Greg Dyke made some interesting points about English football last week. A major concern must be the recent failures of English sides in tournaments and the apparent lack of young English players coming through. Mr Dyke mentioned that the FA would be looking at several areas, including quotas over the coming months. I don't see a "magic bullet" to solve the problems - here is what I think we should do: ⢠Quotas â I appreciate that applying a quota rule to our leagues would contravene European law, but I think itâs essential. Our young talent is being blocked by cheap foreign imports. I would implement a rule saying that at least 6 players in the starting XI of each game must be qualified to play for England. The rule to be relaxed for Welsh sides to be English or Welsh. This would be applied to all English leagues and domestic cup competitions). ⢠Regard the U21, U20 tournaments as being important to the development of our young players and take the strongest team possible - they learn how to play tournament football etc ⢠All England teams (all age groups) to play in a similar way (Southgate now oversees all age groups) ⢠Reduce the size of the Premier League to 18 ( at the same time restructure League 2 and the Conference to be League 2 North and South) ⢠Implement a mid-winter break (and ban teams from playing overseas friendlies during that break) ⢠Restrict the number of overseas players entering our Academies (max of 2 per club per age group) ⢠Coaching emphasis on youngsters to concentrate on technical skills ⢠Change of culture in identifying good young players which currently seems to be about size, pace and power (Messi, Xavi and Iniesta are not big!!) ⢠Small sided games/pitches to be extended to older age groups - 13-14 years. This keeps the emphasis on technique, not about who can kick it the furthest. ⢠Youth coaches to be encouraged to play ALL kids not just the best ones (you donât get better by sitting on the bench). ⢠Winning is not the be all and end all at that age â more important to teach kids how to play and enjoy it - and let them have the freedom to try things and fail ⢠More Premiership money to be ploughed into grass roots youth football â perhaps a FA levy which the FA could distribute to youth set ups that meet itâs youth policy criteria? ⢠Work with the Government to enhance school sports and improve facilities ⢠Train our coaches better, including making senior badges harder to achieve Comments/ideas?
The problem is the Premier League They sign up all the young talent, every youngster wants to play for Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester. They then sit in the reserves developing only under the coaches and without the real experience that comes with match play while their parent club sign established often foreign players. A few break through and the rest are sent packing, it would be far more beneficial for these youngsters to develop their game at say Championship level. If they reach high levels and they then wish to join a Premier League team fine, at least the money gets drained through to the lower leagues and at least it remains in this country and our league structure. Look at Spurs, £85 million into the English game and it all ploughed straight back out to foreign teams. That is the problem, as for the answer I haven't one
I think you are right about the PL teams signing up young talent and then not playing it - they do get some out on loan, but not all (has Zaha played yet at Man U?)
Yep, foreign signings are the problem. Before the Prem England were competitive. Why? They played football the English way, up and at 'em, hundred miles an hour, fcuk tippy tappy ... match us or die. Now the game has become obsessed with Barcelona and Spain ... then Germany, and so on. Italy have never changed the way they play, and yet they always compete. Slow build up, solid defence, but that's their culture. Holland haven't changed, Germany haven't changed, Brazil and Argentina haven't changed. Sky has effectively killed England as an International force. I said after the 2010 debacle that in just ten years England will be on a par with Northern Ireland, simply because they have no development of talent at the highest level. Do Sky care? Do they fcuk!! They want the "best" players in the Prem so they can sell advertising and subscriptions. Let's see how long this farce can continue. Today the Championship is more representative of English football. Fantastic league that is mega competitive and exciting. I always ask one simple question - pick your England starting eleven, now discard those players and pick the next eleven. Exactly, now your England team looks absolutely rubbish, with no chance of winning a tournament. To be competitive you need a squad of 23 that is inter-changeable, all able to step up and contribute. I recall Germany being able to bring players like Podolski and Kroos off the bench, Spain players like Fabregas, David Villa, David Silva. England can't even look at the 'keeper position without shivering in fear. The standard at International level is tumbling year on year for England, and this will continue while Sky run the game and Prem clubs are fed obscene amounts of money they never earned. Easy option for clubs are to buy so called better foreign players, put them on stupid wages other European clubs can't afford to make sure they hoover up as many as possible, and fcuk the Academies that are there more as a gesture rather than a serious part of the future. No solution, because money rules right now over common sense. Sky needs to get out of football, clubs need to go back to funding themselves, players need to go back to sensible wages and have pride and desire to represent their country.
The sky money should be split as follows 45% to PL clubs, 25% Championship, 15% Div 1, 10% Div2 and balance to non league. Total bullshit giving the whole lot virtually to the PL
Its down to ratings. While the number of televised games is probably split between the leagues around those figures, the number of people who watch isn't. They are making most of their money from premier league matches. Of course, if they were putting more money into the lower leagues the standard would improve and they'd have more product to sell
GREED Why do the top prem clubs go all over the world to pick up 10-year old kids. Not saying they're peodo's but every one of those clubs have brought in very young kids, and got away with it by bending immigration rules. They give the father of said kid a job and home, and in most cases give them something they could never get back home. The Fabio Brazilian twins came over and the dad got a job driving a taxi and a house, but at least the kids actually made it as footballers, when the majority of these kids get cast off as they cannot make it. The academy's get filled with kids who show a bit of potential, but are they better than our kids? These top prem clubs can flash the cash and hope that 10% make it as the club can get huge revenues from selling the kids on later. The more time spent with foriegn kids means less of our get into top academies, and thats why places like TA should try and be a beacon again. You check out all the top prem clubs and you'll see kids from France, Spain, Brazil, Italy, All points Africa, Far East and Eatern Europe, with around 4 local kids.
TBH, as a Jock it suits me for england to perish like this, but hey! I like to get involved in constructive debate, so please take my comments at face value - it's not a wind up. My first thought was that it might be sensible for the PL to introduce a PL2, quite separate from the FL. Promotion/relegation would remain the same between the 2 leagues, but ONLY one team would be promoted/relegated from PL2 to FL1. This is the ONLY team that would get parachute payments, and at much reduced rates to the present. I would like the SKY money to be split 85/15 between the PL & FL. The FL can do whatever they like with the cash, but I'd like the PL to split their chunk 66/33. Why am I suggesting this? Well, I think it will bring the Championship skill level & finances closer to that of the PL. There is a huge gulf at the moment, and as things stand, as already mentioned, there are too many young players not getting a chance. This way, th chance is there for them to take, without dropping huge amounts of money. And let's be honest about this - money DOES talk. I have to be honest. If I was a young lad earning squillions in the reserves, I'd probably stay there rather than take my chances on a dodgy lower level club. That's all for now. Don't even know if this makes sense. I'm in Skopje, Macedonia in flat drinking beer from supermarket at about 40p a pint, and making the most of it!
The problem has many levels to it... 1) Foreign owners such as the Arabs at Citeh want the supposed 'best' managers in the world. They all go abroad for managers. The problem is that they've got no clue about young English players. They bring in foreign players, look at Spurs who has brought in 7 non English players. If you look at Liverpool they've brought in some good English talent. Southampton is another team that can be put in the same camp as Spurs. 2) Teams like Arsenal bringing through non-English talent and using loop holes to get around putting in English players doesn't help. I swear down that loop hole was put in to place for Arsenal and Chelsea. 3) Yeah the sky money doesn't help either nor does the inflated wages some players get. If you're going to get £250,000 in Britain it's a no brainier. We need to tighten up the loop hole in the 25 man team rule and we also need to try and create a foreign player quota even if they're from the EU.
Game has changed, and every element of it. There is no way any team can play "blood and guts" anymore. The pitches are no longer bogs nor grassless parched and bobbly, fitness and stamina is way higher in every player, the ball is lighter, and the laws don't allow you to scythe people down, or backpass. The game is no longer set up for anyone to just bully their way through, you have to play a proper skillful technically great game. It's just that we have not got out of the mentality of doing it the way we always did. That's why we're crap. On the other side, kids aren't allowed to go out and play anymore. Their football is in the sterile environment of "coached" clubs, instead of in the streets with no space forcing you to learn ball control, peripheral vision, passing and agility. Futsal is all well and good, but not in the environment of the current "coached" game. Our kids in general lack the passion anymore. They are forced to attain higher school achievements and are fed with dreams of working in the banking sector. In the past, the game was the working man's dream, and the one thing many kids would work at, 24 hours a day, because they had nothing else. Attainment is better for society as a whole, but don't expect our kids to develop the skills needed in football. That's one reason why kids coming out of Africa and other developing countries are technically better than ours.
Very simple foreign players to no more than 2 per team this will then eneable home grown talent to develope
I thought that Milner and Walcott were useless and gave no service to Lambert whatsoever a bit like Smith receives from our wide playersand Wiltshire goes to ground far to easy for me Walker is not the answer at right back Byram will easily take his place soon so four place sup for grabs
Witshire earns around £90k per week or over £4.5m per year and he can't pass a ball any better than me. lampard is over the hill and gets paid £200k per week or £10.5m per year fookin hell. We are a waste of space and every team we play knows how much our boys get paid and want to rip us apart and you cant blame them. Overpaid arrogant bastards and thats exactly why the jocks also like to play us. Heart can only get you so far, because skill and great tactics is the way ahead. I know Hodgson is revered around the world as a coach, but why can't hea coach our boys? probably because they think they know best Under 21 should be playing in the world cup if we qualify and the majority of the senior squads need binning
Don't think you can get at Southampton, yes they signed a few foreigners but the side that played on the opening day had 6 english players starting, 4 of which were academy products. If anything they're one of the few Premiership sides who do actually play promising, young english players.
Pretty much all of you above are laying a lot of the blame onto Sky and Murdoch....but i would lay any amount of cash that pretty much all of you subscribe to, or have subscribed in the past to Sky Sports to watch their live games. Now, i agree with pretty much everything that has been said above, from limiting the amount of foreigners in our teams to having a wage cap (not too sure if it was mentioned, but it is something i agree with) - but until the day when the everyday punter like you and me stands up to Sky (and now BT) and stops subscribing to their channels, then this ridiculous state of affairs will keep continuing. It's very hypocritical to lay the blame on Sky, especially when we actually have the control.
The people saying to many foreigners in England are talking crap, in my opinion. If anything more English players playing overseas would be more beneficial. Coaches aren't to great in England, the great white messiah, ex player crap. The coaches need to study more, and people need to stop thinking "he was a great player, he will be a great coach". If you would like more diverse opinions other than casual racism causing the downfall to England football team I recommend: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-England-Lose-phenomena-explained/dp/0007301111
