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English football malaise goes deeper than just one poor performance
It's good to see Trevor Brooking, an Englishman held with a very high regard by English fans come out and say this. The mentality of the players shows they know their places are a given, and as such they know any bad performances will not displace them. Comfort breeds laziness. For all the stats that showed England the better side against Germany on Sunday, the alarming reality was the players weren't just tired, as Capello said, but downright bloody lazy.England fans looking for crumbs of comfort beyond the current tarnished "golden generation" in the ill-starred World Cup face a damning verdict from Sir Trevor Brooking, the FA's director of football development."There is an immediate void in the standard of the team. World Cup 2014 will be difficult for England," he said. "I don't think there are the obvious quality [players] coming through who can replicate what we have currently, unless we can fasttrack one or two of the younger ones – and that's asking a lot."
It was an admission that the malaise in English football goes deeper than a contentious decision here and a poor performance there. While England sent their oldest squad in history to the World Cup, Germany sent their youngest since 1934.
While there will inevitably be calls for the head of Fabio Capello, now tied to the FA on a watertight Ł6m-a-year contract until 2012, many others will feel more fundamental change is required.
Prior to this tournament, there were only 2,769 English coaches holding Uefa's top qualifications. Spain has produced 23,995, Italy 29,420, Germany 34,970 and France 17,588. And perhaps the dysfunction and discord within the England camp should not have come as a surprise at the end of a season when those who run the game have been mired in more acrimony than ever.
An incredibly soul crushing reality on the roots of English football.
As angry and disconsolate England fans filed out of the Free State Stadium, they railed not so much at the performance as at the fact that not one of the players went over to clap them for spending thousands of pounds and flying thousands of miles to support them.
To them, it was further proof of the chasm between them and those who wear the shirts they pay handsomely for replica versions of.
Even Wayne Rooney, seen as the last link between fan and player, criticised them in Cape Town and today refused to stop and speak to the media after another frustrating display.
Cheeky England fans. What do you expect? You boo them and then want them to wave a cheery 'hello' at you all? If I was an England player I;d have thrown my boots at you all. For all the passion you proclaim to have for England, all you bitch and fucking moan about is the money. MONEY MONEY MONEY! It's always about money nowadays.
The FA's loss of control over the game from top to bottom goes back to 1992, when it ceded control of the top flight to the most powerful clubs. Since then, the Premier League has run the game in the interests of those 20 clubs. Attendances and TV revenues have boomed, attracting investors from around the world – which in turn has brought its own issues – but done little for the national team. The idea was sold to the FA on the basis that it would benefit the national team, because the number of teams would be reduced to 18 and fixture congestion would be eased. It never happened.
Rooney himself said just last week that he would welcome a winter break, as in Germany, but it is unlikely to happen.
Premier League executives can't be blamed for protecting their brand in the most successful way they know. But the FA's German counterpart, the DFB, has a far more balanced relationship with the Bundesliga and is able to weigh what is best for the league against what is best for the game as a whole. That has led to a very different ownership model, often eyed enviously by those who feel alienated by the excesses of the Premier League era, and a higher percentage of homegrown players plying their trade in their domestic league. In the Premier League, that figure is just 37%. Meanwhile, the National Football Centre in Burton stayed on the drawing board for a decade, although there are renewed hopes that it will finally be built.
High time we took our fingers out of our ears and listened to reality here. The EPL needs less fixtures and a resting period in which to recuperate. Unfortunately money doesn't rest, and as long as money is a factor, neither will the players.
Of late, the Premier League has put more emphasis on youth development and introduced rules forcing clubs to include more players developed in this country in their matchday squads. Yet the rules don't go as far as those in place in Germany for some time.
What the article doesn't mention is the youth players are majority foreign born and bought for pittance to play in academies up and down the country. What needs to be implemented is a homegrown player cap. I'd go for 11 men, but a reasonable amount is at least 3 foreign players per team.
SourceBut the FA, which recently lost a chairman and a chief executive in the space of three months, must also look internally. The organisation is facing financial and existential crisis. The question of just what it is for will return at increased volume. When it was shaving costs to the bone elsewhere after the collapse of broadcast partner Setanta, the Rolls Royce England operation was untouched.
Capello's Italian coaches, the purposebuilt Royal Bafokeng training complex, the pre-tournament altitude training camp, all remained to give the players the best chance of success. It was a commercial as well as a football decision – a successful, popular England side is vital to keeping the FA's head above water. All its four-year sponsorship deals run out after this World Cup and a good performance would have given them leverage.
Then there is Wembley. The millstone of the Ł757m cost of building the national stadium continues to weigh heavily. Until at least 2014 the FA must subsidise the loan repayments to the tune of Ł20m every year. In August, England will play Hungary in a friendly that was to have been a heroic homecoming. There may be empty seats, and the leases on the Club Wembley corporate seats will shortly be up for renewal. TV deals are also due for renewal in 2012. There is also the possible effect on the FA's upcoming battle to justify its existence.
The new sports minister, Hugh Robertson, has given football until autumn to get its house in order before examining whether a new structure should be imposed. The FA's new general secretary, Alex Horne, had hoped to return to South Africa for the quarter finals but now will be at home grappling with an overflowing intray.
Uh-oh! We don't want teh government involved. Things are bad enough
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Originally Posted by Troll's Puzzle
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