of the englih youngsters waste many years sat warming benches while more established players of indeterminate origin play for their club. Look at Jack Cork..? Chelsea player who never made it into the Chelsea team and who wasted precious development time being behind more established players bought in. His luck turned when he came to Southampton FC the second time, because he has come on leaps and bounds. Now an Olympic footballer. What could he still achieve and what could he have achieved earlier if he'd had been in the right place..?
I appreciate your sentiment here. This competitive nature increases ten fold at club level. The pathway which Nigel Adkins talks about gets narrower with so much pressure on results in the PL. it's very hard for managers to give young players a chance in meaningful games unless they have exceptional ability. Things are improving slowly. Kids will be on smaller pitches, the EPL squad sizes and homegrown rule. The new football centre at Burton which will provide training for more coaches. I believe England has fewer qualified coaches than any of the major nations. The academy grading system which will encourage club investment.
The attitude of successive England Managers towards smaller or less fashionable clubs is laughable. If you are English and play for a top 6 club you are pretty much automatically picked eg Welbeck, Sturrage, Cleverley ...... Over the years we have had Butt, Wes Brown ...... Look at the pressent issue with forwards, Roy has no real cover and it looks like we are going into the first two World Cup qualifiers with Defoe leading the line ...God Help Us! Roy could have picked Holt or Lambert quite easily. Both score more and have more assists than the likes of Carroll or Defore or Welbeck or Sturrage put together but no they play for little Norwich and Southampton This is what stands in the way of young players who come through the ranks at Saints and why they are attracted to the likes of Arsenal Opps, slipped off my soap box
Totally agree it's always been like that with Saints. Steve Williams, Le God, the Wallaces etc etc. It's the same in cricket. If you play for Middx or Essex you're in etc.
He'll deserve to if he continues to play like that. Although against Italy, every single player with the exceptions of Ruddy and Butland, played for a top 8 Premier League team.
True, but he made Tom Cleverly who is 5 years older than him and is the current England choice look a bit average. If he keeps playing well, Hodgson would be barmy not to pick him. Even England aren't stupid enought to turn a blind eye to someone who could be the player of a generation.
There are enough academies doing things well. Some of them bring in overseas players because our grassroots are falling short in providing players with the desired skillsets. Both fans and clubs prefer homegron and clubs will even pay a premium when the right option is avalable. When the England team is out on Saturday, think of 10 foreign outfield players playing in the PL who are better than the ones we put out. I can guarantee that it will be very easy. Try doing the same for Germany or Spain with players in their respective top flights and you will really have to think about it. I'd say it was the loan spells, notably the ones at Scunthorpe and Burnley that shaped Cork. Having a permanent club has helped him find his place, but most of his football development was there already.
It's easy to look back on previous World Cup winning teams and remember how awesome they were, but people seem to forget their imperfections. People remember 1970 Brazil for Carlos Alberto, Pele, Rivelino, etc. but it's rarely mentioned that their defense was pretty shaky and they conceded 7 goals during that tournament. In 1998, France had to go to extra time against Paraguay, and penalties against Italy on their way to the final. This is a team that had Stéphane Guivarc'h up front - a player who had a terrible time in the Premier League and was never good enough to get into a top club side. He definitely wouldn't have been good enough for the England team. Spain lost to Switzerland in the 2010 group stage and limped past Chile, then went on to win all of their knockout games 1-0. Despite all their fancy football, they've always looked beatable. People are always going to look at the current England team and declare that they don't have a chance, because it's so easy to pick out all of their flaws in the present, and people forget that previous World Cup winners have had just as many flaws, and rode their luck to an extent in reaching the final. We could have beaten Germany in 2010 and we could have beaten Italy this summer, and we'd be talking so differently about the team if we had.
Yep, I understand what you say, INM, which leaves the inflated influx of foreign players into the Premier League as the only excuse for the lack of top flight English players, because they are not getting the experience. If academies can't find the kids with the right skillsets then they aren't trying hard enough, or giving up on them too early. Crikey, it's only 11 places to fill, in the end, and with millions of boys to choose from. If one club can produce quality player after quality player, what are Saints doing right that other clubs aren't..?
12 year old school boys play 11 vs 11 on full size pitches with full size goals. The youth are only learning that size and hoof ball work, there's no skill development
