Foreign players not England's issue (ESPN article)

[DooooodekNo5]

I think it runs deeper than that though, I can't remember the last time I saw a kid playing footy in the street, it must be years. I imagine the best youngsters are picked up at school and then taken to academies to have all the life sucked out of them, but that's a very narrow net. Most lads probably stop playing altogether in their mid teens when there's the potential there for them to still develop into something, but half the time we'll never know.

 

Same here, playstation generation ain't it.

 

When i was a kid i played all the time with mates, wind, rain or shine, didn't matter we just wanted to play, we were lucky to have a massive field right next to our homes and there was always games going on, its nothing like it used to be nowadays.

 

What pisses me off when i look back is the schools done fuck all about the endless sporting talent that was in front of their eyes, the junior school football team i was in didn't lose for the 2 years we played, so many talented kids in that team, we played a Smiths Crisps 6 a side tournement, qualified from our county easily and went to Bristol to represent our county in the Southern England tournement and ended up being 1 point off in the group to represent South v North at Wembley before an England schoolboys international, remember seeing the kids we lost out to on the telly, still gutted about that 20 plus years later, ha.

 

Back to the schools, our football team clearly had many talented young players but none of us were ever sorted out to go and try with local clubs and their acadamies, im positive some would of made it but its allowed to slip through the net, once we moved up schools the teachers favorites used to get picked for the school team, i was a bastard so never got picked, same with a couple of mates even though we were amongst the better players in our year.

 

At my schools as with all there was endless talented kids at all sports but for whatever reasons the teachers never pushed or acted as a go between to get any of the kids to take it to the next step to at least give you the chance to see if you really could be good enough.

 

Anyway i don't see any difference now, its still the same, i like the Chinese style, teachers are told to be on the lookout for kids with certain characteristics that would suit certain sports, big hands, big feet for swimming and stuff like that and they act on it, not sure about the places these kids get sent to though to be relentlessly trained but the idea is a good one.

 

Think the point im trying to make is there isn't and never has been enough people/coaches/talent spotters out there to spot, grab, train and coach properly the limitless amount of talented young kids out there, it nearly all falls through the net, its right there everyday in all the schools! im sure many of those kids would love the opportunity to see how good they can be, i would of.

[Innova]

I would say it all boils down to 3 reasons, the lack of first team competitive action, the lack of youngsters playing in the streets and the fact that English youngsters get the stick whenever they are being heralded as the next big thing but do not perform.

 

Southampton have produced a number of quality English players so far, and the only reason would probably be linked to how they were in financial crisis and had to play youngsters who had talent, and not bring in players from other places. It's fair to say that they do not have the best youth development programs as most of the top clubs now, but yet they have has players like bale, Walcott, chamberlain and now shaw coming through their youth ranks, while other top flight teams would be embarrassed to compare.

 

Amount of kids playing street footy in the uk can't even compare to the numbers in the South America, brazil, Argentina and the others. Isn't that how talent is supposed to be spotted or self trained?

 

FYI, Blackpool charges a fee to play in the field in some public park if I have remembered correctly.

 

None of these points to trying to nurturing talent, and the fact that top clubs like city have only something like 2 English starters shows how dykes has a wee bit of a point.

[etho]

Same here, playstation generation ain't it.

 

When i was a kid i played all the time with mates, wind, rain or shine, didn't matter we just wanted to play, we were lucky to have a massive field right next to our homes and there was always games going on, its nothing like it used to be nowadays.

 

What pisses me off when i look back is the schools done fuck all about the endless sporting talent that was in front of their eyes, the junior school football team i was in didn't lose for the 2 years we played, so many talented kids in that team, we played a Smiths Crisps 6 a side tournement, qualified from our county easily and went to Bristol to represent our county in the Southern England tournement and ended up being 1 point off in the group to represent South v North at Wembley before an England schoolboys international, remember seeing the kids we lost out to on the telly, still gutted about that 20 plus years later, ha.

 

Back to the schools, our football team clearly had many talented young players but none of us were ever sorted out to go and try with local clubs and their acadamies, im positive some would of made it but its allowed to slip through the net, once we moved up schools the teachers favorites used to get picked for the school team, i was a bastard so never got picked, same with a couple of mates even though we were amongst the better players in our year.

 

At my schools as with all there was endless talented kids at all sports but for whatever reasons the teachers never pushed or acted as a go between to get any of the kids to take it to the next step to at least give you the chance to see if you really could be good enough.

 

Anyway i don't see any difference now, its still the same, i like the Chinese style, teachers are told to be on the lookout for kids with certain characteristics that would suit certain sports, big hands, big feet for swimming and stuff like that and they act on it, not sure about the places these kids get sent to though to be relentlessly trained but the idea is a good one.

 

Think the point im trying to make is there isn't and never has been enough people/coaches/talent spotters out there to spot, grab, train and coach properly the limitless amount of talented young kids out there, it nearly all falls through the net, its right there everyday in all the schools! im sure many of those kids would love the opportunity to see how good they can be, i would of.

 

Really good point, I've played with and against people at youth level who I am sure had the ability to go all the way, and they were neither given the opportunity or the coaching to do this, and fell by the wayside.

 

There's also a problem with the way kids are selected. Kids who have ability are discarded after a one hour trial which doesn't really get them the opportunity to showcase their talents.

[etho]

 

Southampton have produced a number of quality English players so far, and the only reason would probably be linked to how they were in financial crisis and had to play youngsters who had talent, and not bring in players from other places. It's fair to say that they do not have the best youth development programs as most of the top clubs now, but yet they have has players like bale, Walcott, chamberlain and now shaw coming through their youth ranks, while other top flight teams would be embarrassed to compare.

 

 

Southampton's youth development program and talent spotting is excellent, something a lot of clubs of their size should be aspiring to.

[Ranxerox]

one of your best yet Dave

[piscinin]

Southampton's youth development program and talent spotting is excellent, something a lot of clubs of their size should be aspiring to.

 

We did. We took their top guy, Malcolm Elias. Pissed him around for a little while and he gave up and buggered off to fulham.