With the International weekend upon us and the next club football for me to look forward to being a trip to Stoke just as the weather starts to turn bitter, I’m feeling in a bit of a sporting slump.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my country (well, parts of it I do) but International football just doesn’t grip me in the same way that club football does and it hasn’t done for years. I mean, I still watch the matches and follow the storylines just as closely as someone who is deeply devoted to the national cause but somehow, even the prospect of being blast-chilled throughout the upcoming trip to The Britannia Stadium is more appealing (post-Pulis era obviously) and considering the abysmal record of West Brom against Stoke, that’s saying something.
Thankfully, The Football Association and, of course, the media have acknowledged England’s descent from the pinnacle of world football way back in 1966, and perhaps even a wavering of public support for the current regime, and seemingly laid the majority of the blame at the door (vast double doors presumably to ensure that the endless line keeps flowing) labelled ‘Cheap Foreign Imports’.
The eight-man FA Commission (numbers could rise to ten) which has been set up by new Chairman Greg Dyke to look into the decline in the number of English youngsters making the breakthrough into English football includes Greg himself plus the FA vice-Chairman Roger Burden, Football League Chairman Greg Clarke, League Managers Association Chairman Howard Wilkinson, incoming Professional Footballers’ Association Chairman Ritchie Humphreys, Crewe Alexandra Director of Football Dario Gradi, former England defender Danny Mills and ex-England manager Glenn Hoddle.
We have already heard from both Mills and Hoddle with the 35% current English contingent in the Premier League being shouted, albeit eloquently and whinily, from the proverbial rooftops. Mills in particular implores the introduction of a quota on high-quality foreigners, for he has no problem with them, set at around a dozen per each 25-man Premier League squad. Quite how the legal issue of restricting someone’s ability to work in the country would be addressed is obviously viewed as a problem for someone else’s consideration. Mills went on to say that cheap foreign alternatives who are no better than their English counterparts are the main culprits but, to view the argument from the club’s point of view, why should Premier League Chairmen be almost forced to spend over the odds for a level of quality that could’ve been purchased for much less abroad?
Another question which may need answering before English football rushes head first into rules on quotas and such like, is what have been the percentages of English footballers in the top flight in the intervening years since our solitary success nearly half a century ago? There are many more layers and challenges to this argument, as I’m sure the FA’s newly-appointed commission will find out over the next six months but to blame everything on the foreigners in our game seems like a very hollow conclusion to me, should that be the final outcome.
Improved coaching, which should be an automatic by-product of the St George’s Park facility, will be central to any advancement in the National game at the highest level, as will increased dedication and professionalism on the part of the players, of all ages, themselves. In a way I see the wholesale dumping of our problems on the door-mat of the foreigners in our game as an embarrassment, not to mention a gross exaggeration. The cheap foreign import blocking the path to the first team is only blocking the way for as long as he is seen as the technically better option. He can be viewed either as a challenge to meet or a road block to bemoan by the youngsters in Academy football, which one is entirely up to them.
Going back to my own club, West Bromwich Albion, the Academy has started to bear fruit in recent years following improvement in facilities, coaching and an all-round investment in a long-term project – which is exactly what England are embarking upon. These improvements don’t and won’t happen at the click of a finger or the signing of a cheque but over a ten year period, the improvement should be tangible and the results clearly evident. Anyone who has seen the impact that Saido Berahino has had at both club level and England Under-21 level will find it hard to say that the talent isn’t out there. Ross Barkley and John Stones at Everton, the never-ending talent conveyor-belt on the South Coast at Southampton and the continuing success of youngsters reaching first team level at Middlesbrough show that the path is not always blocked if you are willing to roll up your sleeves and get stuck into the battle for a squad place. There are, of course, many others besides those few mentioned and in fact I see the argument against being little more than excuse-making for a lack of dedication to realise the full potential of a young player’s talent.
Bringing Glenn Hoddle back into the setup is an encouraging sign, as the more ‘football people’ involved at all levels can only be beneficial to the development of home-grown talent. Whether you like Hoddle or not, religious beliefs and all, you would have to have your head buried in the sands of ignorance to believe that he has nothing to offer the next generation of English footballers. The same can be said of Dario Gradi, who has long had an outstanding reputation for his fine work at Crewe, producing highly technical footballers intent on playing the game in what I would term ‘the right way’. In Dan Ashworth as Head of Elite Development, Matthew Crocker as Head of Coach and Player Development, Dan Micciche as Technical Lead for the 12-16 year-olds and Neil Dewsnip as Technical Lead for the 17-21 age group, The FA have appointed people recognised as having performed extremely well in their previous roles at WBA, Southampton, MK Dons and Everton respectively.
I do believe that things are heading in the right direction, or at least beginning to, but there is still plenty of work ahead in order to reach the lofty goals set out by Dyke upon his appointment as FA Chairman. I for one certainly don’t believe that foreigners are the sole reason for the dwindling number of youngsters making their Premier League breakthrough and would go so far as to say that the complete opposite is in fact true in many cases as young professionals can pick up excellent habits in terms of diet and fitness, not to mention their technical levels or dedication to succeed from their foreign counterparts.
I would love nothing more than to see an all-home-grown eleven run out in a Premier League match for West Brom but only if they warrant their selection, as anything else would be hollow to me. If the players coming through the Academy are not of sufficient quality to warrant a Premier League place then I don’t want them to be given the honour for no reason other than being English. That wouldn’t be right and in my eyes wouldn’t be beneficial to anyone either. The player himself would find out pretty fast that he was out of his depth, the supporters would not be happy watching sub-standard club football for the perceived benefit of the national team and the club’s manager and Chairman would have questions to answer too if things turned sour, for we must still ensure that we are eating at the top table of English football in order to dine on the vast riches on offer – riches which may not be on offer from the league’s broadcast partners for too much longer at the current level if the standards start slipping as a consequence of England for the English.
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