chesterguy said:
Graceyboy said:
chesterguy said:
What a load of precious nonsense. It is not the clubs responsibility to develop English players it is City's responsibility to bring on world class players to play for the first team no matter where they come from.
I would like nothing better for City to field 11 lads from Manchester in the side but I the truth is don't care where the players come from as long as they perform on the pitch.
OK, so how many England players do you know that doesn't have a club team to play for?
It's the English league clubs national obligation to develop English players for the need of the nation. There is no structure in place for young kids to be scouted for England that don't already play for a club academy. These club academies put forward their best to go to national level.
So, if clubs continue to over populate their academies with young players from abroad, it stifles two streams, one stream of young English kids breaking into club football, and secondly reducing good English players being forwarded up to England youth.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big England follower, but I am an advocation of grass routes football. There needs to be a hope for these English kids that they can make it in football, but if all they see is these young lads from abroad coming taking places they could aim for, they are going to think what is the point in trying. And I'm not going to swallow the argument about English kids don't try hard enough yadda yadda yadda, there are thousands of really fantastic talented dedicated kids all busting a gut to be the next James Milner, but their light at the end of a very long vicious tunnel is getting smaller and smaller because of this obsession of bringing in young lads from other shores
And that is where you are wrong. Its the club obligation to win football matches end of.
Of course clubs would like to develop young talent jeez does anyone remember Jim Cassell and if I remember 36 players from the academy that played for the first team. That is fine when you are in Div2, Div 1 and bottom reaches of the premier league that is how clubs survive.
But now we are at a completely different level. We are at a world class level. How many of those 36 would be in this side? The answer just 1 and he is still at the club Micah has shown that it is possible to be English academy player and play at City
Of course all clubs would rather the talent they had was homegrown its far cheaper but the talent has to be good enough. It is up to the FA to ensure that coaching at all levels of english football is improved. They need to start at the bottom and in 10/15 years lets see.
This is where you are trying to combine two seperate arguments/problems into one Chester
Like I mentioned before, where do England players come from wrt clubs.
ans 99.9% English/British Clubs. (exception was Owen Hargeaves, maybe more Im not aware of.)
So, if the
only route to get England players is from the clubs, then the structure of British football needs to encourage the development of English talent.
This is where the problem splits in two. The quality and skill of the English youth. (Grass routes football) and the structure of football to allow a path for English youth to progress to International level.
Problem one, this lays squarely at the feet of the government and English FA. Why? because one of the first exposures for kids to play football is at school, its our national sport. But what guarantee do we have that the "PE" teacher at a primary school (who is the same person who is a year class teacher normally) has any football coaching experiance/qualifications. This is where the government and FA can combine and provide these "Default PE Teachers" the skills they need to
coach youngsters rather than just putting a few cones out and getting the class to have a mini game. This is where we actively start to make youngsters technically better.
The next phase of grass roots football is the local football clubs. These marvelous clubs who are run by the good will volenteers need the correct support. From reception age classes right through to 15 yr olds need to be furnished with coaches that have access to free/ heavily subsidised FA badges.
FOR ALL Now I know some will say they already exist, but I say they (coaches) can be improved, and the system can be improved. All coaches should have to complete experiance modules by rotating around the different age teams in their clubs to get better themselves, and their clubs should show proof to the FA that they are implementing that. This stops coaches getting "settled" with a particular age group. This is all funded by the FA for local football club level. This is where we have to provide better training for our kids who have showed an aptitude for football outside of school and who want to play football as a hobby/sport. Some are better than others, thats natural, but everykid irrespective of their rate of improvement should be coached correctly and given the chance.
Next tier up is the Professional Clubs Academies. This is where the FA need to set out rules and quotas. Scouts move around the local clubs picking up youngsters for their "Development" centres at their expence. You would expect then that their "Coaches" are of a standard that are higher than the local club coaches, as these are professionals and its their paid job. This is debatable. If today I'm hearing that top top ex players, incuding our own Paddy V is going to the Welsh FA for his coaching badges because the English FA is a shambles, it dosn't look good does it.
We should expect that the prof clubs have an obligation to the individuals. They are children for Gods sake. Young, impressionable, hopeful, developing, vunerable people who are put at the mercey of these big clubs who have been driven to win at all cost, even at the cost of destroying the hope, self esteem, confidence and personalities of the majority who don't make it. Society, government, FA, premier league etc etc need to get together and set out rules and regulations to control this beastly market trading of young footballers.
For a kid to make it into a prof club 15 yr old squad having gone through all the selection process that happens, to then be let go because the club have bought or just brought in some lad from another county is outragious. If there is an argument that this lad from overseas is such a prodigy, he should be part of a small quota allowed.
If the prof clubs are finding that there is not enough youth talent coming through their ranks, then they can buy additional players but only at first team level. This then, if it starts to cost the club too much money they can't afford, will drive them to improve their academy and selection processes and coaches to get better.
The better the kids are coming through, being tought better at grass routes and then at club level, the better the chance the clubs can provide better players for England.
My Son is 5 yrs old and is a pretty good footballer for his age, he loves it, and plays all day long practicing his skills with his brother or against a wall. Do you know what his dream is? To play for Manchester City and England, NOT to play for FC Copenhagen at 15.