Article from caughtoffside.comNever before has the debate about the state of English football been so prevalent. Just looking at the evidence, it is not hard to understand why.So we have Arsenal, top of the Barclays Premiership. We can all agree they are a team who play attractive football, a fantastic manager and some world class players including the sub lime Fabregas. However it is also time to agree that a team with little or no English player representation other than the elusive Hoyt is not good for the future of English football.
And then there is Sir Trevor Brooking stating in The Times (3rd February 2008) that he believes the condition of children’s football is the key – stop playing kids on over sized pitches, start teaching the 5 – 11 age range the basics and technique. Again I believe he is correct – especially as they turn up in their droves with Man United shirts marked Ronaldo or Arsenal shirts marked Adebayor. Our kids and youth systems need ownership, direction and a strategy and most importantly more English footballing hero’s.
And finally there is our national teams inadequacy – a group of players who look world class surrounded by other world class none English players – but actually are too self promoting to play as a team.
Truely talented foreign players deserve a place in any team whatever its nationality. However too many times an average cheaper foreign option takes the place of a young potential English player. And so I would like to propose change, encourage debate and state that the time for limited foreign players in each starting 11 is back upon us. And a time for investing the FA’s £1 Billion revenue for F2008 at getting the grass roots right is overdue.
I believe the only thing holding us back is the FA themselves – out of touch, dinosaurs of industry who need to make way for new footballing blood. A maximum 5 none British players per 11 – is this not a start?
Red Army Rants – This is always going to be a matter of contention, maybe we have become a victim of our own success in this country with possibly the best football league in the world and now no one is really sure what to do for the best but my own personal thoughts are, yes its great to see such gifted foreign players coming to the UK and showing us some really exciting play, this should be allowed to continue, any limitation would only set our league back again but somewhere along the line, more money effort and time should be made in developing kids from an early age to be able to be just as good in future generations, maybe even better than our foreign counterpart clubs.
We should be a bit like the Japanese as a nation, they can take an idea from anywhere in the world, play around with it and eventually they will make it better than its original, guess what I am trying to say is, lets learn from the foreign players, clubs etc, in the hope that in a few generations down the line, the British footballer has evolved into such a player, that the rest of Europe would love him in their side, more emphasis should be made at all grass roots levels, development should start at a very early age, more football schools made available, so future kids have half a chance, some clubs have made a start and some of the efforts have made a difference already, just more of the same needed.
More time should also be made by the FA to allow our national team to spend more time together even if they are not playing allowing them to bond more as a unit and learn more about each other but whether this can happen because of the ever present heavy fixtures at club level, tough one to call but you never know I guess.
