Jump to content
  • Sign up for free and receive a month's subscription

    You are viewing this page as a guest. That means you are either a member who has not logged in, or you have not yet registered with us. Signing up for an account only takes a minute and it means you will no longer see this annoying box! It will also allow you to get involved with our friendly(ish!) community and take part in the discussions on our forums. And because we're feeling generous, if you sign up for a free account we will give you a month's free trial access to our subscriber only content with no obligation to commit. Register an account and then send a private message to @dave u and he'll hook you up with a subscription.

Tom Humphries Article on the state of English football


KevieG
 Share

Recommended Posts

Dunno is this has been posted but it's really an excellent piece and well worth a read.

 

Fewer chances for younger talent in a culture of fear - The Irish Times - Tue, Jun 29, 2010

 

FOCUS: ENGLAND'S EXIT: SO WHAT will England do? Change the tip of the pyramid and sack Fabio Capello, or examine the entire structure which lies underneath and see if it could serve Capello better?

 

Interestingly, England may have come to a crossroads with this World Cup. Most polls being run in the thoughtful end of the English newspaper market had football followers voting to retain Capello. Undoubtedly he made mistakes before and in South Africa, but he draws from the shallow end of a quite unhealthy football pool. English football has failed Fabio more than Fabio has failed English football.

 

Imagine, for instance, that you are Sam Hutchinson. Nobody has heard of you but you are in your late teens and quite a talented defender. Been with Chelsea since you were a nipper. England Under-19s, England Under-21s. All good. A few injury problems over the last year or two but you are still part of the cream of the crop.

 

Nineteen years old and you have made just a couple of first team appearances. So should you be picking out your Ferarri? Should you be alerting MTV that they might want to be featuring your crib in a year or so? Will you place an ad in the personal columns of Wag Weekly ?

 

Probably not, because the downside of playing in the so-called greatest league in the world is that the debt-ridden corporation you turn out for is unlikely to take a chance on you when it has a shedload of expensively acquired foreign talent ahead of you in the queue. Look around you son. The last home-grown player to make it at Chelsea was John Terry.

 

Or you could be Kieran Gibbs at Arsenal. Tipped for greatness, but not before Gael Clichy breaks a leg and Arsenal can’t find an established international to replace him in a hurry. Then you might get the 20 games or so needed to bed yourself in.

 

Now imagine your name is Thomas Mueller and you are a few months older than Sam Hutchinson. And you are at the World Cup. You came to Bayern Munich as part of a youth scheme which specialises in gathering in players from Munich and its environs. Six of the current first team are from the city or just outside.

 

You came through one of the club’s talent weekends when up to 500 local kids will play in street league-style games while coaches look for those with natural technique and an understanding of movement.

 

They raised you to play within the club’s 4-3-3 system and coached you how to play in a couple of different positions. Coming through the system you trained at the same venue with the senior side, played a season in Liga 3 for Bayern’s second team and continued on stream.

 

You played 52 first team games for Bayern last year, yet another product of a youth system which has produced Thomas Hitzlsperger, Philip Lahm, Bastien Schweinsteiger, Piotr Trochowski, Andrea Ottle, Toni Kroos and Holger Badstuber, as well as up-coming phenomenons such as David Alaba, the youngest ever Austrian international, and Diego Contento.

 

By the way, 52 games Thomas? Shouldn’t you be as exhausted as the English lads? How come you covered 8,296 metres in the course of the Ghana game then? And just short of that in each game since? What’s the matter with you? You play in a league with a smattering of foreign talent but one which draws excellent crowds and depends on local players. You play for a club which turns a profit, owns 80 per cent of it’s shares (Adidas and Audi own about 10 per cent each ) and which is run by football men like Uli Hoeness and Karl Heinz Rummenigge. And this World Cup is becoming your stage.

 

In those two stories lies England’s football problem, a problem which having a manager who is paid twice as much as the next best paid manager at the World Cup cannot solve.

 

The quality end of the Premier League is the place where English players need to be if they are to thrive and develop properly. The top end of the Premier League, however, is a festering pile of debt-ridden clubs hooked on foreign talent and desperate to keep their lips close to the teat of Champions League action.

 

The English influence on its own league decreases annually.

 

The so-called golden generation of English players who travel home from South Africa in what is by now a familiar gown of ignominy are victims of a football culture which leaves them under-prepared for the game at the highest level and a media culture which overhypes them.

 

The Premier League, with its 100mph game and its dire financial management, is a poor learning ground at the best of times. Two-thirds of the clubs live in fear of the financial calamity that is relegation; the rest live in fear of the tsunami which is failure to qualify for Europe. In a culture of fear and overspending, managers take fewer and fewer chances on what young talent they do produce.

 

We know that well looking in from an Irish perspective. Gifted player after gifted player has been denied the break and the time they needed. Richie Partridge was once the next big thing at Anfield. He played one senior game for the club, a 7-0 win over Stoke City. Not enough to earn a second game. Willo Flood in his Man City days, Graham Barrett and later Anthony Stokes at Arsenal. Liam Miller when he moved to Manchester United. The list is endless.

 

Now with England’s golden generation trooping off into the sunset the pool of youngsters to replace them is shallow and (like Theo Walcott with England) mistrusted within a culture of damage limitation. Where else would you get a player like Michael Dawson, 26 and still uncapped and yet being talked about in some circles as the England captain for 2014?

 

English clubs play the ball so quick and with such an air of desperation that players bred on the old British virtues of heart and bravery struggle when the game is slowed down and things become more cerebral.

 

Before Sunday’s cruel dressing down by the Germans England had demonstrated a worrying tendency to give the ball away unnecessarily. The Fifa stats for the competition confirm this to be more than just a vague impression. For instance, while most of the German players maintained at least an 80 per cent completion rate for their passes through their four games to date (with Per Mertesacker up there with 86 per cent), a figure as central to England’s hopes as Steven Gerrard had a 64 per cent completion rate out of 250 passes: that is, he gave the ball away 90 times in the course of four games. John Terry was the only English player even to hit the 80 per cent mark.

 

When you start with such a level of technical handicap that your star midfielder gives the ball away one in every three times he gets it things are all uphill from there. Incidentally, Toni Kroos, the young German, has had limited exposure so far but is a statistical oddity: he has a 100 per cent completion across the board.

 

The English game is like the Wall Street of two, three years ago: storied, the brand leader at what it does but on the brink of collapse because all its castles are built in the air.

 

It would be no harm to be able to afford fewer and fewer €170,000-a-week foreign stars, no bad thing to legislate for the phasing out of mass debts, a good idea to look at ownership issues. It’s necessary to look at the national coaching policy with the aim of producing less muscle and more imagination. The dearth of truly creative players coming through England’s youth academies is alarming. It can’t be there aren’t kids with creativity in them; just, in a culture of fear, the risk has to be taken out of the football and the kid must be strait-jacketed into a system.

 

The scant dividend of a palsied football culture was what England experienced in the last four games, the shuddering realisation that technically they were no better than the best of the weakest of the teams they faced. Fabio Capello can’t change that, he can only work with what he is given.

 

The task is to change the cloth and not the tailor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bollocks.

 

England had enough talent to top their group and get further than the last 16 in the World Cup.

 

Terry, Ferdinand, Johnson, Lampard, Rooney, Gerrard etc are top, top players who compete for the biggest trophies in Europe for their clubs and are keys parts of their teams.

 

Everytime England disappoints people look at grassroots and blame too many foreign players in the league. It is rubbish, the top English players are still coming through, the problem is Capello couldn't get the best out of the players.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bollocks.

 

England had enough talent to top their group and get further than the last 16 in the World Cup.

 

Terry, Ferdinand, Johnson, Lampard, Rooney, Gerrard etc are top, top players who compete for the biggest trophies in Europe for their clubs and are keys parts of their teams.

 

Everytime England disappoints people look at grassroots and blame too many foreign players in the league. It is rubbish, the top English players are still coming through, the problem is Capello couldn't get the best out of the players.

 

Jamie? is that you?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hooked on foreign talent is pure bullshit. People are confusing cause with effect. English players aren't shit because there are so many foreigners, there are so many foreigners because English players are shit.

 

The academy system is a complete and total sham and should be scrapped and rebuilt tomorrow. Until it is the situation will only get worse and worse.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hooked on foreign talent is pure bullshit. People are confusing cause with effect. English players aren't shit because there are so many foreigners, there are so many foreigners because English players are shit.

 

The academy system is a complete and total sham and should be scrapped and rebuilt tomorrow. Until it is the situation will only get worse and worse.

 

I think you're misrepresenting his point. He's not saying that English players are shit because of foreign players. He's saying that English players don't get a chance to shine because clubs rely too heavily on foreign players.

 

I think he makes a very good point. Do you believe that under Rafa all our youngsters who deserved a decent chance got that chance? If you do I think you'd be in the minority.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you're misrepresenting his point. He's not saying that English players are shit because of foreign players. He's saying that English players don't get a chance to shine because clubs rely too heavily on foreign players.

 

I think he makes a very good point. Do you believe that under Rafa all our youngsters who deserved a decent chance got that chance? If you do I think you'd be in the minority.

 

No I think Maldini is right. What he's saying, I think, is it's not primarily the fault of the first team coach for not choosing the players. The fault lies with an academy and reserves system that doesn't prepare players for the type of football that those managers will play.

 

The development system is not getting the most out of the players. It's been the case for years, everyone in the games knows it, the FA and the premier league are too wrapped up in their self-interests though to put together a scheme like the ones which have been working for years and years in countries like Germany, Spain etc.

 

As Maldini says the spotlight is being shone in the wrong place, it confuses the issue and let's the real culprits off the hook. And where does that lead you? Look at the reserves this year. They finally revamp it and what 1 extra game. 19 games isn't enough to bridge the gap between youth football and CL level football. But because they're operating in a buffer zone, they get away with avoiding the hard issues around development.

 

BTW Rafa gave plenty of chances to youngsters. There was no-one in our reserves who deserved a chance that didn't get it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know Steve Heighway isn't everyones cup of tea but he was on SkySports earlier and he suggested that the price paid for an attractive successful premier league may precipitate a weaker national team. Although I wonder what they mean by the word successful and attractive.

 

I assume they mean to make shed loads of money via TV rights etc. He only touched on this briefly as I am sure he realised as he was paid by Sky for the interview it wouldn't be too wise to go down that road (he was there to discuss Roy Hodgson and also Englands demise).

 

Interestingly the South American leagues are probably what wouldn't be deemed successful by the money men in England but they have plenty of talent so again depends how you determine success.

 

Anyone who watches their qualifying rounds would vouch for this so it is no surprise to see their teams performing well. Unless you are some of the commentators and English pundits who have a tendency to patronise these nations.

 

I agree with the underlying point of the article that due to the obsession to make money the knock-on effect is clubs are hindering the development of youngsters. Accordingly though why do these youngsters not go overseas and look for chances it is almost like people expect rather than try and experience/explore every opportunity.

 

You only have to look at a player like Pongolle and many other

youngsters from overseas who have been prepared to travel sometimes to three or four country's.

 

Heighway rightly pointed out the clubs have no need to ensure the talent is coming through for the national game. This is due to the ownership of clubs by those who have no affinity to the English game or an affinity to make money from the club. The problem happened a long time ago though to do with who can buy and sell clubs. I think in Germany and other country's they have legislation written preventing what has happened in the British game.

 

I do think there is talent in the English game but a lot of young players are taking the money and sitting on the bench whilst watching their careers disappear and stagnating. This again is money related however I guess if you are at that age being offered money that can make you and your familys future brighter it is very hard to turn down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you're misrepresenting his point. He's not saying that English players are shit because of foreign players. He's saying that English players don't get a chance to shine because clubs rely too heavily on foreign players.

 

I think he makes a very good point. Do you believe that under Rafa all our youngsters who deserved a decent chance got that chance? If you do I think you'd be in the minority.

 

Yeah because the majority are always right...who do you think should have been given a chance?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you're misrepresenting his point. He's not saying that English players are shit because of foreign players. He's saying that English players don't get a chance to shine because clubs rely too heavily on foreign players.

 

I think he makes a very good point. Do you believe that under Rafa all our youngsters who deserved a decent chance got that chance? If you do I think you'd be in the minority.

 

If they aren't good enough in training why should they be given chances in games?

 

If you had to choose between starting Lucas before Spearing, which would you start? You wouldn't pick a player just because he's English. If he's shit, he's shit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BBC Sport - Football - World Cup 2010: Mueller blames England 'alpha males'

 

Germany's two-goal hero Thomas Mueller believes the "alpha-male" culture in the England team will hinder their chances of becoming successful.

 

Mueller scored twice for Germany in their 4-1 win over England on Sunday in the last-16 stage of the World Cup.

 

"It is difficult to have so many 'alpha males' and have them row in the same direction," said the 20-year-old.

 

"You don't only need chiefs, you also need a few Indians. You need people who are willing to do the hard work."

 

He added: "It may be a problem with England that players are simply not mentally prepared to go that extra mile for their team-mates."

 

Mueller has it exactly right. These players are treated like raylty by the press and are stars at their clubs. Players like John Terry think they are heroes, rushing forward like an idiot, when he should be putting a full shift in to do his job.

 

All these people saying that the English players lack technical ability don't know what they are talking about. What they need is the right balance of flair and graft. Lampard and Barry in midfield would never work.

 

The English player will not sacrifice the opportunity of personal glory for the good of the team. A German of 20 yrs of age has more tactical nouse and maturity than a veteran like "JT".

 

The most suprising thing to me was that a manager with Capello's strength of character folded that easily under media scrutiny. He had a formation that worked with Heskey bringing the midfielders into play. A couple of bad performances and Heskey was out and Defoe in. Now, I don't think Heskey should have been in the team to begin with, but a 442 should have a forward that can hold up the ball and a quick forward. The fact is is that Rooney should have been dropped as he was the worst forward on the field. Capello just did not have the nerve to do it.

If I were England I'd go for Dunga. Just love the cut of the man's jib. He absolutely defies the press and puts out the team he wants. Left Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Adriano at home as well as two young stars that everyone wanted to go. Plays with three central midfielders. He may have made the wrong decisions but he has the conviction to stick with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rubbish article

 

 

There are plenty of English players playing for arguably the best British managers currently at Spurs and Villa. If anything, THATS your testing ground to see if this Bayern Munich style gathering of local talent under top local managers work

 

Yes, the top sides are "hooked" on foreign imports. However, if anything, Bayern's and Germany's so called success is overstated. Why is it Bayern's two best players are Robben and Ribery?

 

Any top club side IMO will beat the German national team in best of 3 matches. In fact, the recent Champions league final was between this much lauded Munich team against Inter, who (I think) played with NO locals in their first 11

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While I think that the article is exaggerated for effect, I believe that one of the ponts is correct- the Premier League is overblown and the walls are going to come crashing down around it sooner rather than later.

 

And the style of football deployed by Germany- as well as their use of young players- is lightyears ahead of England. The thrust of the article is quite good, but some of the particulars are not as right as he is making out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another perspective, this time from Brian Moore for a cross-sport perspective. Can't imagine rubgy players crumbling in the same effete manner as the footballers did.

 

 

World Cup 2010: English football has only itself to blame for its failings

Much of the anger accompanying the four-yearly whinge about the state of English international football is caused by the knowledge that whatever is said, nothing will be done to address the real problems.

 

 

By Brian Moore

Published: 7:00AM BST 01 Jul 2010

 

 

These are legion and are not limited to those arising directly out of the World Cup failure.

 

It is convenient that there is a foreigner, Fabio Capello, to blame. Doesn't know the English psyche; can't understand modern tactics; where is his international pedigree?

 

He is culpable, apparently, because he assumed grown men would be able to prepare for the most important tournament of their lives without complaining of boredom.

 

He foolishly supposed that feted players would be able to perform basic skills and appreciate simple tactical issues.

 

It will be interesting to see what the players have to say. Will they be honest and accept most of the blame or will they blame Capello?

 

Brutal self-assessment is one hallmark of the true competitor; are they sufficiently professional to endure such a searching examination?

 

Myriad solutions has been proffered, but while an English manager, 4-5-1 and a winter break might help, they will not solve the problems. The long-delayed national academy is needed, but football still ignores the value of insisting that its young players receive and achieve a proper education.

 

Other countries, including Australia and France, have specialist schools and academies for many sports, ensuring their students receive good coaching and leave with genuine qualifications.

 

If football is serious about addressing the whole of a young player's development it should embrace the opportunity afforded in the new Academies Bill and create its own specialist schools.

 

Not only would this create better professionals, it would greatly assist the 99 per cent of kids who do not make it and who are thrown on to the scrap heap.

 

Many commentators have called for more football people to be in power at the Football Association, though they do not define what constitutes such a person.

 

But how many professional or former players genuinely want to spend their time in committee meetings? How many have the nous to succeed as administrators?

 

There is also the attitude of present and recently retired players to coaching. How often is it heard, "You can't teach me anything in a classroom". Yes, you can; you can teach how to teach, which is all that coaching is.

 

Possessing technical knowledge is useless if you cannot transmit it effectively and the pitch is one place where you cannot learn to do this.

 

To this can be added football's dismissal of almost anything proposed by anyone not considered an insider. Ideas and practices from other sports are dismissed without proper thought, and comments, even when apposite, are dispatched with idiotic phrases such as, "What do you know about football?" and "Show us your medals".

 

Retrospective citing; zero tolerance of abuse to officials; the 10-yard advancement of free kicks – all have been ignored. Given this wilful blindness, it is unsurprising that other sports say of football's difficulties: it is your own fault.

 

Consider the treatment, even the language, used against the few individuals brave enough to try to bring an outside perspective to the FA.

 

Lord Triesman and Ian Watmore, both successful people in their own right, were arrogantly dismissed as "suits". They were not insiders, but they did know about debt, unsustainable business practices, corporate governance – the inconvenient truths. If supposed footballing people know so much, why is the sport in this mess?

 

One of the demanded remedies is that the government funds more all-weather football pitches. The notion that taxpayers' money should be provided to a sport awash with money is particularly abhorrent given the economic climate.

 

Football chooses to squander its wealth by over-rewarding its professionals, some of whom have just proved that they cannot deliver under pressure or when faced with something they do not like. Twickenham was built without public money and cricket takes its internationals around the country.

 

The sight of gluttonous football with its handout lies ill with every other English sport, save tennis, where funds are desperately needed. It seems that football is nobody else's business until it wants help, when it suddenly becomes a national treasure.

 

English football is hopelessly conflicted and the fundamental question it has to ask itself is which of the following alternatives does it want?

 

Football can have a Premier League that is undeniably exciting, has huge revenue and is a strong global brand; a league that does contribute to the financial wellbeing of the rest of the game.

 

It is also built on debt, overpays just one section of its employees, has allowed several of its top clubs to be controlled by foreign business interests and appears powerless to prevent similar control of its remaining clubs.

 

Most importantly, it needs continued immediate success and accepts business practices that are similarly short-term. With this goes an unsuccessful national team and an ineffective FA.

 

Alternatively, a more powerful FA could fight the battle for greater contributions from the professional game. It could assert its authority on disciplinary matters.

 

There would be a face-off about internationals and the criteria under which players were picked but as it controls the national team, the clubs and players would have to get in line eventually, no matter how bitter their resistance. It could then take the steps that are needed to improve international performance and change the long-term emphasis from power and athleticism to skill and tactical intelligence.

 

With this goes a more modest, though not ruinously so, Premier League with less global appeal and reduced wages, probably fewer top foreign stars and arguably a less attractive brand.

 

English football has to choose between the above two structures, because in their present incarnations it cannot have both. And by the way, other sports are now saying, "Show us your international medals".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...