Michael Foster
I would say, ‘Another year of dashed hopes and dreams’, only this time it doesn’t feel like the dreams were ever high enough to be dashed. Hopes of England football glory at the Euros almost had the feel of a condemned man slowly being marched to the gallows, and ultimately England succumbed to the inevitable. Almost at the same time the Premier League was chinking its champagne flutes following the sale of a good three billion pounds worth of television rights. The contrast between the health of the domestic league and the national squad could not be more jarring.
People claiming the almost overwhelming success of the Premier League has been detrimental for the English international game aren’t preaching a new argument. Of course neither are the following arguments frequently found in the dark recesses of the internet. ‘Players earn too much, they don’t care about wearing an England shirt, hordes of rampant foreigners looting and pillaging our football squads.’ But actually these arguments are merely symptomatic, because there would not be such issues if the Premier League wasn’t so gosh darned profitable.
It seems the bubble simply will not burst. Despite the threat of economic global meltdown it seems fans cannot do without Gary Neville’s insightful analysis on a Sunday afternoon. Until such a time that a Sky Sports subscription is so expensive only the five richest European Kings will be able to afford one, this bubble will keep growing. And teams will go to any and all means necessary to ensure their top flight status and keep their fingers in the pie.
Thus they look to short term programmes to stay in the Premier League as opposed to investing in long term development. Such measures are why we see managerial switches as often as the changing of the seasons. But the same principles apply to the recruiting of new players. Clubs seem to be in a constant state of rebuilding, scouring the country and the globe for the next quick fix to their problems.
This principle is applied to the cultivation of new talent. Many top level clubs of course have their own youth academies, producing some real talent. But when it comes to taking a punt on these youngsters, clubs and managers suddenly lose their bottle. Instead they’d rather construct vast shopping lists, peer over hedgerows at the possessions of clubs in lower divisions, or cross the sea to farm the bountiful fields of mainland Europe. Often local talent is left to either stagnate, or is shipped off to lower league clubs on a sort of work experience placement from which many do not return.
Perhaps the bigger issue is the way in which the country’s football association has not done more to encourage domestic teams to nurture the growth of home grown talent. The FA has been almost laughably slow in keeping up with the more organised, supported and modern schemes run in Europe, particularly in Spain which has produced a conveyor belt of talent operating faster than a Bullet Train on jet propelled roller skates.
Yet the FA seemed more interested in pimping out their massively over budget stadium to all and sundry, spending ridiculous amounts of money on a crinkly browed Italian, and generally getting embroiled in the sort of scandals that has the Daily Mail licking their lips. You feel Mr Bean would feel right at home within their organisation. But the problem is that while the buck is supposed to stop with them, it is the Premier League that wields the real influence. All the FA can do is bluster about their investment at grass roots level and their new coaching programmes, and hope eventually something strikes gold.
Ok perhaps that’s a bit mean, because better late than never the FA have recently opened a new training ground with the aim of improving coaching standards and youth development infrastructure. It is a start that in coming years may make a difference. Yet the balance of power in the English game undoubtedly lies within the Premier League and the big money clubs, not the FA. The question for clubs is whether they are willing to put short term success on the line for a section of the game in which they have no investment? The answer, for most of them, will of course be no. Until it is more financially frugal to invest heavily in the upcoming generation the Premier League clubs will continue to cherry pick only the very, very best. And the question remains, without proper training and investment, how will England in the future produce the very, very best?
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