Can English football ever adapt?

[Mike.]

We all know that BBC blogs are often fillled with drivel from the likes of Phil McNumpty, but every now and then people like Matt Slater come up with a peach of an article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/mattslater/2010/06/can_english_football_ever_adap.html

Can English football ever adapt?

I heard a funny story about how English football works (muddles through, more like) the other day.

Back in 2003 the FA was getting Fabio Capello-sized stick from all quarters about its disciplinary procedures.

Some clubs were angry about how long it took for punishments to be dished out, others were annoyed when rivals played the system to ensure their stars would be eligible for big games, the international authorities wanted automatic suspensions, the players demanded a right of appeal and the men from the counties viewed any talk of change as another assault on their place at the heart of the national game. Only the lawyers were happy, being paid silly sums for straightforward work.

Slow, easy to circumnavigate, amateurish and bad value for money - sounds like England's defensive display against Germany, doesn't it?

But I don't tell this story for the easy gag, I tell it because it illustrates why changing anything in English football is so hard, frustrating and ultimately underwhelming. Too many competing agendas, too many self-interested voices.

So forgive me if I don't get too excited about the result of the soul-searching that has just commenced. We are past masters at the impressive-looking policy document, po-faced press conference and never-again declaration of intent, it is mastering passes we struggle with.

Howard Wilkinson was on BBC Radio 5 Live on Monday. It was a great interview - passionate but informed, dismayed but measured.

He explained how he had written a report for the FA which said English football needed to devote more resources to youth development, spend more time on technical skills, build a national football centre and prepare for a future when 4-4-2 will be obsolete.

Gerrard looked uncomfortable on the left of Capello's 4-4-2 at times during the World Cup

Wilkinson wrote that report, the Charter for Quality, in 1997. English football still does not have enough coaches, still places too much importance on results at youth level, still lacks a national football centre and still defaults to 4-4-2 under pressure.

Seven years later, after England's defeat at Euro 2004, the FA held another internal review. Questions were asked about the access an England manager has to his players, the importance of friendly matches and the danger of playing too much club football. No change there, then.

In 2005, following more turmoil at the governing body, we had another review, this time looking at the FA's structure. Lord Burns flagged up the conflicts of interest, a lack of representation for key groups and the excessive influence of the Premier League. Among his remedies were the creation of a "parliament of football" and three independent members on the FA board. We are still waiting.

In 2007, it was time to look at English football's youth development system, again. Rugby league boss Richard Lewis was called in and he suggested a number of tweaks to the academy network born from Wilkinson's charter. The most important of those, genuine FA involvement in the clubs' youth set-ups, was fudged.

A year later England would fail to qualify for Euro 2008 and "root and branch" reforms were the promised response. But what we got was the public humiliation of an over-promoted coach, his replacement by the most expensive manager money could buy and...erm, that's it.

Fabio Capello, a man who the FA had looked at when it seemed Sven Goran-Eriksson was off to Chelsea but ruled out because of his lack of international experience and inability to speak English, was now the answer. The only answer.

That's the English response: big talk about far-reaching reforms and thinking the unthinkable, before bottling it and going for the quick fix. Over in Germany, however, they do things a bit differently...they actually do things.

Having suffered the "humiliation" of losing to Croatia in the quarter-finals of World Cup 1998 and failing to get out of the group stages of Euro 2000 (compounded by a 1-0 defeat to a mediocre England), the bosses at the German FA sat down with their counterparts at the Bundesliga and came up with a plan: a 500m-euro investment in youth.

As a result, Germany has almost 13 times as many qualified coaches as England, more home-grown talent playing in its top league (Europe's most profitable) and a crop of young players who have now beaten England 4-0 in the 2009 European U-21 Final and 4-1 at the 2010 World Cup.

Does anybody think the response to England's latest crisis will be as bold, coherent and effective?

Thanks to a rare moment of common sense and leadership, the FA actually sorted out the disciplinary procedure problem in 2003.

The clubs got quicker/more consistent rulings, the players kept their right to appeal, Fifa/Uefa were placated by the reduced timeframe and the amateurs lost their say on professional cases but got back the blazers that an earlier FA regime had taken away - £25,000 being a small price to pay for keeping the peace.

If only assembling an England squad capable of winning a tournament was so easy. Delivering one of those in time for the 2018 World Cup will cost more like £250m and the clock is ticking.
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Personally, I find that the more I try dig about and try and learn about the state of english football, the more depressing it gets

your opinions/thoughts?

 

[JDH1989]

Basically.

No. It can't.

 

[Mike.]

Having suffered the "humiliation" of losing to Croatia in the quarter-finals of World Cup 1998 and failing to get out of the group stages of Euro 2000 (compounded by a 1-0 defeat to a mediocre England), the bosses at the German FA sat down with their counterparts at the Bundesliga and came up with a plan: a 500m-euro investment in youth.

the plan the german FA used, was based on wilkinsons charter for quality. unbelieveable, good enough for the germans, but apparently not for us

 

[Zebedee]

It can be changed. But it won't be. Too many vested interests - not least in the Premier League. What may be possible is for the FA to divert money into the football league for youth development based on sound principles (get in a load of Michels' acolytes to teach the coaches the right way). Fund training places for youth on those courses at clubs.

In fairness to the FA, Wembley turned out to be way more expensive than predicted and borked the academy idea pretty thoroughly. Whether it's now possible to run it almost as a 'university' in tandem with the suggestion to decentralise things a bit I don't know, but that's what I'd be tempted to do. Get in the old pros, the old managers and get them to give the finishing school to a long term development course primarily based at club level.

 

[GodCubed]

And its funny, isn't it? The average football fan could do a **** sight better with his common sense than an entire board (and committee, and sub-committee, and sub-sub-comittee...) can do with six figure salaries and all the time in the world. It is almost laughable.

 

[Mike.]

And its funny, isn't it? The average football fan could do a **** sight better with his common sense than an entire board (and committee, and sub-committee, and sub-sub-comittee...) can do with six figure salaries and all the time in the world. It is almost laughable.

and those who do know (trevor brooking) seem to fighting a losing battle

 

[Carine]

and those who do know (trevor brooking) seem to fighting a losing battle

I always hoped Trevor Brooking would go back on his decision to never manage again. He did a great job and was a breath of fresh air when he took the helm at West Ham. I know it was only for a short period, but the club's turn around was fantastic and depressed players began to play with a smile. He appears to have the man-management skills of Harry Redknapp, but with more acute tactical knowledge. It's easy to see why he doesn't want to manage in today's cut throat industry though.

 

[Kris]

We have recently gone through something similar up North.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/8638920.stm


I think a big factor has to be the hype surrounding the Premiership and this grand delusion that it is the ‘best league in the word’

League’s such as Spain and Germany, as prime examples are much more open, free flowing passes and contain far more technically gifted players.

How many in the current England set up can you see making the grade in La Liga? Ashley Cole, Joe Cole and Wayne Rooney and perhaps Glen Johnson. I cannot think of many more.

In my opinion, Franz Beckenbauer was spot on when he described you as a ‘kick and rush’ side. I feel that is an accurate description of the national side and The Premiership in general, minus a few sides.

Perhaps TV revenue and the size of club debts are to blame in many ways? Teams and managers are more fearful of losing out on much needed funds or losing there jobs and plays a much safer or perhaps negative game.

 

[Jack Fulham]

I think another problem is the age in which players move from 5/7 aside to 11 eleven aside games. In Spain, they don't move until 15, a lot older than other countries in Europe because the smaller pitches means they are more aware and more technically able hence why they have been so successful recently.

 

[IanC]

The common man on the terraces knows the FA is a complete shambles and is criticized more often than not yet those in charge of it seem very unwilling to change things for the development of youngsters. Yet they will spend money just talking about ideas and dont seem to try to put them in practice.

I am stunned that Trevor Brooking has actually stayed this long with the FA. Maybe its the wage packet he is getting but he must be finding it very frustrating.

I am at a loss to think that most people within the FA have no footballing background either. Surely this cant be good for the future of our game.

 

[Aannddyy]

Can I just say, if England had won the other day nobody would have wrote this stuff, none of these threads would have been posted and nobody would be overreacting to them. I personally think this is a huge overreaction to a loss that was down purely to poor performance, poor fitness, poor tactics, poor team selection, and a lack of Rio & J Cole oh and not forggetting a lack of man management and an unnecessary intrusion from the media.

 

[Carine]

Can I just say, if England had won the other day nobody would have wrote this stuff, none of these threads would have been posted and nobody would be overreacting to them. I personally think this is a huge overreaction to a loss that was down purely to poor performance, poor fitness, poor tactics, poor team selection, and a lack of Rio & J Cole oh and not forggetting a lack of man management and an unnecessary intrusion from the media.

I can see where you're coming from there, but there have been threads on these subjects well before the World Cup began. I agree there's more people taking part in the discussions now as a result of the shambles we've witnessed over the last fortnight, but there have been many discussions (mainly by guys / gals who are involved in coaching or club committees) showing concern about the general way that football is coached within the UK and Ireland at both amateur and professional level. As a previous post mentions, Spain do not move their youngsters onto adult pitches until their mid-teens -- compare that with Ireland, where Under-11s is the first age group to participate in full 11 aside football.

 

[Gaffer]

i dont have the attention span to read that :S

 

[Mike.]

Can I just say, if England had won the other day nobody would have wrote this stuff, none of these threads would have been posted and nobody would be overreacting to them. I personally think this is a huge overreaction to a loss that was down purely to poor performance, poor fitness, poor tactics, poor team selection, and a lack of Rio & J Cole oh and not forggetting a lack of man management and an unnecessary intrusion from the media.

not really an overeaction mate, though i see why you might think so. any win would have papered over the cracks, its something i feel the FA was relying on ive chatted about things like this long before the world cup, have mentioned it to people like carine and zebedee. but the world cup for me has really brought things to a head. enough is enough.

---------- Post added at 11:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:28 PM ----------

The common man on the terraces knows the FA is a complete shambles and is criticized more often than not yet those in charge of it seem very unwilling to change things for the development of youngsters. Yet they will spend money just talking about ideas and dont seem to try to put them in practice.

I am stunned that Trevor Brooking has actually stayed this long with the FA. Maybe its the wage packet he is getting but he must be finding it very frustrating.

I am at a loss to think that most people within the FA have no footballing background either. Surely this cant be good for the future of our game.

brooking is in a lose lose situation. as long as he stays, he cant really say what heed to say publically. but if he leaves he can say it publically, but then cant do anything from the inside

 

[jamesybhoy]

is it just me or have england only ever won one trophy the world cup in 1966
celtic the year later became the only scottish team to win the european cup but do celtic every year think they are they will or deserve to win it from the off no we dont we take it as what it was a major achevment for a club
england think they deserve to win a trophy every year beacuse the epl is the greatest in the world ma baws thats why very few of the worlds greatest players choose to play there ronaldinho man u or barca mmmm barca
kaka man city or real mmmm real if they are that great in england why most of there players not playing for barca real inter ac etc & why when givin a choice do most players choose other leagues that englands the epl is the spl but wae cash thrown at them thats it money doesnt make greatness i knw as english men use dont want to hear it but arogance is the problam in england if they can lose this then much as id hate to see it as a scotsman but then & only then can england move forward as a football team

 

[Mike.]

is it just me or have england only ever won one trophy the world cup in 1966
celtic the year later became the only scottish team to win the european cup but do celtic every year think they are they will or deserve to win it from the off no we dont we take it as what it was a major achevment for a club
england think they deserve to win a trophy every year beacuse the epl is the greatest in the world ma baws thats why very few of the worlds greatest players choose to play there ronaldinho man u or barca mmmm barca
kaka man city or real mmmm real if they are that great in england why most of there players not playing for barca real inter ac etc & why when givin a choice do most players choose other leagues that englands the epl is the spl but wae cash thrown at them thats it money doesnt make greatness i knw as english men use dont want to hear it but arogance is the problam in england if they can lose this then much as id hate to see it as a scotsman but then & only then can england move forward as a football team

you seem to be mixing club football with the national side. for one thing most england fans dont expect us to win it, the english media do, and that is not the same thing, not by a long shot. also we have had and still have some of the best players in the world play here, overmars, bergkamp, henry, cristiano ronaldo, schmeichel, evra, cole. i could go on and on.

on an aside please use some punctuation, your comment is very hard to read.

 

[Zebedee]

Someone on RAWK put this up from the Sunday Times

There are few players who could sensitively and eloquently offer their sentiments on England’s troubles at the World Cup, especially without sounding at least slightly condescending. But Xabi Alonso managed to do just that in a lengthy interview with The Sunday Times this weekend. His assessment of the English game is both honest and astute and, with regards to the cultural connotations of English football, he admits an advancement of thinking is required for international success to stand a chance.

“For me it is very important to have players in a team who complement one another. Sometimes the 11 best do not make the best 11. You have to have players with different qualities and, in my opinion, the England team had too many players who can run all day long, who invest a huge physical effort, who attack and defend – ‘box to box’, as they say in England. But the way I understand the game, you also need someone who delivers short passes, even if they seem innocuous at the time. That sort of player has been missing from the England team.”

Alonso was at pains to stress that he didn’t wish to come across as an ‘opportunist’ or being ‘wise after the event’ but his knowledge comes from being a direct factor in Steven Gerrard’s repeated match-winning performances. He reiterated that Gerrard is a ‘great player [who] inspires and leads’ but also that he needs players of different skills around him to play his best. It’s certainly no coincidence that Alonso’s departure has been difficult for Liverpool, as would the departure of any world class player, but the impact has indelibly affected Gerrard’s output. Especially in the 2008/2009 campaign, Liverpool highlighted the growing importance of a trident relationship in midfield (as commented in a previous article) of destroyer-passer-creator (Mascherano-Alonso-Gerrard). One shields, one distributes, one creates – and this is an example, not a perfect model for England to replicate, of players with markedly differing skill sets complementing one another superbly.

I don’t think it is a surprise to note that Owen Hargreaves was widely derided in England prior to the 2006 World Cup for being a player who lacked telling contributions in matches. His worth was underestimated until the competition began and, by the end, he was England’s best performer. There are multiple reasons for this: the international game is more akin to the rest of Europe (Hargreaves had the added experience of honing his abilities at Bayern Munich, where the ‘rhythm’ of the game, as Alonso later alludes to, is starkly contrasting to the English Premier League) and his role of destroying, shielding and simply distributing gained in exposure/acclaim as the competition progressed.

When asked why, Alonso had no definitive answer for the English lacking conviction, sharpness and enjoyment in South Africa. But he did share an experience that goes some way in elucidating his point about the ‘rhythm’ of football playing an incalculable role in individual (and in our case, collective also) output:

“Since I joined Real a year ago I’ve been watching a lot of Premier League games and I think to myself, ‘My god, what a rhythm they play at! And I was playing like that too?’ And yet, here’s the funny thing, which I must confess I am unable to explain: during my first months playing in Spain I’d be more tired than I was in England. There might be a clue here as to what happens to the England players in big international games. The rhythm at that level is not like the rhythm in the Premier League and maybe it’s hard for the English players to adapt to…my impression was that they struggled to enjoy the game.”

This is an effect, rather than the cause, of something far more entrenched in the English game. Countless discussions have raged before and after England’s World Cup exit with regards to the emphasis on skill sets at youth development. To succumb to a generalisation, we place too great an emphasis on physical attributes at the youngest level. Subsequently the pace, tempo, and ‘rhythm’ of our football is far quicker than the rest of Europe. But the danger of our long standing affiliation to grit, determination, strength and pace is that technical proficiency degrades and, when separated from the complementary abilities of their club teammates, English players are exposed.

“I remember when I used to go to the Liverpool Academy I would ask the kids there what their virtues were as football players and the first answer they’d give would be ‘tackling’. Now, that can never be a virtue; that’s a resource that you deploy when needed. Your chief virtue can never be the ability to make a good tackle. Now, I’m just giving one example, but you can extrapolate that there are other qualities that should be given greater priority at youth level. For me the notion of ‘game intelligence’ is so important.”

This is certainly the central issue of Alonso’s argument and it all interlinks to the cultural tenets we connote to typically ‘English’ football. Our young players forgo technique and the finer, more cerebral, aspects of football (tactics, understanding how to play with our teammates, composure when faced with decisions on the pitch) and the result is a noticeable dearth of what Alonso calls ‘game intelligence’. Arrigo Sacchi used to say individuals could be great footballers but terrible players and the adage gains in meaning when juxtaposed with Alonso’s sentiments. We can’t teach game intelligence; it can only be nurtured, honed and experienced from youth academies – in a technically focused manner – through to the professional game.

“It basically means how to associate with other players. The rest follows, the physical aspects, the technical aspects. But understanding the game, that is what is most important.”

 

[GodCubed]

Very true. Xabi Alonso strikes me as an exceptionally astute bloke.

The problem is, we could make it work. It's our style of football as a nation - quick, high-tempo, physical. But there's nothing to say it's any better or worse than slick, one touch, slow paced football. If we just implemented it correctly, we could play a style the players are familiar to in an effective way.

 

[Carine]

I found this whilst searching through Tottenham's news for the day. It's an interesting interview by John Bostock...

“It [England U19 vs Spain] was the hardest game I’ve played, energy-wise. It felt like we were chasing shadows at times. They have probably been brought up playing that way. They played like they were brothers on that pitch. I’ve had some good coaches in my time but the problem with English football is it’s not consistent. Different coaches have different approaches. In Spain it seems every youngster is coached the same way. It’s almost like it’s a belief. Individually we’re not that far behind them but as teams, we are. Something has to change with the coaching. I’m not talking about the professional game, but right at the bottom from the age of six, seven because kids need to know how to play together. Look at the senior England team. Individually, we have the best players in the world but as soon as they come together it’s not the same. I think most of our youth coaches have taken the joy out of football. That is kicked out of us at a young age. Too much pressure is put on kids to go out and win games.”

 

[Mike.]

I found this whilst searching through Tottenham's news for the day. It's an interesting interview by John Bostick...

“It [England U19 vs Spain] was the hardest game I’ve played, energy-wise. It felt like we were chasing shadows at times. They have probably been brought up playing that way. They played like they were brothers on that pitch. I’ve had some good coaches in my time but the problem with English football is it’s not consistent. Different coaches have different approaches. In Spain it seems every youngster is coached the same way. It’s almost like it’s a belief. Individually we’re not that far behind them but as teams, we are. Something has to change with the coaching. I’m not talking about the professional game, but right at the bottom from the age of six, seven because kids need to know how to play together. Look at the senior England team. Individually, we have the best players in the world but as soon as they come together it’s not the same. I think most of our youth coaches have taken the joy out of football. That is kicked out of us at a young age. Too much pressure is put on kids to go out and win games.”

bang, bostock absolutely hits the nail on the head. my brother quit football at 14 for that very same reason that the enjoyment was sucked out of it and he was an incredibly talented young player