FLT, you following this?
I am not sure how we can anticipate the future, except that it will be different. I really don't care whether our manager is British or not. I am with FLT on kids football. I have coached at kids level and I was always horrified by the attitude of leading people in the game. The emphasis was never on skills training. It also encouraged "being thick". If you look at foreign players they are often much more articulate than their British counterparts. Even with his outrageous accent, Morgan can make more sense than many English born players. When Fabregas was at Arsenal he was interviewed at the same time as Gerrard. One of them needed sub-titles! While it is great that a kid from Croxteth can become a star footballer, it seems perverse that the culture of British football may well hinder the progress of middle class kids. Just a quick anecdote. A mate of mine has a son who at Everton's academy. Good footballer and very nice lad. Lining up to play against Liverpool, one of the Reds heard the lad talking, and said "I'm going to break your ****ing legs, you soft ****". This was overheard by the coaches of both teams. Action taken? The young Evertonian was told he needed to toughen up. He now plays cricket (which ain't a game for softies!).
Last summer I took my grandchildren to "soccer school" here in France (and remember this is rugby playing France here) and the emphasis was all on skills with the ball. The kids picked up a lot of good French, the coach could explain in English if they didn't get it and it was a really positive experience. Back in the UK my experience of similar clubs is 5 minutes kicking a ball at the coach, and 55 minutes running around playing a "game" in which the biggest kids dominate the ball.
If the arrival and success of Mauricio et al makes some football coaches re-think, then great.
To be fair to the FA Channon, verbally, they are making noises that they are trying to change this attitude. At a recent Welfare session which was aimed at removing the "aggressive shouting" at the kids by parents and coaches, I asked the presenter how the FA intend on "policing" this issue? The response? "Oh, no we are just giving the teams the message". What is needed is a team within each local FA enforcing this.
The parents are a huge problem. I have one boy (aged 11) in my team, who gets extra pocket money for each goal he scores. I teach the boys to pass and move or dribble when appropriate. This lad is great for the first half of each game, but if he hasn't scored, then the longer the second half goes on, the more desperate to score he becomes. He stops passing and his Dad shouts "shoot", or "go on your own son", all the time. I have had words, but they then introduced code words... so when they shouted "wednesday" it meant Shoot!
I have a lad in my team who is taller than me at 11. He is tall, strong, quick and powerful. After most games, the opponentts coach or the referee tell me how good he is. I am amazed as he has one of the worst "touches" in the team, but becasue he powers through several tackles (chasing his first touch), people think he's good. He will disappear in about 4 yeas when the others catch him up physicaly.
In my ideal world, no parents would watch my teams games.
No points would be awarded for any results in games until 14 or 15 years old.
All players should be made to change positions until they are 15.
Some of the above is starting to happen at Professional level. For example, my team played Northampton recently at a local school's astro pitch and the Cobblers coach asked me to tell our parents they couldn't stand on the edge of the pitch but had to stand another 15 yards back behind the fence.
