Will England Ever Be Great Again?
Now i may not be the oldest football fan in the world by any stretch of the imagination. I recall my first experiences of football from watching England in the 1998 world cup. As always the nation was in a state of collective anticipation. Whenever the major tournaments roll around England seems to be caught up in the mass delusion that we have what it takes to win it, but will England ever have a national team strong enough to do just that? England do have quality in many areas of the pitch but would those top quality English players get anywhere near the starting 11 of another of the big world powers such as Spain, Brazil or Germany? The question is why? What makes these nations so much more successful than us? Is it the amount of young players that are breaking through early on in their domestic leagues or abroad. Or is it the style of play ingrained into these young players from the moment they pick up a football. In order to compete with these nations, what do England need to change? The youth systems from the ground up? Or the footballing mindset of the country as a whole.
It is my belief that England don’t need to change the way they play to mimic the “tika taka” style of Spain (though there can be no doubt that it has been successful). We can be successful with our own style of play, providing young players are given a chance without spending the first 6+ years of their careers at larger clubs either being loaned out or sitting on the sidelines. The question then remains, how do we give our young players a chance?
A prime example of a player with bags of potential, but as yet unable to get a game for his club is Wilfried Zaha, the former Crystal Palace youngster now trying to make his way at Manchester United. His performances for Crystal Palace last season saw him earn a full England call up as well as a move to United at the the age of just 20. The question is, whether this is too soon for a young player to making the big step up. Pre season form seemed to indicate otherwise with Zaha turning in several great performances for the reds, but with the season now 7 games old, he has yet to make a senior appearance for them. Which has lead to much speculation about him going out on loan in January. Would it not have been better for his career in the long run to remain at Palace for a while longer. He would still have been playing premier league football, albeit for a less glamorous club, but would it have given him more time to develop as a player?
A second and more extreme example is the case of John Bostock, who made his debut for Palace aged just 15. He played only 4 games for Palace before being snapped up by Spurs. However, after 5 years at the club he failed to make a single first team appearance and spent the majority of his time out on loan. He has since joined Royal Antwerp of the Belgian second division, which begs the question. Would he not have been better off staying at Palace.
Reading through the smaller articles in the media, i constantly find myself reading of Europe’s larger clubs chasing after “the next big thing”. Which more often than not is a 13 year old who now has the weight of the world on his shoulders. Very often i never hear their names again as the exact same scenario as Bostock’s plays out. They spend the entire time on loan, sometimes all over the world and at the end of their contract they are released. They then join a second tier club in a second tier country in order to kick start their careers.
Surely this problem will always exist though, as the larger clubs will no doubt feel that it worth doing this to 10 promising players in the hope that 1 of them will turn out to genuinely be the next big thing. I believe i have a workable solution. Now obviously this may be completely wide of the mark due to my lack of insight into the nuances and intricacies that take place inside football so i would be interested to hear opinions on it below.
A change to player contracts could help tackle this issue. It would state that the player is guaranteed a certain number of minutes of league action. This would have to be brought in across the board in order to make it balanced. The clause would only apply to domestic competitions, so as not to put the British teams at a disadvantage in Europe. With regard to young players this would do one of two things. Either, upon seeing how much game time they would get at their new club, they may reconsider and choose to stay at their current club for a longer period to boost their career. Or if they did decide to join the larger club, they would at least be guaranteed a chance to play and prove themselves in domestic competitions. It would could also have the added effect of encouraging better players to join English sides from abroad because they would be guaranteed football. I feel in the long run this would increase the quality of the British teams from top to bottom, as well as eliminate the argument that foreign players are preventing young English talent from developing.
Do you agree? Let me know. Do you have a better solution, i want to hear all your ideas below.
About the Author
SYC Matt A football fan just like the rest of us. Battling with the usual ups and downs that come with supporting one of the less glamorous teams. Crusader for footballing justice.
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