This is all frankly nonsense. The simple fact of the matter is that if 'Arry was the England manager then the positive mentality with Englishmen doing what Englishmen do best would filter through the whole of the English game. As for 100k cap, I dont reckon any of the U21s are on more than that anyway.
Hamps it isn't as simple as that! I referee kids football sometimes for my sins and I see at close hand that we are coaching our kids in completely the wrong way at a young age. We shouldn't be letting them play football on full size pitches at U12 level full stop! We should be teaching them the basics of ball control, passing, vision etc on small sided pitches until they are at least 16 years old. To expect our kids to play on full size pitches where they have to keep hoofing the ball to get any distance is just bonkers!
I think the problem is that the FA has no faith in English managers, so they resort to what i think is cheating by employing first a Swede now an Italian to do the most important job in English football, by doing this it has devalued the international game. Personally i'd rather lose with integrity than to win underhandedly that said the millions that has been paid to so called world class managers has achieved nothing apart from making the England job an attractive retirement plan to foreign managers looking for a final pay day.
One problem is that we can't play the tough 'english' way anymore because the refs whistle for the slightest foul in international football, hence the apparent need to copy a more european style. Pearce's substitutions were baffling at times. He took 4 strikers and never used the subs once.
Why do kids still play on full size pitches? From what I can see councils are struggling to look after pitches in recreational areas and at the same time more and more sports centres have smaller pitches, plus these goal centres are opening up everywhere, surely it would be easier for all under 16 clubs to be on 5 / 7 a side pitches? From my experience of growing up around ten years ago I would say the problem was not playing on 11 a side pitches but more the distractions and lack of support. I played with some naturally gifted players at high school but all of them got distracted by alcohol, drugs, women etc. Probably says more about the state of my school rather than football development!
Agree 100% JWM, I coach a local team at under 12s and I have always maintained that there should be a progression from 7 aside to 9 aside on 1/2 size pitch, finally to 11 aside games once they are 16 yrs old, but you would be shocked at how many coaches do not agree with this...!
