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. 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 ⢠All England teams (all age groups) to play in a similar way ⢠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 ⢠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 ⢠Train our coaches better, including making senior badges harder to achieve
The only thing which will really make a change, imo, is if fans in England start placing the national team alongside their club side. The majority of the clubs respond to their fans as they are the customers and main suppliers of money, and even ones like Chelsea and City which don't really need to care about the fans would probably listen to them (tho' the Rafa saga indicates otherwise). But most fans in England are too willing and even happy to see their side dump English talent in favour of the next foreign import. The bigger the club, the happier the fans are to accept foreigners - Liverpool fans didn't peep when Shelvey and Spearing went from being the next big things to the next big nothings, Arsenal fans are proud of their academy full of foreign youngsters, and plenty of Utd fans want to see Young, Cleverley and Welbeck out for people with fancier names. It's even worse for fans of other clubs - read any of the BBC live texts or tweets and you find fans of other clubs almost gleeful when Welbeck or Hart or any decent English players who represent other clubs have a bad game. Until our fans start being like the Spanish fans and embracing English players first and foremost, we'll never measure up. Even at Real, with perhaps the lowest number of Spanish players in their squad, fans idolise players like Casillas even when they have bad periods, keep players like Nacho and Morata who don't quite make the grade but still stay with the club, and spend massive amounts on young Spanish talent like Isco and Illaramendi rather than looking abroad for cheaper options. When's the last time Chelsea, City, Arsenal or Utd spent £25-30m plus on a top English player? The only big money transfers (more than £15m) of English players by top English clubs in recent years were Jones, Young, Carrick, Rooney, Milner, Lescott and SWP, and of those Lescott and SWP were dumped pretty much as soon as their clubs could find a higher profile foreign player. And most fans don't breathe a whisper when this happens, they're too busy hero worshipping the foreign import who took the place of the Englishman. It seems to be a very English thing - all English players who go abroad to Spain or Italy say how hard it is for them to be accepted by the fans who prefer local players. Yet the opposite is true in England - all a foreign player usually has to do is a few stepovers and score a few goals and fans love them unconditionally, whilst happily ridiculing English players and wanting them to fail. Then they wonder why English players usually do fail.
This. I dont even watch the games anymore. I watch the tournaments, but mostly for the other teams that actually entertain (Spain, Germany, Netherlands).
This has two sides to it. Migrants to England are often surprised by how quickly you can be accepted as English. Italy and Spain are very different on this one, and Germany ? You can be born in Germany like Mesut Ozul, have 20 German passports and still be called a Turk. This is the other side of the coin and, on reflection, I'd rather have it our way. If you really want to change English football then start at the top ie. with club ownership, and try to find ways of getting the fans more involved.
I'd certainly restrict non-EU imports as at least this is realistically doable. Probably not a huge impact but it would be a start. What happened to having to play 75% of your country's recent internationals? If there is any way to stop the big teams hoarding any toddler who can demonstrate an ability to kick a football it would be good too. How many excellent teenagers are bought by Spurs and Chelsea especially only to never be seen again?
Aye, this is true. Like I said, it's an English thing - a more open and less nationalistic society means less priority given to English footballers. Not sure how fan ownership will make things any different for the English national side tho'. Fan ownership would just increase the tendency to go for the big names over and above the young players, just like Real's annual publicity contest over which potential president can promise the biggest foreign signing.
I don't think it's just a question of not producing World class players any more, because this doesn't explain why we have struggled against teams like Algeria and the U.S.A. at recent competitions (teams made up of French and English 2nd level players). Our players, though not World beaters, simply make a regular habit of not turning up for major events - and, of getting worse during the course of tournaments. I can't offer any explanations for this. But one thing I would change (and this may ruffle a few feathers), and that is that dirge of a national anthem of ours. Other countries have anthems which players and fans can actually sing, but I can't sing ours and I suspect some of the players can't either. I do not want her `reigning over us`and am always glad when it's over ! In contrast other countries have anthems which function like a rallying call which lifts crowd and players alike - whereas ours is divisive. O.k. Rant over !
Me too. Which is a shame. I recall being very excited about 86, disappointed in 88, gutted in 90, disappointed in 92, quite enjoyed 94, loved 96, gutted in 98 and completely apathetic ever since. I was no Beckham lover but I thought the persecution of the lad after 98 was disgusting and it started a trend with players from the bigger clubs. I did go to the World Cup in 2006 because we were gifted some tickets, England v Paraguay. It was a **** game but the Germans were fantastic hosts. Lovely party atmosphere throughout our visit until around 11pm of game day. England fans + too much beer = ****ing embarrassing. My boy is a quarter Scottish through his mam. His grandad and uncle love watching the Jocks and haven't ever felt the need to get a tattoo to prove it. I woudn't object to my boy choosing Scotland as his national team (he's only a quarter English through me so it would be a fair choice!).
How about clubs with big youth systems like ours starting B teams that will play in the lower leagues? Obviously, the teams ought to be comprised of U21 or U23 players, which means highly likely, the most of them will be English players. I also like the idea of a national youth academy which will produce players until a certain age, say 18, after which they can go and join a professional club. This way, they will be more familiar with a lot of players when they turn up for the national team.
Interesting points by most - even ones who disagree with my points For the extreme "isolationist's" among you - remember that over 50% of people who pay Sky for satellite dishes support teams in the Football League.
Didn't feel the need to start a new thread but I found this article interesting http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24015339 Mainly because of this line in it "The 49-year-old was the third longest-serving manager in English football, having taken charge late in 2008." And then I looked up this http://www.leaguemanagers.com/managers/longest-current.html They don't get much time at the helm do they?!
Who is the best player in the league? My short list (last year) would have been Bale, RVP and Suarez (possibly in that order)
On the basis of current World Cup qualifying campaigns, its the whole British football that needs working on.
