FA Chief has a pop at us

FOOTBALL Association chairman Greg Dyke has named Sunderland as a prime example of the problems facing the national game in England.


The Black Cats signed 14 players over the summer - but only one - teenage striker Duncan Watmore from non-league Altrincham - was an Englishman.

Dyke cited Sunderland in reiterating concerns about the diminishing level of English players in the Premier League.

“No one can argue that the overall trend isn’t anything but alarming,” Dyke said.

“Last season the number of English players under the age of 21 who appeared in the Premier League filled only 2.3 per cent of the total number of minutes played.

“Only 35 English players under the age of 21 made appearances.

“This summer only 25 per cent of all new signings by Premier League clubs were qualified to play for England.

“Last weekend only 65 English players started in the Premier League, with another 14 coming on as substitutes.”

The former BBC Director General gave Sunderland as an example as he told journalists he intends to have Premier League representation on the commission he will set up in a bid to find a solution to the declining numbers of English players in the top flight.

Dyke has expressed severe concerns about the state of the national game.

He is worried that, if the present trend of top-flight clubs to bring in overseas players is not addressed, England can forget about ever being competitive on the international stage.

Yet, because the FA has such limited power - Dyke recalled one recent request from a club to have a player released from a development team because he was required for first-team duty only to fail even to get on the bench - the Premier League will have to be on board for any changes to take effect.

“If we are to have any chance of success it’s important that football as a whole recognises the problem and buys into the possible radical solutions,” Dyke said.

“That is why I have invited the chairmen of both the Premier League and the Football League to join the commission along with the chairmen of the League Managers’ Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association.”

Dyke also wants input from managers, players, academics and even journalists in the search for solutions.

However, even from his own brief investigations, he is acutely aware how complex the issue is going to be.

“Some say it’s because English kids are not good enough. That technically they don’t learn enough when they are young,” Dyke said.

“Others say we haven’t got enough coaches trained to a high enough level.

“Some of the youth team coaches I have met argue we do have the kids with potential but not enough of them get a chance in the Premier League because it’s easier to sign someone from overseas.

“Then there are others who say the problem is caused by the owners of Premier League clubs being so impatient for success that no manager will put his job on the line by taking a chance on English kids.

“Another explanation put forward by a lot of people is that it is cheaper to sign overseas players.

“Others argue that if your top league is largely foreign owned with foreign managers why should those in control care about developing the England team?”

Evidently, though, the subject is worth exploring for England’s benefit because the figures are stark.

“Twenty years ago 69 per cent of all the players starting matches in the Premier League were qualified to play for England,” he said.

“Ten years later that figure was down to 38 per cent. Last season it was 32 per cent.

Dyke also gave the example of Wigan, who won the FA Cup with only one Englishman in their starting line-up.

The issue is not unique to England. The other major league also have diminishing numbers of home-grown players.

However, what England do not have are exports, with Roy Hodgson’s squad for Friday’s World Cup qualifier with Moldova drawn exclusively from the Premier League - with one exception in Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster.

“We are not Belgium or Holland where most of their top players are playing abroad or even France, Spain or Italy who are now frequently exporting significant numbers of players,” Dyke said.

“Almost uniquely amongst the top footballing nations, virtually all of our top players are playing in their home league, so if the best of our emerging young players can’t get a game here it means we do have a serious problem.”

 

The bloke is a Richard Cranium.

 

Tell him ..'we do apologise'... BUT...
We've tried the 'up and coming' English route (Whickham / Graham) to the tune of £13,000,000
That's why clubs are taking chances on foreigners IMO

 

He's right - we have bought foreign, we are managed by a foreigner, and we have a foreign owner

Obviously he would be happier if we brought back bob Murray and Steve Bruce, and also concentrated on buying the likes of Danny graham, Danny higinbotham, gregg halford and Michael chopra etc, but I don't think that would benefit safc

 

Exactly!! Shame some journo didn't make that point to him. Typical pontificating on his high horse with no grasp of reality.

 

We had ateam full of Englishman and none were selected for England what's he on about the idiot

 

English players need to be good for us to sign them

And any talented English players are extremely overpriced, 8m for Tom Ince is a prime example of teams wanting far too much for an English player

 

So, I heard on the radio today about his 'nine-year plan' to make England win the world cup. Then he uses SAFC as a prime example.

Ok, I'll take that on the chin.

Mr Dyke, would you please help us by providing money into our poor northen academy pweese?

I do hope it produces some home grown talent. He isn't wrong in what he says really, he simply hasn't used a balanced argument with regard to SAFC today vs our long-term plans.

 

We had Bent and Capello urged him to ****ing leave us.

So should we sign good English players so England don't play them?

 

Not forgetting super Kev, hardly got his chance did he, all the way up north.

English, over priced, and drink culture, like the rest of us, (not a total sweeping statement)

 

I'm going to go against the grain here and stick up for him.

He explicitly made a point - after referencing us and Newcastle - of saying that it isn't our 'fault', he's not pointing the finger at our clubs or criticising. He then goes on to examine a wide range of potential reasons. Like the ones that are mentioned above - the best young players are overpriced, instant demand for results, foreign players as better value, etc.

Excellent points TVI and 13thtop, though. No point us developing/buying those that are good enough for England if they won't get picked.

 

maybe the FA should set an example and give the England managers job to someone english all the time.

If they think its better to go for a foriegn manager he cant call the clubs for doing the same.

 

Dyke is the current non-executive Chairman of Brentford F.C., a position he has held since 20 January 2006. He was appointed as part of the club takeover by Bees United, the Brentford Supporters Trust.

Point 1 :

Brentford FC have a foreign manager - Uwe Rosler.

If he's so keen to promote English players and English managers why not have an English manager at his club?

Point 2 :

Cappello told Bent to leave us for more game time.

Point 3 :

SuperKev only played 8 times for England even as the only English Golden Boot winner.


I love my country and want my national team to do well but Sunderland comes first. Buying English isn't working - not our fault.

Rant over!

 

When they stop selecting players from the top 4 or 5 teams ill give a ****. You only need to play one good game for them and your in the squad. They throw in the odd exception when theyre struggling like Lambert being called up but they care for anymore than the top quarter of the top league.

Ross Barkley being called up ahead of Jack Colback. Raheem Sterling ahead of Adam Johnson.

 

Safc first England second for me for Dyke prem = money first , English players second , that's his real thought`s .

 

thing is, Italy, Germany, Spain is the same (even though a lot of Germany/Spain play abroad, which is what we lack imho) but it will be players from the top 4-6 clubs with a sprinkling of others. (and the ones playing abroad will be in the top teams in their respective leagues)

so its not just the FA and England that does it, and the reason is if you want to win anything, you have to use the best players at your disposal, and getting players from a struggling team just doesnt cut it (lets be honest, we havnt been a roaring success since we came up).

as for SKP without Quinn he just isnt the same player (still good but not 30 goals a season good), and Keegan was the manager ffs, he had no bloody chance anyway.

 

I've never heard the **** slag off Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City or the mags for signing all foreigners.

He can go **** himself

 

I posted something like this yesterday - I looked into Man City's last 12 signings - OK so 3 of them were English but they were Richard Wright, Jack Rodwell and Scott Sinclair - combined first team football for those 3 English players was in the region of 2 games last season wasn't it? Is THIS good for the Enlgish national side? Is this what you'd rather we do - TalkSport asked where all of our academy graduates are - we have Jack Colback and Jordan Henderson currently playing having come through the academy - this is also more than Chelsea, Man City and a lot of other premier league teams for professional players playing regularly in the Premier League. And we have other on loan in lower leagues too (and sold to other professional football clubs) - The reason we buy foregners is because Danny Graham costs £5m - Alfred N'Diaye cost £4.5 - I know we don't have Alfie any longer but who, out of those 2, is a better footballer??

 

It is money that is doing it, Man c, Chelsea etc CAN afford English players so why are all their players not British. Liverpool's team in the late 1970's early 80's were nearly all Irish or Scottish !. I reckon all European league teams should have 10 players born in that country, out of a squad of 23. The under 21 squad should be from 100 coming through academies each season, and all 20 league league clubs should have 5 of them in their squads, and played regularly. We have Jack colback and Connor whickham so that is a start, and why can't Jack not get into the England set up?, he does a great job for us at left back. Also if Johnson scored more goals like he did against M K Dons he would be playing tonight.
What happened to the limited number of foreign players in a team rule ?.

 

Aye, .