The Debate: How deep-seated is the crisis in English football?

My colleague Tony Cascarino argues that youth development in English football has little to do with the growing crisis in the national game, now crystallised by the failure of Steve McClaren’s team to qualify for the 2008 European Championship finals.

In a column in Saturday’s Times, Tony marvelled that his six-year-old son is attending a skills academy, warming down after matches and dribbling around cones, saying that it was a vast improvement on his own football education. That may be true, but give it time. In a further four years, Junior will be dumped on an adult pitch and the game will be about power and little else. I hope he is big like Tony because he will need to be.

McClaren may have been responsible for a hundred mistakes, but that does not explain why an Englishman can barely get into the Arsenal first team. It may be McClaren’s fault that Jamie Carragher did not feel loved, but he is not to blame for the fact that Slaven Bilic, the Croatia coach, was happy to let England’s central defenders have the ball at Wembley because he thought that they could not pass. That is a direct result of playing on pitches that are too big at an early age, which promotes little technical ability beyond the big punt upfield.

A better manager might have steered England through, but the time-bomb would still be ticking. This debate would be necessary whether or not England had qualified. England could have defeated Croatia 4-0 and it would have made no difference. English failure would still be an accident waiting to happen and, until we effect change at entry level, it always will be.

What do you think? How deep-seated is the crisis in English football? Have your say, e-mail thegame@thetimes.co.uk

Comments

[Nicolas Kozeschnik]

The problem at grassroots level is the local FA’s that run them that report to Soho Square, and all these so-called Soccer/Football Academies.
Having spent many years coaching and playing and trying to change the antiquated, old school tie mentality, with new modern European/South American methods I finally after banging my head against so many brick walls given up trying. They are all run by greedy individuals run by sub-standard coaches that prey on any child with a little bit of footballing talent or parents/coaches that believe they are doing some good. The whole system needs to change, otherwise the England National Team’s will fall behind even further each year. It’s not just about basic dietary needs, or basic footballing skills that many of our so called best players can’t even do, but also mental preparation, hunger to win matches as a team not just a bunch of overpaid individuals. I see more hunger, desire and determination in a player earning just £200 per week then I see in players earning £120k per week. Cut salaries NOW – no player in the world is ever worth more then £50k per week. Build in proper bonuses like 1st team appearances, win, goal, clean sheet, wining leagues and cups and most importantly loyalty bonuses. Make players hungry again. There are far too many players not hungry to win anything because they are getting an astronomical salary. They are lazy. And this rubs off at grassroots. Also stop playing with the offside trap rule. Make it simple as it once was. Stop this diving and feigning injury lark as well. And also stop players holding players in the box. Match Officials have to be more intelligent, fitter, consistent and stronger to deal with players and players need to know that only the captain can talk with the match official otherwise they are booked straight away. Today’s professionals lead by bad examples and this also causes problems at grassroots. And finally its because of these failings that good coaches leave the game or work abroad….

[Jim Tomlinson]

England were beaten by the winners of the group who were better than them, so why should McClaren have to go. His team had a wondeful run this autumn and had it not been for rank bad refereing in the Russian game, would have qualified ahead of Russia. As it is the finished equal with Israel who have proved to be a handful for many teams. he difficulty of finding a new manager is that he is in charge of largely a bunch of over-rated players - by you, the media - who frequently think that because they are winning trophies with the likes of Chelsea, is masking the fact thet they are being carried by the really great foreign players at those clubs. There are a few exceptions, Rooney Ferdinand, Terry, Gerrard & Joe Cole. A manager cannot buy better as they are all foreign. Look at the skills of Tevez, Ronldo, Berbatov, Drogba, Essien, Nani, etc. I rest my case.

[Robn]

I think grass roots football is inherently prejudice, big clubs dont go in for ethnic minorities, there is the odd token asian player, i.e. michael chopra, asian players are generally more skilful than there white counter parts, but lose out in the height department, grass route's football in the uk is based on height and strength at a young age! so the premiership ends up with big clumsy oath's, that's why englands can't compete with the likes of crotia! english players are not skilful enough!

[Do something then]

"Everyone complains about the weather but no one does anything about it." (Mark Twain)

Come you are all the experts, get involved, go out to that muddy field and help the kids and coach.

SteveMC, great comments. You can do something extra to change the situation too. eg Contact the FA and discuss this or band together with your fellow coaches to find ways to reduce the costs. I'm sure you have some great ideas on how to improve things mainly because you can see what is happening on the ground floor.

[Zeus Dormer]

I noticed that at the begining of this text it was put McClarens England. I had no idea we belonged to McClaren. Sure he was the manager and must except some of the blame, but i dont believe for one second if we choose Mourinho for the job, the clueless headless chickens we call lampard, cole, crouch, gerrard, defoe, bent .... will suddenly become better footballers or look any the more interested in performing. Before every game nowadays we all get bombarded with a Gerrard comment on how we must win the next game, if he would have trained instead of saying the bleeding obvious to his ever so adoring fans, he might contribute to a rare english win. The media in England pick the team not the manager. Imagine if the England manager decided to pick a few new players and try one or two out of possition and then go on to lose, the press lamblasts him as a moron for not picking .....
(see Croatia match).
So as we are now aware the team must consist of the medias golden boys, its not very difficult for an opposing manager to guess the opposing team and learn from previous England defeats, in how to beat them. Its a no win situation. If England is ever to get better, because believe it or not we have the talent to get to semi-finals, the rest is luck, the media must stop giving players the spotlight and telling them they are the new George Best (who wasnt even English - just we have no comparison of our own) on their 15th birthday.
Another reason why football at grass roots isnt really taking off has nothing to do with the influx of foreigners to the premier league but more to do with the dissapearing sports fields and the intolerance of playing football in the alleys as of days of old. I remember when i was young, very interested in football, going down to the playing field in Lowestoft. Wed kick the ball about and a pensioned police officer used to come out and tell us to stop because he didnt like the sound of the ball being thumped towards goal. It was a shame he wanted to have a house looking out over the sports fields, shame he wanted to see them empty. A quick call to his ex colleagues had us moving swiftly on.
On the face of it, we seem to be a miserable mess of intolerant busy bodies that believe because of previous endevours won (two world wars) we, Englishmen, are put on Earth by god (personally) to wipe the ground with the others who dare to put up a fight. Utter crap, the truth is the countries we so called defeated have raised their game, offering coaching and after school activities, whereas we are still in the dark ages and rasioning children for what they need.

[Gerry Quinn]

The following is an article from Everton's official website explaining what you in the media would trip over yourselves in reporting had it been achieved by one of the "big 4" ...in fact, I believe that most genuine football fans would say that this is a set of extremely impressive performances by Everton's youth teams (under 12s, 11s and 10s) over European opposition during the summer - and look who they beat to achieve their aims....obviously not newsworthy to the "Big4" media!

"It was a treble triumph for three of Everton’s Academy sides in Europe at the weekend. The Under 12s, 11s and 10s competed in a number of tournaments at various locations against some of the continent’s super powers including the likes of Valencia and Sevilla.

The Toffees Under 12s travelled to Obertraun in Austria and won the competition defeating Admira Wacker 1-0 in the final. The youngsters finished top of their group and overcame Sturm Graz in the semi-final.

Meanwhile in Spain, the Under 11s triumphed over Inter Milan on penalties. Everton held a comfortable 2-0 lead until the 85th minute but the Italian outfit pulled two goals back in the final five minutes to set up a tense finale which concluded with a penalty shoot-out. On route to the final the talented youngsters had defeated Sevilla, Inter and Hertha Berlin.

Finally in Germany, the Under 10s ended up joint winners of their tournament with Dutch giants Ajax. After a goalless 120 minutes of play, the match went to spot kicks but with the score 13-13, both teams decided to share the trophy.

Academy coach, Neil Dewsnip told evertonTV: “To win three European tournaments in three different age groups and in three different countries is a wonderful achievement. There were a number of high profile teams in terms of developing young talent on show, and to overcome sides such as Inter is no mean feat.” Dewsnip was quick to point out how important these types tournaments are in terms of nurturing new talent. “These tournaments are important in terms of developing the youngsters,” he said. “It is the next phase of their education and hopefully many of them will go on to achieve a full-time scholarship here at the Academy and then into the manager’s first-team squad.”

Nuff said....take the blinkers off and try reporting real facts instead of jumping on the big 4 bandwagon - there's a whole world of potential at Villa, West Ham and Man City too.

[ab]

The depressing thing about this current malaise is folk are using it as an opportunity to grind their own axes, rather than have a genuine open mind. I expect nothing to change and for us to muddle on as ever, because there isn’t the public pressure or will to change, especially not whilst we've got embarrassments like Dave Richards in charge of the asylum.

Brooking seems far too wet to force anything through, how long's he been talking, and to what effect? Why not get Craig Johnson in, he seems really passionate about it.

The good news is that Barwick is consulting Wenger and Ferguson on the future of English football, and if there’s anyone with the best interests of the English national team at heart it's those two. Wibble.

[Frank the Coach]

I think Tracey has hit a few nails on heads.
Currently I am coaching at a girls only club where at the younger end it is ALL about fun, enjoyment and skills.
They play small sided games at practice and for the age groups that play in leagues, they are encouraged to take a touch on the ball and be relaxed and confident. And guess what? They make mistakes. So what? at the ages they are, they are not expected to win tournaments and know how to compete.
That in itself is part of the learning process. Football is a late developing sport and players are not at their peak until around 27.

If only we could educate ALL levels of parents and coaches to that point, we'd see less competetive leagues at U11 (my boy is in this age group this year and his team are expected to play on a 110 x 70 yd pitch with full 8 x 24 foot goals - what's the purpose of that?!)

If we could work with the players technique across the land and take a leaf from Netherlands' book perhaps we can get players through to the top level who have Technique, Intelligence, Personality and Speed (TIPS).

With respect, you can train alomost anyone to be an athlete and if they have the four traits above and receive the right development, players can be the best they can be at whatever level is best for them.

Translating that to top level football, improved technique will allow us to pass and retain the ball better and if we can get something more than one dimensional movement from players, then we will be able to create the space that is required to move the ball around the pitch.

I believe that all the time you run up and down in straight lines (with the possible exception of the forwards and the Rooneys and Coles of this world) you are too easy to mark, it is too predictable and too easy to control the game for the opposition even when they don't have the ball.

Less fear, more intelligent movement and confidence built on sound technique and understanding is what England needs - I am trying to do my bit at the lower end, but I fear it will take 20 years to get there at the top level, in numbers, if we start right now.

[Tom]

The comments by the Arsenal U17 lads is the most telling. This is nothing to do with grass roots - it is club/academy coaching and the international coaching structure. Where is the continuity of style/approach? Even if good skillful plays come through (like the Arsenal lads) what happens? They end up in a team that just hoof it. Watch the U16, U17, U21 teams and you will see what they mean. The good point here is that actually it is easily fixed. Get a better international structure in place from as young as possible (younger than current), and make sure the coaches play the way we want them too - get advice from Wenger on how to do this!!!!! If players do not fit this profile - DONT PICK THEM. Pick the ones that fit an international players profile - this includes both physical and physchological. Also a broader social reach in terms of recruitment into the game would be sensible.

[Geoff SAUNDERS]

I too coached a boys football team, and tried to get the matches - all friendlies - changed so that we played 2 small sided games across the pitch and every kid in the squad got a game.

I was laughed at by the local FA and threatened with a fine if I didn't return to 11 a side on a full size pitch. So a maximum of 14 boys got a game, and 6 did not every week.

I spent ALL my training time teaching skills and awareness and support - the Shankly rules - tackle, pass to a player (on your own side - the bit Gerrard finds so hard)- and when you see the goal, shoot.

We played teams who were taught to foul, to kick long all the time, and so I gave up.

The problem is the FA - 100%.

There is no point them conducting an enquiry - THEY ARE THE PROBLEM.

[Rugby Lover]

Basically we need a new coach who will know his stuff, have the courage to do it and tell the FA when to shove it. Couple this with shaking up the entire set up and been firm on the players.

Bring some new men into the squad would be a start, nothing makes a player perform better than knowing that someone is willing to take the place from them.

Maybe I'm been biased because I'm a rugby fan first but I love watching our national teams perform, but they (the football team) need to play with passion, England's rugby team only reached the Cup Final this year against all that stick because they didn't let it get them down and they played with such passion. Wanting to win the game is half the battle done. If you want to win with all your heart then you'll be more likely to put your body on the line, make that extra yard and push that much further to come off winning.

We should forget that we aren't as good as we were, it dosn't matter if you have Lampard, Gerrard, Beckham or Rooney if they won't play together like a team. It hurts to say it but we deserved to lose, the world order has changed and we must adapt to meet this. Take it as another chance to get ourselves back on track and to reach the skills of Germany and Italy.

[Ian A]

The Premiership is not an English League and has not been for many years. It is now an international "product" for sale to the highest bidder anywhere in the world.

The clubs are often foreign owned, foreign managed and foreign staffed. The shirts and other branded goods are for sale around the world and the football itself is touted to television companies all around the world at prices much cheaper than here in the U.K. It is time to disassociate the Premiership from English football, they merely have similar beginnings. The Premiership is now an international business.

[Timothy Tanner]

First of all, I best admit I have some slight bias here, I am an Arsenal fan and not a fan of Mr Tony Cascarino as a journalist. I'm also a fan of England and enjoy watching youth football on the telly but some of your posters are better placed then I am.

So Mr Cascarino was able to find a skill acadamy and his son now is able to warm down? That will have the likes of France quaking in it's boots! It is good for the son and I hope that skill acadamy keeps up the work it is doing but it is not enough to change the problem, ok yes things have gradually improved over time in some respects but we are still miles behind the big nations in terms of youth development. Yes the manager, and the players, have to take some blame but we have done this same dance-we fail to get to final-manager gets widely abused-he gets sacked-here we go again, for 40 years. It isn't like we have tended to hire useless managers, sometimes questionable ones but we have hired good ones so just maybe the problem over 40 years hasn't been just the managers? So yes, I agree with Mr Samuel on this one.

Look at the England team, we have shot stoppers like James, Green or Robinson rather then a keeper like Seaman was. Our first string of defenders are superb at defending but can't play it out as well as we would like. The midfield, contain key players for clubs but that is because headless chicken/roy of rover Gerrard and a player of Lampard have players who can make up for their defiances by making great runs, cover for them, great passing whereas England don't have that. The only one that midfield that has created chances regularly, even in this campaign, is Beckham who may be a fading force but sadly is the only one who can be relied on to hit a white shirt. Up front, we have two good target men, a scorer who is vital he plays whenever fit (if only he hadn't been injured for first half) and a Rooney whose talents, which may not be as great as hoped but still very talented, won't be unlocked unless England midfield play more like Man U which is asking too much. We have some decent reserves in Barry, Richards and so on but ones you would only want to cover against Estonia rather then Brazil. Now had they been trained properly at a young age, we might have seen more of the likes of Joe Cole while also being able to pass it around like good teams.

When Four Four Two did an excellent article on youth football where they explored how other countries did it, not one seemed to have a belief that the English system worked. When the three Arsenal players in the England U17's, Hoyte/Lansbury/Murphy, returned from the world cup, they revealed that there team mates did not like the ball at their feet and they ended up trying to help train the others in a passing game. If our system was working, why would they have mentioned that? Or needed to do that?

I have watched youth internationals for two years when I can but that is limited to one U19 game, U17's Euro championship (hard to get a real view when world championship is played in segments on Eurosport), U16 home nations and U21's whenever they are on. I would like to see more but youth football isn't considered too important here, so much so that England U21's possible qualifcation decider with Portugal wasn't shown at all while the championships recently got one small column in the Times before and after a match, though sky showed all of it, apart from two moments, getting knocked out in semi's and when two players failed to turn up which got widespread coverage, I'm not blaming the media here as they have to sell so if they find something more intresting for their customers they will go for that instead. Still from the limited time, England have shot stoppers rather then keepers, strong defence, counter attacking football though with less long balls and more passing so some improvements have been made. Indeed we even have some dribblers like Baxter, Roses, Moses, Porriot (not that I rate him), though I fear it will be more like Joe Cole then Ronaldo and passers like Shelvey (was going to say Huddlestone but he seems set to waste his talent) who could be good.

Now the problem, the sucess shouldn't blind us and those that point to the U17's geting to Euro final then past group stage of world cup (rather into a 4-1 thrashing by Germany) or the U21's semi final never seem to have watched it. Peacock and Pearce have done very well but where other countries are allowing their players to learn by playing good football, trying tricks at u17 while U21's less tricks and more organised but still freedom, the England sides have turned into well organised machines who grind results. If we try to play open football and we would lose most games to be fair to the managers because the players are not, on the whole, trained properly for a passing game. Let me put it this way, Bulgaria U21's and North Korea U21's show more ability to play possession football then any England side right now let along our U17's and 21's.

There are many things that need to change, the FA needs to really have a look at the Burns report, the sports minister needs to help sort out the impasse between EPL and FA, youth system needs a good look at, way we teach the coaches and attitudes need to change. Youth football should be the second priority, first being not going bankrupt, rather then tenth behind building a new stadium for no reason over a youth acadamy.

Attitudes need to change, not just in the media that hampers England by building up then wrecking but everyone, the fans must get behind the team and be more realistic. We have a solid generation, not a golden and we could have enjoyed it but for our insistence that we are a big nation. Flair should be encouraged, close control, technique, we should encourage open attacking football rather then applaud defensive rough football. If Bolton or Blackburn do something wrong like some of those tackles on Evra or attempting to stamp on Cesc's neck, the press should do less applauding over the brave fouling and saying the players have to cope, more that was unacceptable and a disgrace, that should never be seen on the pitch. Now good, fair defensive efforts aren't that helpful either long term perhaps but I don't blame the teams or have a real problem with that. Diving should be recognised as an annoyance and cheating but two footed leg breakers should be the ones on the hall of shame.

We mustn't overlook attitude either when training our young players, had David Bentley been more patient, Pennant been less prone to drink driving, A.Cole realised that team mates aren't being anti social when rejecting the chance to go party three days before the CL final but being professional, Arsenal's list of English players might have been a tad better. Yet they are not the only English players to have caused trouble or embarrassment while on the pitch, the automatic attempt to retreat to edge of box on big games or against big teams is an attitude we must work on losing which to be fair, U21's and U17's have but the press aren't so demanding on them.

One final note on this is attitude towards opposition. Euro 2008 group was deemed a walkover where objectively, Croatia were always going to be difficult, we knew Guss would improve Russia, Israel can be hard to beat while Macedonia are giant killers, to qualify yes but we should have acknowledged it would be a hard battle. When I watched N.Korea U17's against England, one of their strikers controlled the ball in the air, kept it in air and under control as he turned Lansbury and then curled it against the bar with a volley from 30 yards, it was superb and something I have never seen an England player capable of doing. When I mention this to others, I get told N.Korea aren't world class so what does it matter? If non world class sides, which to be fair N/Korea U17's aren't I'll admit, are capable of doing that while we can't we won't win anything but the fans seem unwilling to see it and it saddens me.

[tracey]

Germany have been in 12 finals,
Italy 9,
England 1.

We'd have to appear in every tournament final for the next twenty years just to catch-up, and yet we kid ourselves we're these nation's equals.

I think the problems are so profound and cultural that they're beyond help. One practical thing that can be done though is provide more sports facilities, which compared to our northern European neighbours and France are pitiful. This would keep lads off the streets and might churn out a few sports stars to boot. A large dose of humility on everyone's part (including the press) would be welcome too, but I think we can whistle for that.

[Stuart Canning]

I believe there is room for a number of issues to be addressed:
1. McLaren was never the right man for the job, he talks a good game but has never shown the tactical nous or man management ability to really make it at the top level.

2. I have played football all my life and there are plenty of technically gifted footballers out there who could balance the ball on their thighs, dribble past 5 players and back heel the ball onto the bar (if they wanted!) but they all have the same issues:

a. They have massive egos and follow the stars of today. They believe that they are right and that everyone else (including the manager) should build the team around them and their immense ability.
b. They (in general) lack simple tactical awareness and game intelligence: the ability to make simple passes quickly (Venables always said that Gazza's biggest failing was carrying the ball 20 yards when he could move it over that space more quickly and more dangerously if he passed it accurately), to make the correct runs at the right time or play the incisive pass that their talent warranted. This requires a strong manager to coach this into players and if they can't coach it, they teach the player where to play and when to play (eg. look at Gerrard at Liverpool and how far up the pitch he plays compared to England last week when he was taking the ball off defenders toes in the last 10 minutes and "hoofing" the ball up field...where should Gerrard have been? On the edge of the opposition penalty area or going left or right, retaining possession. The manager just didn't have the intelligence to recognise when the player hasn't got the intelligence to "just play".

I have a couple of football fields just behind my house where 6 to 10 year old girls and boys play on Saturday and Sunday mornings. They play on a 5 a side pitch with hockey sized goals. All good so far. On Saturday, the pitch was a mud bath from the previous week's game, the wind and rain were howling at near gale force. Any sane person would have said that the game was unplayable. Ten minutes later, little girls where running through the mud, trying to kick an oversized, overweight ball as hard as they could anywhere away from their goal as a male coach screamed "AAAwaaaay!" at them.

The process is then repeated, in worse conditions, on a Sunday for the boys. Except the girls are organised and do as their coach asks them. The boys have been watching John Terry and Steven Gerrard and want to either argue every decision (rather than play the game) or try to take on the entire team single handedly without any idea how to do so.

Thus, for both games, it all becomes an ever decreasing circle. How do we expect our children to learn the basics of football when we are asking them to play in conditions we would only normally allow for a pig to eat in?

The more these children are asked to play games like this, the more engrained this wrong approach to football will be. It will all become about power or an individual beating the entire team, the powerful "big lad" whacking one in from 20 yards but not about passing the ball quickly, simply and accurately and playing as a team (this means the acceptance of roles and the foregoing of ego). Then, if you have a couple of supremely talented players, they wait until the right moment to explode rather than trying to show everyone how great they are by taking it off their defenders toes (who are equally qualified to lump the ball skywards).

Somehow, I can't see my doppleganger in the South of France, Italy or Spain watching the same scene unfold outside their bedroom window on a Sunday morning.

In short, someone once said that football is a simple game. Unfortunately, we are making it much more difficult than that. Perhaps if we set aside our machismo for a moment and allowed our children to enjoy the game and embrace playing as a team in conditions actually condusive to football, they might learn a bit more? If anyone responds, believe me, I've played in every weather imaginable and I don't mind. i love playing football and it was character building...I just think that we can actually help ourselves and our children by building environments and training people to support and nurtue them, instead of driving all sense out of them. Did I say football was simple?

[alex]

I agree with what your getting at, England do seem vastly inept with the ball at their feet in comparison most decent sides but theres more to it than the inability to pass, why was it that with less than ten minutes to go (including stoppages) every time the English midfield, namely Gerrard, simply hit the ball up in the air aimlessly giving it straight back to Croatian defence. He did this at least three times in that space of time. Its happened before, whenever we are losing in a competition and the clock is ticking, we even did it for a period of time against Trinidad in the World Cup, and yet their below par defence were barely troubled.
Gerrard can pass, we've seen it a millions times. Theres something else to do with tactics or mentality, either they know what theyre supposed to be doing when its 1-0 down or they're just not doing it

It reminds me of that John Smiths No Nonsense advert where Peter Kay just smashes the ball off the pitch while everyone is trying to play keepie uppie

[kuro]

I think the problem of English football has a little to do with the number of foreign players, and a lot with the way you play football, like the old days (long balls, no midfield...etc)

[Ilja]

Two answers:

a) The golden Generation should be called like that because they earned golden wages before achieving ANYTHING. Owen's newest arrogant statement about Croatia says it all...

b) This Generation is way too overhyped and overpriced to ever make it into an Arsenal academy let alone the starting eleven, where skill and humility are the key and not bigmouthing your value via media. Wenger said this weekend that there are many English kids in Arsenal's academy these days so there are good men coming - skilled and unspoilt...
It is typical for today's English football mentality to criticize Wenger while at the same time with Benitez another top-flight manager blames underachievement on the lack of spending money.
Unlike footballplayer Owen, the managers in charge should have realized by now at the latest, that no one in the world is in awe of British football. High paychecks do not equal high quality, ask Mourinho...

[Ali]

It's all very well having these 'skill programmes' but I remember being told how to do the 'Cryuff turn' but not having a clue when to use it to effect.

There is a deep rooted problem and it resonates in our culture of football. Brazil play samba style football and each player isn't deemed 'Brazilian' if he can't do some sort of audacious trick. When you think of English football, you think of aggressive, pacy and generally, unskillful football. And as we've seen, the pacy aggressive football doesn't win national accolades as it's the former, coupled with trickery and technical ability which enables Italy, France and Brazil to be successful in world football.

It's not about changing football but a culture and that's the hardest thing about English football. When Ronaldo and Joe Cole were doing their skills, they were harked by the media as 'showboaters' but that's what football should be about. Freedom of skill and the odd trick here and there. However, in England, we despise players like that - if they're not like the headless chicken running Gerrard or the boisterous and uncannily aggressive Keane ahem, Keee-nooo, then they're not worthy of being in the Premiership.

Even in grassroot football of which I still play, the football is reminiscent of England - long, high ball to the big man and then nod it down to the little guy to put away. I remember as a kid never being able to dribble the ball, always being told to 'clear it' and being told 'put a foot in it' and something that epitomises our education of football - 'tricks don't win you games.' Being shouted at from the sidelines just makes you even more nervous as a kid to get the ball.

I don't think our footballers need an education in football. They need an education in schooling as well. They act and talk like morons and then we expect them to play 'intelligent' football when they probably don't know how to spell 'intelligence.'

Lastly, this debate doesn't have ANYTHING to do with foreigners. If the English players were that good, then clubs wouldn't bother paying money to purchase top imports. The Academies aren't producing high calibre players unlike the academies in Africa, France and Spain (most notably Barcelona - Bojan, Pique, Fabregas, Merida, Dos Santos). Again, this is the problem of our coaches at grassroot level to the academy level. The solution isn't getting top foreign managers, but poaching the top academy coaches from France, Spain, Brazil and Italy to teach our kids how to play football - making English players play like continental players will then make English players successful. Once we realise being tall and tough doesn't win you games, then we'll flourish.

[Chris]

I have been coaching boys and girls football at a local club and, whilst I agree that children should play smaller-sided games for longer, I think there is another reason for the problems at grass roots - the FA coaching curriculum.

Most local club coaches attend level 1, which is really about health & safety, first aid and child protection, with a few coaching exercises thrown in, but no technique practice. The mantra - "the game is the teacher".

The first real in-depth look at how to coach technique comes in level 2, but here come the rub. Level 2 is a 9-day course plus two weekends. It is attended by local club coaches, but only those with enough dedication to make a big commitment of their time.

Then comes level 3, the first coaching course for tactics and positional play. Again it is a 9 day course plus two weekends. But this time the pass rate is even more stringent than the level 2, roughly 25 per cent in my experience. The reason - coaches only qualify if the examiners think they a good enough to coach at academy level.

So, for the first time, the FA curriculum is exposed - it is designed to weed out the enthusiastic amateur and produce academy coaches. There is nothing wrong with this as one of the objectives. The problem is that there is no incentive for the local club coach to keep on learning if he knows there is little chance of getting a qualification. The result- very few local club coaches go above level 2.

My solution - grade level 2, 3 and above qualifications in the same way as university degrees. Two grades would suffice - qualified to coach at academy level and qualified to coach at local club level. This would encourage more local club coaches to attend.

Also, design the courses so they can be taken as evening classes, which would be a more realistic option for those who are working and giving their time to the community. If we improve the standard of coaching at all levels, it follows we will increase the standard of football.

[Tobstar]

No crisis, its just that the FA are a joke. Lets get in someone like a hiddink who can look objectively at everything from the grass roots, implement your hobby horse of better technical footy for youngsters and generally sort out the FA. Someone who can deal with the pathetic politics of English football.

Why Ray Wilkins, Glenn Hoddle or other intelligent ex footballers aren't involved in the FA setup is beyond me.

I worry about the fat kids and the fact i never see kids playing footy anymore. The foreigner debate is an old and tired one and i don't buy that it's the scapegoat everyone seems to look for in a supposed crisis. I don't buy that the players aren't good enough, I do think that as a nation we lack centre backs that can play.

Solution to current situation, maybe we could get a third party to investigate the FA and make sure it's doing job properly.

[SteveMc]

I am 24 years old and coached a boys football team since I was 18. I believe there are some issues are grassroots level that do need addressing.

One big issue for me is that it now costs upwards of £30 an hour to get safe facilities for coaches to work with players. This is restrictive on the work and skills a coach can work on with a player.

The attitude of some coaches towards the game is also frightening at times. I pride myself on being a coach that teaches players the ability to play anywhere on a pitch however there is large majority of coaches who take a player for 12 months, do nothing with them and then dump them costing the player a vital year and experience in their development. I have a friend who is playing in the championship and has played in the premiership and MLS leagues. He suffered similar coaching as a youth player and has had to make up for it to get anywhere in the game.

The constant moaning from Sir Trevor Brooking is very frustrating as the level of coaching would improve massively if the right support and facilities were available to coaches at our level. We may be in the same position as the Scottish national team after France 98 in the very near future if the support is not made available and grassroots VOLUNTEERS are continually blamed by the high and mighty at the FA.