Groundhog day and English Youth football development

[Bianchi on Ice]

Switch on the radio and I hear a conversation about youth development. "how are we going to be as good as...insert flavour of the month...doesnt matter...I find it laughable that there are people still banging their heads against the wall trying to move this country forward in the way we introduce, coach and play football in this country. Its a national embarrasment. Im not seeking answers because it seems simple to me, as im sure it does to so many others...but we were 20 years behind in 1973...40 years on and we still are. Its crazy.

[bobby brows]

Part of the problem is there are too many seperate entities with a say in the matter. They've built St Georges Park but who is going to develop there? Players aren't going to release their players for months at a time to train there.

I really think private money needs to be spent in schools for playing surfaces, equipment and coaches. Include it in the curriculum, ala CIty's new training facililty, and give young players 10 hours a week on the field. Cameron wants to extend the school day to the working day as it is. Football for me ended when I got to secondary school as the PE teacher had no interest in giving up his own time for training and just picked lads he knew. I was on the cricket team and we even forfeited a cup final because he didn't wnat to take us.

[Ted Hughes]

If you look back all the way to the Alf Ramsey days, the establishment English player has always been an identikit one. If James Milner scored 30 goals a season & played for Utd Arsenal Liverpool or Spurs, he would be the greatest England player of all time.


When I was a kid, almost every single team had at least one absolute football genius, some had several. Even the run of the mill players had a touch of flair about them. The National team didn't want ANY of them.

The 'flair' players were seen as unreliable, a bad influence etc etc; we even had that attitude with Marsh at City, still using him as an excuse for not winning the league rather than all accepting they fucked up. When we eventually kicked Marsh out of City, he was our best player by a country mile.

In the England team, you had 10 players & an occasional spot for the 'flair' player (the manager doesn't want one, but the pressure to play one is so high he has no choice). So pick one of Marsh, Bowles, Worthington, etc etc, throw him in for the odd game, blame him when we lose & put the next one in.

When England had a spell of playing with wingers, we had Barnes, Tueart, Laurie Cunningham, Gordon Hill, all unpredictable goal scoring matchwinners. Steve Coppell got the job & was immoveable because he did as he was told.

We set up our system to produce reliable, predictable players & we have succeeded.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Trevor Brooking was employed 10 years ago to sort this out , the cunt has been a fuckign disgrace , he has done zilch to sort this out.

[Blue Since 76]

My lad plays under sevens at a good local team where they encourage players to keep the ball and dribble with it. They haven't bothered with passing yet, as they want the players to be comfortable with the ball rather than just trying to get rid.

If we play other teams, it's amazing how many have 'a big lad' up front, with a coach screaming at 6 and 7 year olds to 'give it to the big lad'. So they boot the ball at him, he outpaces everyone and scores. They celebrate. In a couple of years when the big lad is the same size as everyone else... Doesn't matter though, as the club gets some trophies and the coach thinks he's Mourinho.

As for the pitches, they do their best, but it's like a ploughed field. Does the FA provide any money to do anything about it? They could easily implement a tax on PL clubs - say 1% of gross wages which is then given to grass roots football clubs to improve facilities. But the professional clubs are happy the way it is, picking up the best talent and the rest just play in dog shit until they get bored.

[Bianchi on Ice]

My lad plays under sevens at a good local team where they encourage players to keep the ball and dribble with it. They haven't bothered with passing yet, as they want the players to be comfortable with the ball rather than just trying to get rid.

If we play other teams, it's amazing how many have 'a big lad' up front, with a coach screaming at 6 and 7 year olds to 'give it to the big lad'. So they boot the ball at him, he outpaces everyone and scores. They celebrate. In a couple of years when the big lad is the same size as everyone else... Doesn't matter though, as the club gets some trophies and the coach thinks he's Mourinho.

As for the pitches, they do their best, but it's like a ploughed field. Does the FA provide any money to do anything about it? They could easily implement a tax on PL clubs - say 1% of gross wages which is then given to grass roots football clubs to improve facilities. But the professional clubs are happy the way it is, picking up the best talent and the rest just play in dog shit until they get bored.

Interesting point about the managers of the young lads teams....the bloke on the radio, his name escapes me but his job is to try and turn all this around...he intimated that a lot of the parents are the main obstacles to progress...they want their boy to be a star no matter what...the greater good means fuck all to them. plus the low number of qualified coaches in this country might have something to do with the fact the courses the FA offer are so expensive...more so than SFA or FAI courses. There is enough money in the game to make the course free and cover expenses.

[Hazy2]

Trevor Brooking was employed 10 years ago to sort this out , the cunt has been a fuckign disgrace , he has done zilch to sort this out.

The Premier League does not give a toss about England, Brooking has worked for Burton lets see how it goes, he is not a ****t far from it. Look at the U21's for a start the Spanish team have more players most viewers recognised last night.

[stockportblue]

Im a level 2 coach and can testify that the coaching courses are very expensive.On the cost front it has got worse because you have not only the level 1-level 2-uefa b route-but now you have module 1-2 and 3.My coaching plan for the next year given to me by my coach educator is to do the three modules then in a years time start my UEFAB so I don't think I will get much change out of two grand.

The comments on here I would generally agree with -definitely a good idea to get kids staying with the ball at the very young ages -plenty of coerver type exercises-going into 3x3 funino and the dutch style 4x4 for decision making.The Scots are possibly ahead of us in coaching+ coach education since appointing Mark Wotte.Hopefully the appointment of Dan Ashworth will be a positive step in the right direction.

[Bianchi on Ice]

Im a level 2 coach and can testify that the coaching courses are very expensive.On the cost front it has got worse because you have not only the level 1-level 2-uefa b route-but now you have module 1-2 and 3.My coaching plan for the next year given to me by my coach educator is to do the three modules then in a years time start my UEFAB so I don't think I will get much change out of two grand.

The comments on here I would generally agree with -definitely a good idea to get kids staying with the ball at the very young ages -plenty of coerver type exercises-going into 3x3 funino and the dutch style 4x4 for decision making.The Scots are possibly ahead of us in coaching+ coach education since appointing Mark Wotte.Hopefully the appointment of Dan Ashworth will be a positive step in the right direction.

I think Ashworth was the guy on talksport yesterday...he seemed a positive bloke...he couldnt verify prices of courses as it wasnt his remit but 2 grand you say?...fuckin ell...see, the FA should cover that cost...what is the ratio of coaches here opposed to say, spain?...ive heard its 1/6 or something like that...the FA cannot afford to price potential out of our game...and a twat like sheepshanks saying we'll do this and that in ten years time is codswallop and he wont care anyway it wont be his head on the fuckin block.

[Blue Since 76]

Interesting point about the managers of the young lads teams....the bloke on the radio, his name escapes me but his job is to try and turn all this around...he intimated that a lot of the parents are the main obstacles to progress...they want their boy to be a star no matter what...the greater good means fuck all to them. plus the low number of qualified coaches in this country might have something to do with the fact the courses the FA offer are so expensive...more so than SFA or FAI courses. There is enough money in the game to make the course free and cover expenses.

I can testify about parents too. There was one young lad, with glasses on, playing up front for a local team. In these games, they're not even supposed to keep score to avoid the kids getting upset about losses. His dad was playing him like he was on Fifa - move forwards, drop back, move left, run now. He was then telling him he wasn't working hard enough and giving him more abuse than I give Kolarov. Wonder what chance that kid has of being a top class professional, able to think for themself on the pitch and have the confidence to take someone on?

Again, I'll give credit to Sale Utd - when signing up we were told that parents were expected to be see and not heard so the coaches could get on with it. They also allow anyone to play, regardless of ability. They may stream them by ability, but no one gets told they're not good enough. We've taken 40 under 7s to games at the Soccerdome. We played one team who just picked their best 6 and left the rest at home. They won a game, but what did the kids who didn't play learn?