Brooking alarmed at the state of the English game

[Billywhizz]

I saw an interview with Trevor sit on the fence Brooking who got annoyed for once, it appears that the standard of our future English footballers is falling behind he commented on how coaches were still teaching basic ball control skills to under 15's and over when really this should be installed at an early age and the future of our national team don't pose to good.

I don't know about you guys, but i tend to agree with him, with places up for grabs in the CL and lots of money being an incentive for clubs they tend to scour the world looking for talent to keep them up there (Look no further than Chelski) which must be dishearting to our own kids trying to break through at there respective clubs. We are proberly one of the only clubs that encourges homegrown talent which i belive is one of Levy's, Jol's & Commoli's policies hence the likes of Lennon, JJ , Defoe etc.

I see yesterday that Arsenal opened academy of Football (David Rocastle Centre) i know us and other clubs are active in the community but still feel more could be done. If Trevor's right then we as England supporters could be in for a miserable time in the future.

Anybody got any idea's on this.

[Spur]

If Trevor's right then we as England supporters could be in for a miserable time in the future.

What's new? We have had miserable times for the last 4 decades.

[Welsh Spur]

A miserable time in the future? ****, I've watched England in six major tournaments now and if what I've endured is about to get worse then I think I'll just become a neutral!

[Billywhizz]

Thats true, but we are talking not even qulification for WC's & Euro's, recently the under 19's were beaten by Russia (****ing Russia).

[Welsh Spur]

Yes, I hate Russia. They knocked Wales out in a playoff a few years back. Bastards.

[Spur]

I think I know why we lost.

When I was down the park a few weeks back, I was alarmed at the state of some training sessions, I mean, there were these Under-15's and they were still learning basic ball control.

[Welsh Spur]

Trevor Brooking is a dour man. Very boring. The only Trevor worse is Trevor 'They didn't deserve to win' Francis.

Please can somebody explain how, when a team wins a game 2-1 for example, how they do not deserve to win. If Spurs put the ball in the net twice, and Arsenal once, Spurs deserve to win because they managed to achieve the objective (scoring) better than Arsenal did. If Arsenal play us off the park and we still win 2-1, it DOES NOT mean they deserve to win. We scored two; they scored one. End of ****ing discussion.

UNDERSTAND, MR FRANCIS?!?!?!

[Billywhizz]

Blame Chelski, Arsenal, Man-U did'nt The London 2 field a side with no English players in it at all on a number of times.

****ing shamefull

[Welsh Spur]

Yeah, it's pathetic.

Arsenal should be renamed LONDON FRENCH!

[Billywhizz]

Yeah i know, but to be fair it's not only Arsenal.

Anyway Spur what was you doing in the park with a load of 15 year olds running about.

You dirty old devil

[shoot_ffs]

with the reduction in playing fields and facilities that aren't vandalised, less active children due to video games and tv, there will be a drop off for a while.
having said that, the coaching standards can be raised but this is to do with the FA and coaching badges, it should be passed on to school teachers also. with kids being spoilt today, and not wanting to earn a hard living, rich footballers will be the carrot to keep kids playing. I'm not sure it sets a healthy example though.
It should be about the personal development of young people, setting and achieving goals, fun, fitness and team ethics. many more kids would get something out of it if it was, even if they didn't make any professional grade. You'll always get those who are naturally gifted, and those driven to achieve and escape their surroundings which is noteworthy in it's own way. But how do we teach kids the underlying benefits of sport when the money is often the bigger headline. Look at us all criticise sven, when you could argue he has actually done brilliantly for himself. The comparison is easy to make. Sven was driven by money, to the extent that he overlooked his inability to coach the team effectively. A proud man would have stood down for the good of the team. If those at Fifa and the FA are not responsible for their actions, the policies they endorse are likely to be weak and undemanding. That is the biggest problem.

[Spur]

Yeah i know, but to be fair it's not only Arsenal.

Anyway Spur what was you doing in the park with a load of 15 year olds running about.

You dirty old devil

LOL, walking the dog of course you sick bastard!!

[Billywhizz]

Valid points Shoot, that is one way of raising the coaching standards through schools maybe making it a prequiste for a PT teacher to take FA coaching badges.

[Billywhizz]

Spur = hahahahahaha quality i love it

[Welsh Spur]

****ing right I wish they had that when I was in school, we had no choice, it was rugby or rugby, ****ing egg-chasers......we kicked right off though, can't take football away from us.....so we had to get a few of the lads' dads to coach us for 5 years, and our headteachers came out and said that the football team was in no way affiliated with the school. Even though we played under our school's name; it took us 2 years just to get them to agree to read our results out during assemblies......GODDAMN WELSH EGG CHASERS!!!

Sorry went off on one a bit there!

[Billywhizz]

Bet the school would have changed there minds, if you started lifting trophy's in there name and being spread across the local papers.

Egg chasing ain't a bad game it's a legal tear-up, my son's just started playing it he love's it. mind you the same problem exists in rugby as it does in football with the regards in coaching (English Rugby is diabolicial at the moment and TBH i don't think it's all Andy Robinson fault)

[spurs61]

There is a general malaise in British sport which streches back to the early 80's. There is far too much emphasis on physical attributes and not enough about either the technicalities of a sport or the skill level.

Let's take rugby for example. OK we fluked a World Cup on the basis of being bigger, stronger, fitter and more aggresive than other teams. But we got found out only a few months later when nations reasiled that if they played an expansive game, the English players lacked the tatical nouce and awareness to cope.

The same can be said of British tennis as well. Greg Rusedski became British number one on the back of being a rather big bloke with a huge serve. The fact that he couldn't actually play tennis was not seen a a hinderance for success.

Which brings us to British football. Over the past two decades the number of British players capable of using both feet equally well have declined dramitically. So much so that Michael Carrick was hailed as being a revelation for being able to pass with both feet equally well. This is nothing new, twenty years ago players would play entire game with their weaker foot to ensure that they improved, nowadays there are only a handful of genuinely two footed British players.

The tactics on display from British sides throughout the European campaign is best described as nonsense. Take 'Boro's moderately successful cup run last year. Would any other manager seriously consider playing four or five upfront and expect to be taken seriously? MacLaren (Steve, not Tom) should never have allowed his team to get into that situatuion in the first place. So whilst the red-tops hailed the current England encumbant as a genius with balls, the continental press quietly laughed into their espressos and croissants and quietly slunk off to formulate a plan to win the World Cup.

[Chinaman]

England will not win anything meaningful so long the emphasis is on work-rate rather than skill. In fact English footie had been in decline since a certain Alf Ramsey( sad to say an ex-Spur) won the WC on hard-running and uncompromising defense. Ever since, everybody down to P.E. teachers have been converted to avid believers in the hard running game.

Successive England managers have failed to build a team around firstly, Trevor Brooking/Alan Hudson, Hoddle and Gazza showed that England had it all wrong. You can now really count on the fingers of one hand the really skillful British(not only English) players: Lennon and who else?

[JJ]

England will not win anything meaningful so long the emphasis is on work-rate rather than skill. In fact English footie had been in decline since a certain Alf Ramsey( sad to say an ex-Spur) won the WC on hard-running and uncompromising defense. Ever since, everybody down to P.E. teachers have been converted to avid believers in the hard running game.

Successive England managers have failed to build a team around firstly, Trevor Brooking/Alan Hudson, Hoddle and Gazza showed that England had it all wrong. You can now really count on the fingers of one hand the really skillful British(not only English) players: Lennon and who else?

David Batty.


It's true what you're saying though, i remember going to train with the Hendon u18s about 7 years ago, and the coach insisted on picking the most athletic and hard working players every week, and ignoring the players who could actually play football.

[spurs61]

I'm sure I just made those points above. ;)

[Welsh Spur]

and therein lies the first example of things going tits-up... the inexplicable non-use of Lennon at the WC, when it would clearly have been an advantage....

[choda]

There is a general malaise in British sport which streches back to the early 80's. There is far too much emphasis on physical attributes and not enough about either the technicalities of a sport or the skill level.

Let's take rugby for example. OK we fluked a World Cup on the basis of being bigger, stronger, fitter and more aggresive than other teams. But we got found out only a few months later when nations reasiled that if they played an expansive game, the English players lacked the tatical nouce and awareness to cope.

The same can be said of British tennis as well. Greg Rusedski became British number one on the back of being a rather big bloke with a huge serve. The fact that he couldn't actually play tennis was not seen a a hinderance for success.

Which brings us to British football. Over the past two decades the number of British players capable of using both feet equally well have declined dramitically. So much so that Michael Carrick was hailed as being a revelation for being able to pass with both feet equally well. This is nothing new, twenty years ago players would play entire game with their weaker foot to ensure that they improved, nowadays there are only a handful of genuinely two footed British players.

The tactics on display from British sides throughout the European campaign is best described as nonsense. Take 'Boro's moderately successful cup run last year. Would any other manager seriously consider playing four or five upfront and expect to be taken seriously? MacLaren (Steve, not Tom) should never have allowed his team to get into that situatuion in the first place. So whilst the red-tops hailed the current England encumbant as a genius with balls, the continental press quietly laughed into their espressos and croissants and quietly slunk off to formulate a plan to win the World Cup.

Really brilliant post there spur61. Poor old Andy Robinson is getting it in the neck because of what he's left with. Mind you he doesn't look like he knows what the problem is either. England are producing immensely powerful teams but are being outclassed by Ireland and France. It is clear that Ireland are using their resources much better.

You can say the same for England in football. Guys like Gerrard and Lampard are hailed and hyped like nothing I've ever seen before but a guy like Scholes in his prime was for me in a different league. But because of Englands lack of expansiveness it didn't even matter how technically good he was. He got fed up of Erikssen.

I think in England the problem is (as Chinaman brilliantly pointed out), with the attitude to how the game is to be played... and this starts with the underage teams. The big kids get picked ahead of the talented ones, so a lot of the guys who could be gifted players lose interest at a young age. Players who could have made it are everywhere in England and Ireland, but ended up doing something completely different. I don't think this is the case in other countries who win world cups.

[choda]

This thread is a great follow on to 'what does a footbal purist mean?'. Some really great posts.

[highlander]

the demise of english football is down to the money thats in football. teams want to save money by buying from abroad rather than home-grown talent just to save a few quid. it even goes as far as to the FA with the upraw over Beckham not being captain because it reduces the sponsorship money which is just spent on more wasteful committee's set up to look into why everything getting ****ed up but nothing is done. FOR **** SACK GET FOOTBALL MEN INTO THE FA. why is Brian Barwick in there, he's a media man. The F.A should be run by people who have experience at all levels of the game i.e. Trever Brooking, Jimmy Hill, Jack Charlton, Barry Fry, not politicians

[choda]

Money's definitely part of the problem, but it deeper than that for england. Italy and Spain has for years had foriegn players but it doesn't stop the youngsters coming through for them.

But you're right that the suits don't understand football. They wouldn't have appointed and re-signed Sven and then McClaren if they did. After all having a technically brilliant, skillful, winning team that everyone wants to watch is going to make you more money.