Greg Dykes answer to players coming through academies only to be released and managers not picking them, is to ban the ‘competition’. I.e. ban the foreign players. When questioned on BBC Radio 4 on the 24th March 2015 he was rightly asked “Isn’t the control with the clubs who benefiting from the new Premier League TV windfall will simply go on to buy the world’s best players in order to compete?” Thus increasing the quality of the product on the pitch, thus increasing the audience base, thus increasing the TV revenue and so the cycle continues. Can’t the FA see this? Actually, why can’t the FA embrace this instead of attacking it?
How will England be better footballers if we simply ban
better players? We can’t pretend these players don’t exist. The FA should be
the organisation starting at the very foundation of the game that helps to
increase player’s capabilities and opportunities. Would it not be far better to
produce players that academies ‘don’t’ release? If they were good enough for
the first team and signed for free (baring the development cost) would they
release them and buy a foreigner? The difference would then be that we have a
player in the 1st team that can genuinely compete in the 1st
team which already contains the world’s best players. Then and only then can we
expect to see an England team competing for a world cup. Can people not see
that? Are England players banned from playing in Germany, Argentina,
Netherlands or Brazil? Could it be that they simply are not good enough?
Would Andy Murray win
Wimbledon if we banned Djokovic, Federer and Nadal? Would he win anything else?
The FA is really in a dangerous position here. One which is so
critical for our futures and could leave us scratching our heads again in ten years’
time. If they can’t hear what they are proposing we are destined for failure.
They have to accept now that they simply cannot take on the might of the
Premier League. Money talks, times have changed. Academy football is now affectively
ran by the Premier League with its EPPP system. Overall, facilities and quality
of staff has mostly improved because money talks. But the FA has an over
whelming overall goal. A winning / competing England team. Well we have the
answer here and no other country has that. No other country has got the benefit
of having the world’s majority of best players in its top league. So here’s the
challenge now. I have to get my English players, into those teams. The chairman
and managers will not ignore them. Why would they? Why then would Manchester
City just built a brand new training ground to include its Academy? The FA are
attacking foreign owners, managers and players, yet that’s the biggest message
from one of the world’s richest saying, “There you go English players, here is
a world class facility for your young talent to come and thrive” What does the
FA do in return? Threaten to ban its ability to buy the world’s best. Which if
happened, reduces the quality of the product on the pitch and then will water
down the interest, then the investment will reduce and the opportunity will
pass. Overall though let’s be honest, like the League 3 idea, why can’t the FA
concentrate on topics it has a realistic chance of changing.
Greg Dykes other solution is the 3G pitch strategy. The idea
of giving young people better sporting facilities is of course welcomed. But
here is the problem. What about the people that can’t afford to use them?
Across England local authority budget cuts have resulted in local playing
fields being left in awful unplayable states. So the answer then is the
gleaming new 3G pitch. There is one on the council estate where I grew up. 100
yards from my old house. It’s absolutely amazing. But, I have driven past
around fifty times to find it bolted and empty, on a Sunday afternoon. Why? Because
it cost a minimum of £35 per hour to use it. But there is a big Lottery and
Sport England logo outside, this is a sport legacy from the Olympics, so why is
it empty? To reduce my possible answers I drive 30 seconds to the large open
playing fields where I see a number of pockets of young people trying to play
football on an overgrown cow field. So how is that great for development? It
has simply become a non-negotiable commercial enterprise. I even approached
them and asked If I together with two ex-international footballers could use
the facility as we wanted to get some young people off the street to play
football. We were not afforded £0.01p discount. I paid in full for three
sessions and we put on class coaching and games for 16 year old lads who turned
up in droves. This was FREE for them.
I remember someone saying to me that it was well over
£10,000 a year to send their child to an elite tennis centre and I remember thinking,
wow, no wonder we can’t win Wimbledon. What if on floor 35 flat 120 in the high
rise there is an English tennis superstar? But we will never know because she
will never get the opportunity? Well football is heading down the same road. It’s
becoming a pay to play culture and soon (even now) if you don’t have money you can’t
take part. That will only see a decline in the talent further down the line. Football
never was a middle class game. It was a game on the street where children put
themselves in the mind of their hero. The houses were terraces and obstacles
were defenders. Society has stopped football in the street as unacceptable risk
and a nuisance. We have put signs up on every grass verge saying ‘No Football’.
So they are forced to the uncut field where it’s impossible for the ball to
roll. But thanks to the understanding FA. We have an answer, the glowing new 3G
pitch. But it’s locked and mum hasn’t got money for food let alone football, so
that’s that then. Ill juggle the ball in my bedroom. It’s like the field mouse
that ends up in our house. We remove her habitat, we build house on her land,
so she seeks shelter in ours only for us to trap it and kill it.
Typically over all the years of football, the best players
have arrived on the scene having come from difficult backgrounds. Does that
create more hunger and intrinsic desire to change your family’s life? But
equally players are around that have very stable backgrounds. So, the point is,
we just don’t know from what community and what background the next great
player will be hiding. But for sure we certainly need to ensure we look under
every stone and give everybody equal opportunity. If we create a pay to play culture
this could eliminate so many people so we have to find a way.
Actually in my experience schools already do so much for
sport and the Primary Sport Partnership clearly supports inclusion and participation.
This is great for English sport not just football. Perhaps the answer lies
there. Some of these primary schools already do great work in identifying
talent. I work in one primary school and an 9 year old showed amazing talent.
On quick investigation this child had not played in any organised games or
clubs. Partly due to finance. Together with the school we worked to find a
solution and I proudly went to watch him recently in his full kit in a game
where he was breath-taking. So, could schools play a bigger role? Something
also suggested by great blog writer: @The_W_Address
My idea would be that children whom teachers or coaches feel
show excellence within the four corner model could be awarded FA football
tokens. Then on these new 3G pitches there is organised FA (not club) led
coaching & player development that means players from any background and
any wealth have an equal chance of being spotted. Not just because they can
afford to play. Or because they are paying for a privilege to be in a professional
clubs development centres.
Overall if you want to make England better:-
·
Embrace the Premier League don’t fight it. Embrace
the competition. But use them, find out what they did to get there and act on
it
·
Evolve our game. Review EPPP and make it better.
Investigate if it really contains the best coaches, the effects of player
reports and hours and strain on players families
·
Improve the standard of recruited players. Maybe
the FA to have its own “Elite Development Centre” That’s FREE and clubs can come
along under certain guidelines to recruit
·
Work better to improve inclusive access to new
sporting facilities. Increase participation and don’t ever let money be a reason
for not benefiting from what essentially belongs to the football community in
the 1st place
·
For Nick Levett’s work to be further enforced
and improved even further for grass roots clubs
Equation:
Equal opportunities = Increased participation = Increased
competition
+ Improved coaching + improved facilities + improved science
= Players that get into Premier League 1st team
(on merit) / Better England Players
= World Cup?
@antmccool7
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