Having watched the latest England effort (in a long line of efforts back to 1953) the need for radical change to coaching of English players seems obvious. I hope Gus changes the Academy staff at S.A.F.C. And puts our Club at the forefront of developing technically gifted players. Success for Sunderland by playing a non-English game might also open a few eyes at the F.A.
I think for our Academy to succeed no management needs to be hired. I have no faith in Kevin Ball. If you have a look at the past players who have progressed and your looking at Henderson and Colback (both in my opinion aren't THAT good). Poyet needs to look at ways to improve the system, improve our youngsters.
The academy at SAFC doesn't produce hardly anything, it's like it's being run by dinosaurs. They get a few coming through who look like they may have potential, then one way or another, it goes tits up for them.
I heard some kid called Liam Agnew has been promoted to the first team. Anybody heard much about him??
I'd like to know where the Academy coaches look for talent apart from the NE.. does SAFC have links to proven clubs within the region? if so who is on the lookout? Do we have coaches scouting the whole England & abroad, I know over here for the NRL clubs have feeder teams in the second tier comps and juniours who provide pathways to the elite.. this has proven great success over the years because clubs have been able to tap into regions and juniour clubs through devolopment and education & have reaped the rewards.. I know rugby league is a diff sport but devolopment stays the same throughout.
If you look at Gus's comments when he said he signed the new contract, part of his mission is to address the academy as it just aint doing its job...
I am aware of that mate, just wondering if anyone on here had any knowledge of coaches, scouts, clubs etc..
Naturally gifted players will always rise to the top, the FA aren't the only ones to blame for grass roots being so poor at the minute. You could put an equal amount of blame on any of the below that weren't so prevalent when the likes of Rooney and Gerrard were growing up with nothing to do: Red Tape Government ****ers who make rules and stop kids having any sort of outdoor fun without wearing a full American football outfit in school. Apple Nintendo Sony Microsoft Internet Media Glorified *****philia scaremongering All those things keep kids off streets, where every child footballer discovers their love for the game against a wall or a garage door.
Sad fact is over here in juniour sport it's who you know, not what you know.. gaming is a choice for the parent, if their keen for their children to devolop through sports then they'll keep them involved week in week out.. times have changed though, you cant even smack a kid without being taken to court.. i dont belive in belting children, ( i have a 2yr old daughter) but a lil smack on the bottom at times to settle them down should be ok.. Could technology be hurting our future? Bloody oath.
Parkies man, used to chase us for miles, I bet they're all retired marathon runners. I bet they don't even exist nowadays, it'll all be CCTV and asbos all round. Foreign *****s sat in hutches watching kids playing on the swings on his monitor for £2 an hour pay.
There'll be an argument for an against that would be inconclusive. For UK sports, I'd say certainly, unless Call of Duty ever becomes a recognised spectator sport!
When I was a kid, there were about 3 fields with a "No ball games by children over primary school age sign" and about 40 parks (patches of grass anyhow) where we could go for a game of 46 a side! I went around with my son (9) to my old park a few months ago - it's a housing estate. So are about 15 of the others. The rest have the no ball games sign on. I played football with him on one of the others and a local came out and said "Can't you read the sign" and I said "Yes I can - I am not a child over primary school age and neither is my son" - they phoned the f**king police who came to me and said "The sign states no ball games" to which I replied "The sign actually reads no ball games for children over primary school age" - he replied "Are you not over primary school age?" to whyich I replied "Yes but I'm not a child" and he threatened to arrest me for "Breach of the peace" FFS!
