The Future of English Football - and are Saints playing their part?

[notnowcato]

Wrote this just after U21 tourney

 

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We have had entirely the wrong idea for tournament preparation and getting an international side to the level required to perform under those conditions.

 

Too much emphasis is put on how the England marketing machine is there to make money in the way that we play too many prestiege friendlies and concentrate on our more marketable players making appearances. It all has to be changed from the top down, they need a director of football and the respective managers of the England teams (U19s, U21's, senior) all singing from the same hymn sheet and understanding how to build an international side.

 

This includes keeping the best possible teams together for the underage tournaments, not whisking them away for pointless friendlies. Making more use of our technical training centre. And not picking players in a side that are too old for the next WC, whether its a euro season or not. The team needs to bed and gel and the fact you get little time to coach internationals mean that its vital to get them to gel.

 

The prem and the FA need to stop banging their heads together aswell, and personally if a player refuses to play in an under 21 tourney I would refuse to pick then for the full side.

 

Itll be a long road, so will need to ignore the media and fans clamour for overage players that just show some short term form in order to bring younger blood through. Even at international levels a team can go through transition. Hermany did, spain did, italy did.

 

Sadly England and the FA are more concerned with money than success.

 

Missed the original posting of this but completely agree.

 

The FA appear to have so much focus on paying for the completely unnecessary national stadium, in a location that would have been better sold for redevelopment of business or housing.

[Brave Sir Robin]

Personally, I think it's entirely possible that Clyne, Shaw, Chambers, Lallana, Cork and Jay Rod will all be good enough to be England regulars by Euro 2016. Throw in a couple of really experienced players who'll give 110% (Theo and the Ox), plus another 2 or 3 young outstandingly talented youngsters who are just too good to overlook, despite their tender age (currently in our academy, identities tbc), and voila! There's an England team with more potential than the current one!

 

I think the fa should just relax and thank Saints for solving their problem for them!

[cellone]

The English culture restricts us. Children are not out playing footing in cul-de-sacs, climbing tree’s or fences.

 

This has been happening outside my house almost every day all day through the summer and will probably be resumed with in the next hour as the kids are due back from school. I agree with most of what has be written but Andover can't be the only place in the country that this happens.

[notnowcato]

This has been happening outside my house almost every day all day through the summer and will probably be resumed with in the next hour as the kids are due back from school. I agree with most of what has be written but Andover can't be the only place in the country that this happens.

 

Yep, to say it's a cultural thing is clearly wrong. Jumpers for goal posts does not make a player. Otherwise we would have dominated world football in the 70s 80s and 90s.

 

I have some sympathy for the writers point of view but it really did read like a view of reasons for failure rather than a list how we will succeed in the future. To much of this rhetoric emanates from the FA, hopefully those involved in St Georges are different to the naval gazers of FA HQ.

[eesti matty]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23955843

 

Check out the link above and Rick Parry's comments. Does he mean Tottenham and not Saints?

 

"I remember the likes of Jamie Carragher saying not very many years ago that if he was trying to break into the team now, he was not sure he would get the chance. He felt he needed 10-15 games to prove himself.

 

"Gareth Bale at Southampton is another example. He was one game away from being released by Southampton. But look at him now."

[Dig Dig]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23955843

 

Check out the link above and Rick Parry's comments. Does he mean Tottenham and not Saints?

 

"I remember the likes of Jamie Carragher saying not very many years ago that if he was trying to break into the team now, he was not sure he would get the chance. He felt he needed 10-15 games to prove himself.

 

"Gareth Bale at Southampton is another example. He was one game away from being released by Southampton. But look at him now."

 

I think we did very nearly release Bale when he was in the academy due to his size and strength, or lack of to be more precise.

[Smirking_Saint]

I think we did very nearly release Bale when he was in the academy due to his size and strength, or lack of to be more precise.

 

We did, but I imagine it was talking about his Spurs career when he struggled at LB and was almost shifted out to WBA before there was an injury crisis

[Dig Dig]

We did, but I imagine it was talking about his Spurs career when he struggled at LB and was almost shifted out to WBA before there was an injury crisis

 

Yea it could be that but in the context of what Parry is talking about in general (young players not being given first team opportunities) and the fact that he states we nearly released him rather than sell him, I think he does mean us.

 

In any case a poor example to use, once he had developed physically, he played and played every week.

[View From The Top]

One of the best compliments I've ever heard regarding Saints was from a youth coach at Port Vale when he said that our academy and attitude to youth is so greatly admired across the country because we play young players, not because we have to, but because we want to.

[notnowcato]

I don't remember Bale's form being that bad at the start for Spurs, they did go on a long run without a win with him in the side though.