I am so sick of people simplifying the reasons why the England football team play so badly and never get anywhere in major tournaments. I might even phone up 5 live! There are a mountain of reasons why our national football team is so shit. The following are in no particular order and there are probably loads more, each one contributing in a greater or lesser way to our nation's rubbish performance at national level.
Most PE teachers do not have clue about football. Hardly any have football as their first sport and a huge amount, even those coaching the school team don't teach basic skills. Seeing a set of cones out in a PE lessons is a rarity. The school team is picked to win. Size and speed matters. Kick and run works. Children that hold the ball and dribble are screamed at to pass. This win with shit tactics model runs through many Saturday and Sunday teams. You never hear a sideline comment like - "keep the ball, take on some players." It is always "get rid," "pass it." "Stop hogging the fucking ball!"
This Neanderthal approach means that skillful players have their spirits irreparably damaged. I wonder how much psychological damage is done when players such as Rooney at 6 years old are subjected to abuse and criticism from the sidelines of weekend games. I am sure this why so many of our players "choke" on the international stage, away from the support mechanisms of their clubs. When things go well, they are fine. When the anxiety and pressure build that "choking" psychology stifles their ability. No manager can undo what was done while the player grew up. Of course not all players suffer this but there are enough to screw up any England team.
Yes, but what about the past? Players didn't choke in 1966. No because I suspect the levels of abuse were not nearly so vicious when they played as children, and they spent hours and hours playing football away from adults. I, like millions of kids played with my mates on huge playing fields, for days at a time from dawn til dusk, cycling home for lunch and my tea. 28 a-side, one against one, one player against the defence. You don't see that now. There is lots of football in my local park but the "jumpers for goalposts games" are often young adult men but for children it is only adult organised training and matches that last no longer than 2 hours at a time.
Today millions of acres of playing fields have been sold off and the hugely over blown, media scare mongering about paedophilia stop parents allowing their children out of their sight - and who can blame them? Knife-crime, mugging, paedos... "There you go Timmy, take your iphone and iplayer, pocket video game thing and £100 replica strip and go and play football in the park for 8 hours with your mates. I'll see you at teatime." Hmmm, a lot has changed. My Leeds strip was enhanced by the sock tags and badge my granny made me.
Then there is our climate, although we are changing that at the moment I believe (every cloud). The English game is fast and physical. It suits the long winter months of playing in cold conditions. Racing about like nutters, punt and run - keeps us warm. Spending hours in the blazing sun learning close ball control skills in our back gardens or street, doesn't really happen; running around like maniacs does. This has to have some degree of impact on the way English born and bred players learn the game, compared to players that come from warmer climes.
Oh and then there is the people running our game. How many were high performing sportsmen and women? How many of them are analytical and bright? How many of them are driven by money and power and not by a love of the game? There is a mentality in England about sport, and especially football, that is hard to define but it is conservative and resistant to change. About 10 years ago I watched Man Utd warm up during the game at Wimbledon when Beckham scored that goal. I was with a mate who was a basketball coach in Ireland. We couldn't believe the way the players warmed up. Doing things, such as bouncing on hamstrings, that had been dismissed by most other sports as wrong 20 years earlier. How long did it take football managers, coaches to look at diets, when every other sports team in the World knew it was important. Or when were plyometrics introduced to improve explosive performance? I hate to think what other bollocks, left over from the 1940s, is still peddled as the way to do things. Yes it has got a lot better in the last 10 years at the professional level, but at Junior coaching, I wonder.
Think I am wrong about the reluctance to change. Where are the Asian players in our English leagues? I have seen immensely skilled Asian kids playing in our parks - so why aren't there many more on our teles. I know for a fact that some racist dinosaurs think they spend too much time praying or eat too much rice. A bit like black kids couldn't play because it was too cold. Many of the people running the game are just too stupid and narrow minded to sort things out.
Where are the academies across the country that nurture talent and develop high level skills a healthy mental attitude towards the game. How many kids give up at 13 when the realise they are not going to be a super rich media star. Our out of control celebrity obsession is not doing us any favours in all sorts of areas and not just sport. I am scared by the amount of kids that say they want to be famous -not I want to play music, or football, or paint etc -just famous. Our celebrity and consumer driven culture that results in kids thinking it is all about what you own and how many column inches you fill is more important than anything else is disastrous.
Chuck all the above in with our media's favourite past time of build 'em up and then knock 'em down. Too many matches, played in a style that is so physically demanding. Too many foreign players in the top teams (although I am not sure about that, but it may be a factor) and we are screwed.
I know things have been done to try to put some of this right but not nearly enough. Will they ever be sorted? Well maybe, but not in the next 10 years. Maybe twenty. Maybe sitting in a pram wearing nappies is a boy who will hold up the world cup for England again and we will all know his name. Come on England.
Most PE teachers do not have clue about football. Hardly any have football as their first sport and a huge amount, even those coaching the school team don't teach basic skills. Seeing a set of cones out in a PE lessons is a rarity. The school team is picked to win. Size and speed matters. Kick and run works. Children that hold the ball and dribble are screamed at to pass. This win with shit tactics model runs through many Saturday and Sunday teams. You never hear a sideline comment like - "keep the ball, take on some players." It is always "get rid," "pass it." "Stop hogging the fucking ball!"
This Neanderthal approach means that skillful players have their spirits irreparably damaged. I wonder how much psychological damage is done when players such as Rooney at 6 years old are subjected to abuse and criticism from the sidelines of weekend games. I am sure this why so many of our players "choke" on the international stage, away from the support mechanisms of their clubs. When things go well, they are fine. When the anxiety and pressure build that "choking" psychology stifles their ability. No manager can undo what was done while the player grew up. Of course not all players suffer this but there are enough to screw up any England team.
Yes, but what about the past? Players didn't choke in 1966. No because I suspect the levels of abuse were not nearly so vicious when they played as children, and they spent hours and hours playing football away from adults. I, like millions of kids played with my mates on huge playing fields, for days at a time from dawn til dusk, cycling home for lunch and my tea. 28 a-side, one against one, one player against the defence. You don't see that now. There is lots of football in my local park but the "jumpers for goalposts games" are often young adult men but for children it is only adult organised training and matches that last no longer than 2 hours at a time.
Today millions of acres of playing fields have been sold off and the hugely over blown, media scare mongering about paedophilia stop parents allowing their children out of their sight - and who can blame them? Knife-crime, mugging, paedos... "There you go Timmy, take your iphone and iplayer, pocket video game thing and £100 replica strip and go and play football in the park for 8 hours with your mates. I'll see you at teatime." Hmmm, a lot has changed. My Leeds strip was enhanced by the sock tags and badge my granny made me.
Then there is our climate, although we are changing that at the moment I believe (every cloud). The English game is fast and physical. It suits the long winter months of playing in cold conditions. Racing about like nutters, punt and run - keeps us warm. Spending hours in the blazing sun learning close ball control skills in our back gardens or street, doesn't really happen; running around like maniacs does. This has to have some degree of impact on the way English born and bred players learn the game, compared to players that come from warmer climes.
Oh and then there is the people running our game. How many were high performing sportsmen and women? How many of them are analytical and bright? How many of them are driven by money and power and not by a love of the game? There is a mentality in England about sport, and especially football, that is hard to define but it is conservative and resistant to change. About 10 years ago I watched Man Utd warm up during the game at Wimbledon when Beckham scored that goal. I was with a mate who was a basketball coach in Ireland. We couldn't believe the way the players warmed up. Doing things, such as bouncing on hamstrings, that had been dismissed by most other sports as wrong 20 years earlier. How long did it take football managers, coaches to look at diets, when every other sports team in the World knew it was important. Or when were plyometrics introduced to improve explosive performance? I hate to think what other bollocks, left over from the 1940s, is still peddled as the way to do things. Yes it has got a lot better in the last 10 years at the professional level, but at Junior coaching, I wonder.
Think I am wrong about the reluctance to change. Where are the Asian players in our English leagues? I have seen immensely skilled Asian kids playing in our parks - so why aren't there many more on our teles. I know for a fact that some racist dinosaurs think they spend too much time praying or eat too much rice. A bit like black kids couldn't play because it was too cold. Many of the people running the game are just too stupid and narrow minded to sort things out.
Where are the academies across the country that nurture talent and develop high level skills a healthy mental attitude towards the game. How many kids give up at 13 when the realise they are not going to be a super rich media star. Our out of control celebrity obsession is not doing us any favours in all sorts of areas and not just sport. I am scared by the amount of kids that say they want to be famous -not I want to play music, or football, or paint etc -just famous. Our celebrity and consumer driven culture that results in kids thinking it is all about what you own and how many column inches you fill is more important than anything else is disastrous.
Chuck all the above in with our media's favourite past time of build 'em up and then knock 'em down. Too many matches, played in a style that is so physically demanding. Too many foreign players in the top teams (although I am not sure about that, but it may be a factor) and we are screwed.
I know things have been done to try to put some of this right but not nearly enough. Will they ever be sorted? Well maybe, but not in the next 10 years. Maybe twenty. Maybe sitting in a pram wearing nappies is a boy who will hold up the world cup for England again and we will all know his name. Come on England.
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