Southampton revival puts England on path to success

[Sheaf Saint]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/southampton/10439633/Southampton-revival-puts-England-on-path-to-success.html

 

Roy Hodgson’s England squad announcement last Thursday almost doubled as an official Football Association certificate of commendation for the practices of Southampton Football Club.

Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana and Jay Rodriguez ensured that a team in the third tier of English football only 30 months ago now have as many England senior internationals as Chel*sea and one more than Manchester City or Arsenal.

Factor in 18-year-olds James Ward-Prowse and Luke Shaw, who were named in the Under-21 squad, and it is easy to understand why Hodgson lavished such praise on Southampton and was present to witness their 4-1 demolition of Hull City. “Come on England” was among the chants at St Mary’s on Saturday.

As England prepare for fixtures over the next eight days against Chile and Germany, it all rather debunks the myth that the proliferation of foreign owners and managers is necessary bad news for the national team. What actually counts is the culture of a football club. Are they serious about the development of local talent? Do they have a manager who will give them a chance? Do they genuinely think that elite footballers can be made as well as bought, even late in their careers? Above all, do they actually believe that it could be an alternative route to success for themselves?

It is necessary to spend only a few minutes at the club’s Marchwood training base, nestled between the most easterly tip of the New Forest and Southampton Water, to understand that the answer to all of these questions is a resounding yes. Southampton are not committing so much energy and resources into developing English talent because they are concerned for Hodgson’s job prospects. It was simply regarded by chairman Nicola Cortese as the most realistic and efficient way to achieve his ambition of propelling the club from the bottom of League One to the Champions League.

Cortese and head of football development Les Reed had travelled the world to examine best practice in everything from dance to music all the way back to football. They concluded that, even at a club whose production line does historically boast such quality as Matthew Le Tissier, Alan Shearer, Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott, much more could be done to create an environment for self-improvement.

Cortese stresses that he did not copy any other clubs – “the main thing was to learn from what actually they wouldn’t do again” – but was especially struck by the example of Barcelona’s La Masia academy. If arguably the best club side in football history could be produced on a foundation of local talent, surely Southampton could better themselves with a similar philosophy.

“The academy is very important to become a sustainable business,” Cortese says. “We would want to see a starting XI in the Premier League that is fed from our youth development.”

The club is now working productively at two levels. There is an obvious expectation to succeed in the here and now – manager Mauricio Pochettino has talked regularly of the Champions League being a realistic aim – but also a very clearly defined vision for the future. Much of the £30 million investment in the training ground – due to finish early next year – is focused on improving the facilities for the under-eights.

“We have to create an environment which is a pleasure to come into,” Cortese says. “The facility just provides the basics, it’s what you do within the facility that will make the big difference.” Inside that facility, the playing style is being implemented not from top to bottom but from “bottom to top”, starting with those under-eights.

It is refreshing – but also rather damning – to hear Pochettino provide a far more optimistic analysis of English football than most who have spent years inside our system. Pochettino himself points out how his own playing career developed from one of Argentina’s best youth academies at Newell’s Old Boys. “The future of English football is good,” he says. “English players are technically good, they are brave, daring and they only need to be allowed to show that on the field and that’s our responsibility. I think this club has been a pioneer in bringing up youth players and taking them to the top divisions. Moving forward, that is how we want to proceed, just reinforcing that nucleus of home-grown players from the academy.”

The next batch are already emerging. Defenders Calum Chambers, Matt Targett and Jordan Turnbull are England Under-19 internationals. Central midfielder Harrison Reed as well as wingers Omar Rowe and Jake Sinclair – the brother of Scott – are also causing excitement among academy staff. The point that is repeatedly made by those young players is how critical it is to know that Cortese and Pochettino are so committed to their pathway into the first-team. The training ground buildings have even been designed to give every young player a daily visual reminder of what is possible.

“What we have built here is something that is aspirational,” says Reed. “Each boy can see the journey he is on and where it is possible for him to end up: they see the first team, they see the facilities they use, and they are all invited to watch first team training. That creates an incredible work ethic.”

Ward-Prowse can speak from experience. “We see the pathway that the chairman has put in place for us,” he says. “We know there is a chance for us to play in the first team – it is up to us to go and grab the opportunity.”

What is striking, however, is not just the development of home-grown talent but also how so many senior players from varying backgrounds have transformed themselves at Southampton. It poses a question. If Lambert, Lallana, Rodriguez and perhaps also Nathaniel Clyne can go from the lower leagues to the international stage at Southampton, just how many other young players are failing to reach their potential elsewhere across the country?

As he prepares to swap Marchwood this week for St George’s Park, Rodriguez summed up the excitement. “Words can’t describe how I feel,” he says. “It’s surreal, a dream come true. It just shows the direction we’re going in and the ambition and vision we’ve got.”

The hope for Hodgson – and the FA – is that other clubs hear this and are sufficiently inspired to follow a similar path.

[Turkish]

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?47625-Telegraph-Article

 

Locked.

[NickG]

Good read. Press are talking about us in a way a few on hear call deluded.

Think its great way we are breaking down the narrow minded view that only certain clubs are able to compete and we are light years behind.

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[SaintBobby]

Being press officer for Southampton FC must be the easiest spin doctor job in the world right now!

[sussexsaint]

Being press officer for Southampton FC must be the easiest spin doctor job in the world right now!

 

 

TBF they have had a pretty rough ride in the past though