It is a worthy parallel. As a football nation is it not realistic to feel England with all its advantages should be on a more even level with Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Germany, Holland and in recent decades, France and Spain? I do not think so.
As a football nation yes. On population (which is what the point was)? No. Of course it's a logical metric but success in football has never been representative of population.
With the numbers of players England has at all levels playing football, a football playing populace. England should be doing better. A point I have laboured is that England per capita, per playing population from its grass roots up has less coaches than its competitors in Europe. Often far less. A anomaly that leads to failure.
is"nt it all about the quality of those coaches? a few years ago i took my son to after school football with a coach from a local club ( no names mentioned, ) but he had a palace track suit on, he threw a pile of bibs at 30 + 9-10 year olds with half a dozen under inflated balls, and that was pretty mutch it other than blowing a whisttle when he looked up from his mobile phone, bloody disgracefull, needless to say we didnt go again.
is"nt it all about the quality of those coaches? Yes. In Spain, a country with more coaches per capita than England standards are regulated. In England standards are not.
Just to remind you all, Wales has a population of 3 million and is rugby dominated in schools. But we're winning 3-0 just saying like
Your new found success is due almost exclusively to Gareth Bale, and its longevity is tied to his fitness and length of career. If you don't have the world class players to make a difference then nothing will work. Wales might begin to turn out a string of world class players one after the other, like Germany or Italy - I don't know. But just in case, enjoy it while it lasts
As to class players we've produced a few of them, Giggs, Rush, Speed and so on. We've been fortunate to have Bale, Ramsey and the rest at the right time. The English do produce world class players and should be world beaters, but it don't work like that. It's not all about individuals it's team work. England have good players but they don't have a team. Once you've a manager to install that it will always flatter to deceive. Also the fans expectations are too high, not once have I read or heard anyone say "we drew against Serbia, in the Euro's and then beat them at their place" it's all gloom and doom.
First sentence, of course that's correct but that wasn't the original point. As for the second part, this is probably the major reason why England are so poor in comparison to our 'equivalent' (however that's measured) nations. I seem to remember when Capello resigned Spain has thousands of coaches qualified to UEFA A standard (or something like that), whereas we had less than a hundred.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/jun/01/football-coach-shortage-england The article is old, but only marginal improvement has been made. There are effectively five levels of coach. Uefa A and pro licences will take thousands of £'s and years to realistically achieve. At level 2 England has less coaches per capita than Iceland, or Germany or Italy and on this goes.
We likely would see difference if the choice was better == more playing top level football == Prem lge or top 20 teams in Europe! partly correct me thinks .. Wales has 2 or 3 excellent players 4 or 5 v good players and half a dozen or so good players ... who in the Iceland squad could we say were world class... at the moment!
Yes. There is a degree of hypothetical about this. We would see a difference if a national coaching strategy and framework was introduced. Spain has it philosophies on football e,g. fidelity concept. The fundamental idea is to keep the % of indigenous players in XI’s high by producing the highest number of highly technical Spanish young players they can. There is that choice. That is a national strategy adhered to by pro clubs and junior clubs from grass roots up.
The one by-product of Brexit is that we could introduce quotas - for example a minimum of 5 English players in every starting XI in the Premier League - with the number rising as you go down the pyramid (e.g 6 in the Championship) 5 is a number I have plucked from thin air - it could be more or less In theory the better quality overseas players would still be here but would give young English players a chance. A minimum of 5 means 100 playing in the EPL each week
It was possible to introduce quotas before under Eufa guidelines. The Spanish FA did this. They were loose and soon the EPL bent them. Fabregas according to the EPL was British.
For me, watching England has got easier rather than more painful. I no longer suffer like I used to when they inevitably get knocked out of a tournament, or play badly against a team they are supposed to thrash, because my expectations are now so low nothing surprises me. I still watch them - as I watch most football when its televised - and I do hope that they win, but when the inevitable happens I just shrug and carry on.
Yes, watched the Iceland game and saw it as an opportunity to do something given the abject and embarrassing performance- Hodgson was replaced but otherwise life goes on.
As for the hooligans - there is no place for that behaviour in any football, but in particular with England - as I get tarred with their brush too. It's nowhere near as bad as it was in the 1970s - and some countries' fans are far worse than ours - look at Russia for example - or the Turks, but it still shames me when it happens - just like it does when some of our own city fans get involved in trouble. One interesting thing though; a friend of mine was in Charleroi when there was all the trouble a few years ago. He was with a bunch of mates drinking in a bar in one of the side streets when a gang of blokes marched past wearing England tops. When he and his mates tried to engage with them, they were all speaking German (apparently - my mate is no linguist - but it definitely was NOT English). Anyway, the result was those shameful pictures of 'England' fans hurling chairs about with water cannon being fired. This year it was the Russians who singled out England fans. I'm not saying the England fans are all saints - they are far from it, but when you are suddenly attacked you have no choice but to fight back. I have only had one horrible experience in my life so far - not football related; I was in the Little Thatch restaurant in Knowle when it kicked off - it was a tsunami of fighting that spread through the place and swallowed up everyone and everything - like a movie with chairs and tables flying around. We eventually managed to get out by going behind the bar and into the car park through the kitchen. It was horrible - one bloke was glassed - very messy - but my point is; if the police (or media) had arrived earlier they would have seen me caught up in it and I probably would have been arrested along with the others and labelled a thug. I was just having a drink with the missus and a couple of friends. I have not been back to the Little Thatch.
