Great appointment for Chelsea football club but this is another blow for the English national team. After seeing Englandâs under 21âs crash out of the European Championships at the weekend, I was waiting for an article such as this. Content is pretty accurate Iâd say in relation to the heart of English players these days and canât really argue with the fact that the money involved in England now is making club football preference. A point that will continue to rumble on until our national team finds successâ¦â¦â¦.so this point will rumble on for an awfully long time! Article below: http://sportales.com/soccer/england-ruined-by-england/
Welll then, Saints will just have to take the burden upon themselves and produce a whole team of awesome English talent.
Cortese has said he wants us to be like Barcelona, bringing groups of players through the youth teams a la Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Pique, Busquets, Messi, Valdes
its a long term plan though, we wont be seeing that many former academy players in the first team for at least 10 years.
Yes, too many foreigners only coming over for the money who don't care about the football/fans , harming our country's player development which is making our national team suffer - it's one reason I have preferred League 1 and The Championship more than the prem
The football league is really improving, but instead of embracing it, the premier league is spending more and more to distance itself from it and even giving a warchest to the clubs going down from it to help ensure its exclusivity. We're reaching the stage where more money doen't buy more success and there will come a point when the rich investor stop to think "hang on, where's my money gone?". Whether there will be an enormous crash or a gradual decline I don't know, but for me its a question of when rather than if because the system isn't sustainable. When the Premier League was formed, I don't think they intended so much money to find its way to players, agents and overseas clubs, but without regulation, it very much did. With all the revenue from gate receipts, TV, advertising and merchandising, its amazing that most of the clubs make a loss.
I don't buy the lie that its the foreign imports who have wrecked English football. There are just as many foreigners in the Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch, German and Portugese leagues. Doesn't stop them from having international teams that aren't a joke. The problem is our total inability to produce young players with more to their game than pace, strength and height, but zero technical ability and footballing intelligence. That is why the clubs have to look abroad when they want a player who can pass it somebody wearing the same colour shirt, but who is standing more than 2 yards away, nine times out of ten or a player who can beat a defender AND actually cross a ball.
But it's only the academies that offer any way out of that situation, and as Saints have one of the best academies in this country, it's up to us to show the way forward in terms of catching up with the Barcelonas of this world. Jen's right, we have a long term plan to do just that, and in 10 years time the England team could have at its core players who learnt to play in the Saints Academy. I really think that's what NC's vision extends to.
I don't subscribe to this. Some of our most-loved players of recent timess have been imports - Lundekvam, Pahars, Niemi, the Svenssons etc. Guly didn't put in any less effort because this isn't his country, neither did Papa Waigo. Neither even speak English. Too many perhaps that prevent English players from breaking through into the elite, but we wouldn't bring them over if they really didn't give a ****.
I agree about our imports, but I was on about an overall image (for me) of the premier league's foreigners
TBF, for every foreigner who doesn't give a **** about football/fans and is only in it for the money, there is probably a british player who has the same mindset. Ashley Cole immediately comes to mind.
To be honest though there is a lot to be said about players coming over here and therefore stopping British talent playing at the top level. When you get teams like Chelsea or Arsenal, that can and will put out a team with out a single British player in it. Why is that I wonder......why is that being allowed? People say we do not have the talent when in fact we do. It is unfortunately more to do with the lack of top class coaching at the younger level coupled almost with the need for instant success for any player playing in the first team. It is almost as if he is not a star over night he is no bloody good, which of course is rubbish. Until top teams stop using the cheque book to develop players and start developing the youngsters when they are young and impressionable. We just might start to re-emerge as a force in the football world again.
That's the image unfortunately. It's actually our own players setting the benchmark in that respect. I actually really like the fact that a club can sign an awesome player like Hernandez for an accessible price when they do their research. Its clubs like Man City and Chelsea that lazily splash out on the people who everyone is talking about that really grind on me. Its a gripe more on the short-termist, money-spinning football culture than the players themselves or which country they happen to be from.
Yes, Arsenal and Chelsea don't produce British youngsters, but that is not their foreign players fault. Its just as hard to play for Barcelona and Real Madrid, but Spanish kids seem able to break into those teams. If Arsenal could find British players with half the talent of Iniesta and Xavi they would play them (like they have with Wilshere). Problem is, there just isn't that sort of English player about. Its a bit of a chicken and egg thing, but I believe talent always rises, and if there was any half decent british talent kicking about in the Arsenal and Chelsea youth teams it would be coming to the fore. There isn't so players have to be signed in, and can you blame the top clubs for going foreign when you can sign Javier Hernandez, Park Ji-Sung and Luka Modric for the same cost as Jordan Henderson?
Chelsea and Man City are doing it, but the players still can't seem to make it with them. It seems pretty typical that the FA are entrusting the best part of youth development to the very teams that are worst suited to give them a first team break. Southampton definately have a duty to prove that youth development should be higher on the agenda than it currently is by using the youth ranks as a significant source of first team players. Making good use of development facilities takes patience, but the rewards can be great, as seen with Barcelona.
I am definitely in agreement with the fact that too many foreigners play in each team. Things are changing slowly and i am very hopeful that by the time the new regulations are in force more changes will be on the cards. There are changes to money allowed to be spent and need for a certain number of home grown talent which should help in the future.
Is the Premier League ruining our Country? No attendances are up -there are a number of quality overseas players here who represent their countries and kids and adults alike who see players like Drogba, Hernandez, Tevez or Fabregas play well in world cups want to get the chance to see them play in the flesh. iam sure the british players learn a lot from them and brings on the development of our own players. i do however think that teams should have some obligation not to play all foreign players. England got it badly wrong at the last world cup but generaly have only been a penalty kick away from a good tournament.
Is the Premier League ruining our country (as a league) ? No. Are the people running the game at all levels ruining it? Yes. I for starters am totally against moving games abroad, e.g. Scudamore wanting to take a '39th game' to Asia. I'm also against seeding the FA Cup, it would kill the heritage, and if it isn't broke, why fix/tamper with it? The talk of splitting the Prem and making it hard to access is worrying and would, in my opinion, kill the fun of football. However much I hate Ian Holloway, the fact is Blackpool as a club had gone from League Two to Premier League in such a short amount of time, Southampton - a 2nd division side winning the FA Cup and Southend beating Manchester United really is what it's all about. What's other people's opinion of a game abroad? Or seeding the Cup?
A game abroad is an insult to fans. Do you expect all season ticket holders to be able to spare the time and money to go abroad for a game. Fun for the few who can do it, but they will be in the minority. Also no to seeding the FA Cup..it just favours the bigger clubs.
