England: Papering over the Cracks

The air was cold with a sharp edge, darkness had fallen on the nation yet Wembley stood illuminated upon the capital, mostly from the beaming floodlights but partially from the thick, engulfing smoke emanating from the away end, as a sea of red embarked on Wembley Way.

 

This may read like a work of fiction, yet there were no shock surprises, twists, or miracle upsets. Instead, England achieved qualification for the World Cup without the usual dramatics, which coincidentally may be considered a surprise in itself after all. While the events of last night are rightly being held in high regard, and have even seen some of the most positive press regarding the national team that one might recall since South Africa, there should be concern that they are overshadowing a serious debate that arose in recent weeks. The issue of whether players from foreign shores who attain British Citizenship should be eligible to play for their new-found home.

My stance on the issue is a precarious one, in that it may come across as xenophobic or to an incorrect, extreme degree even racist, in that I am firmly against this notion. While these unfortunately may be the motivations for some small-minded individuals, and are in themselves top, top issues in football that need addressing, they are certainly not mine, and I want to establish that beyond retort.

For a long, long time now, as long perhaps as I have even considered myself an avid fan and part of football, there has been much debate and discussion on whether the English Premier League is being ‘overrun’ by foreign talent with great detriment to the National team, as opportunities that could be afforded to young English players are instead being handed to foreign imports, stunting the growth of the afore mentioned home grown talent. My concern with allowing foreigners to play for England is that this will establish a similar precedent, and it remains a firm belief of mine that the highly sought-after ‘fix’ for English football on an international level is not through simply encouraging players from abroad into attaining British Citizenship, with popular fantasised targets being Mikel Arteta and recently Adnan Januzaj. Instead, the powers that be should be making improvements at grass-roots level and encouraging superior youth development, rather than simply papering over the cracks.


As somebody that has played organised association football from an early age I have seen first-hand the politics and general level of effort placed into kids football in this historic country of ours. There isn’t the high-level of coaching and facilities found on the continent, instead it’s literally run by volunteer dads, with referees and linesman often parents asked to do the job on match-day. Pathetic when you consider they could be responsible for the future of English football. Admittedly a bit of optimistic hyperbole, yet the point still stands.

It’s no longer a shock to think that there are 15 times more qualified coaches in Spain than in England holding the UEFA A and UEFA Pro licenses. There are just over 1,000 coaches in England and about 15,000 in Spain. This highlights Spain’s bottom-up approach compared to the English approach that by creating competition and a high level of quality at the top level, the rest of the pyramid will somehow follow.
The stats speak from themselves on which approach is more successful. The Barcelona team of 2009 that won the treble of the Champions League, the Spanish League, and the Spanish Domestic Cup, 14 of them were raised through the clubs youth system, with 10 out of the 18 members of the squad for the Champions League final being Spanish. Now compare that to their opponents of that final; Manchester United of England that possessed only 5 English players out of 18 in their squad for the final, of which only 2, Jonny Evans and Paul Scholes, were raised through their youth academy. It’s no surprise that Spain have absolutely dominated international football for the last six years, while England have floundered like a fish out of water. 

So what is being done to address this? 

Chairman of the FA Greg Dyke has tried to combat these issues by calling a council of various powers from English Football to attempt to save our country’s game, yet the invitation has been declined by one significant party. The Premier League. Arguably the most important party involved, as any acts to improve the National Team will most certainly need to involve promoting English players to a higher level of importance within the league, perhaps by introducing a less lenient home grown player minimum rule? Alas, While England remains the only country with the top division a separate entity to the governing body of her football then it seems little will change. 

Once the money-grabbing figures at the top of these organisations cease thinking of their own bank accounts and more about the interests and success of the nation as a whole, then Brazil 2014, France 2016, and the tournament’s that follow will be more than the stimulus for misery they unavoidably equate to.