The Doc's Diagnosis: Have we all gone mad?
Wednesday, 28 November 07, 08:22 AM
In the rush to blame somebody, something or anything for England's failures, I think we've all lost it. I really do.
It's Carson's fault. No it isn't, it's Gerrard's fault. No it isn't, it's Lampard's fault. No it isn't, it's McClaren's fault. No it isn't, it's Barwick's fault. Is it?
So who's fault is it, then? Well, let's face a few facts.
English football is in rude health. Twenty years ago, I was myself scared to go to an away game, and hesitated even to take my then girlfriend to a home game. Now, married for nine years, I take a family of four to every home game, some away matches and a few reserve games and my seven and five year old boys have never once felt threatened or frightened.
Italy are the World Champions. Would you sacrifice the now safe and civilised Premier League we have in England for the violent, thuggish, fascist madness they have in Italy? Just for the Jules Rimet? I wouldn't.
England has led the world in transforming a thuggish, cheap opportunity for a drunken scrap into genuine theatre. Through our policy of all seater stadia and higher ticket prices, we have driven the idiots out of the grounds and, because television money has followed, we have been able to attract the greatest players on the planet to our Premier League.
So has the appearance of Gianfranco Zola, Thierry Henry, Juergen Klinsmann, Fernando Torres, Ossie Ardiles, Christiano Ronaldo or Gianluca Vialli undermined our ability to perform as a national side? Not a bit of it - in fact, I choose those players deliberately because for every one of them there is an England international who says that he became a better player for playing alongside them.
The Premier League is the top league in the world to play football. And there are plenty - if not loads of - English players playing in that league.
The problem isn't the foreigners. The problem wasn't Steve McClaren, who I feel sorry for because he should never have been appointed.
The problem is easy to describe - and I describe it like this: I am an FA Level 2 coach working with a group of 30 boys every Saturday morning. If I need balls, cones or bibs, I have to arrange a fund-raising event to pay for them. At the same time, I learn that the FA earns £2.7bn a year from television and last year granted just £180k to non-league academies.
£180K. In case you need to put that into perspective, it's ten days of Frank Lampard's wages.
Listen - my wife, my kids and I love watching Drogba, Ronaldo, Fabregas, Torres et al. And my boys don't give a stuff if Arsenal arrive on Saturday with no English players. The boys just want to see Fabregas. They hate him because he plays for Arsenal - but they also love him because he's brilliant.
Ignore the bullshit about the foreigners - it's a smokescreen. The real issue is, and always will be, why the billions the FA earns every year never, ever finds its way to the grass roots.
The next Beckham, the next Rooney is out there - but you know what? We won't find him.
Keane for England boss.
Comments (11)
That is probably the most lucid arguememnt I have read out of all the invesitgations into England's defeat against Croatia. And include the professional media in that too.
I do disagree that the PL is the best in the world. Its dull. There is no competition. The same clubs win all the trophies year after year. Same as they do in Scotland. Same as they do in Spain.
At least in Italy, there is more genuine competition. Four teams can and have won the league recently: inter, roma, lazio, juventus. The hooliganism out there is outrageous. The fan power (ultras) out there is shocking. The corruption is unbelievable. But the technical quality of the football, plus the greater level of competition in Serie A edges it for me.
i agree doc - mostly because it supports my position about there been too many average foreigners in the premier league ;)
i'm all for the best players in the world playing here but if it wasn't for the money none of them would. if you had the option to live in italy, spain or france and earn the same money as you would in the uk - where would you live? the only thing that would really take me to england is the extra money ...
more money at grass roots would mean we didn't have the average players coming here - all good
Whilst I agree with the article in general, I don't think that lack of grass routes funding is the reason why we didn't qualify for Euro 08. It may be the reason why there are so many foreign players in the PL and it may be the reason why we haven't won anything for a while, but we should still be qualifying for the major tournaments without a problem.
The manager wasn't good enough - it was the wrong decision by the FA. That's where the problem was in failing to qualify. If anything, we're lacking world class managers, rather than world class players.
I totally agree we need more money to filter down to grass roots.
I watched Serie A at the weekend and pretty much all of them use BOTH their feet to control and distribute the ball, now how many of the English players that do that???? Imagine if when we played Lennon on the left instead of cutting back to cross (badly) on his right foot, therefore giving away the yards he had gained, he crossed with his left? Same for Joe Cole, how often does he use his left foot? Wayne Bridge doesn't even know he has a right foot! What type of players are our future, players that can use BOTH feet!! Remind me, Gareth Barry's awesome goal against Spurs last year, what foot did he hit that with???
I know what you mean about the coaching equipment Doc, it was like that at school for most of us (probably including you) and when we joined sunday league teams.
We have a decent youth system, but nothing good enough to support the future of English football. Why else would Arsenal search the Spanish youth leagues instead of here? Because Spain has much better academies.
Jon Boy, his RIGHT foot!
I Agree with the Doc. Great article!
INTERESTING THAT WHEN ITALY WON WC THE WHOLE SQUAD PLAYED IN-SERIE A. SO WHERE IS THE BEST LEAGUE?
As an American who has been involved in our own youth movement, I agree with your sentiments completley. The only reason we have progressed on the world stage and will continue to do so, is the youth movement in the USA is huge. Today more kids play soccer(futbol) than any other sport. It starts at a very young age and continues with the assistance of youth leagues being linked to the very top, in our case US soccer association. We have a long way to go, and nowhere near the money and passion that is generated in Europe. It is worth noting that McClaren could have probably made a few choices during qualifying that probably would have changed a result. Word is he will be the next LA Galaxy Coach.
You're not implying that winning the world cup is what turned italian "fans" into violent fascist thugs, are you Doc?
I am a student at university writing a dissertation on the development of players at grass route level and comparing them to the development of players within America. This is a very interesting article and it would be interesting to hear you views on this especially Stephen Tower, to see how football is developing in America. Email me if you have information or want to share your opinion.Thanks Stuart