The solution is in grass roots. Forcing teams to name an increased number of Englishmen would increase the numbers of SWPs, Rodwells etc warming big teams benches and reserve team shirts and decrease the quality of the league.

The premier league itself is a brand and has no long term interest in the development of British football, I think.

I think we are at the very early stages of a new belief that we can get young people focusing more on playing good football and keeping possession but it is going to be a long road. It requires everyone at developmental stage of football to embrace this and help the kids to understand this. But to also enjoy what they are doing.

In time we may not need a quota for more british talent to be involved, they can hopefully let their skill to the talking.

Whether British players will still cost more in 2040 remains to be seen but if players are coming through academies then they shouldnt cost clubs a transfer fee. Only in exceptional circumstances where for example an Exeter player goes to a Chelsea or a Preston player is signed by Liverpool should these players cost money. These bigger clubs should be bringing through their own talent and because the academies should be bigger and better, they should produce more players.

I don't think Brazilian or Spanish players are inherently better than English players. Obviously there are a lot of variables but a big one for me is the coaching at junior level as you point out. Too much emphasis on physical attributes; Walcott is a professional footballer because of his speed, but he's rubbish at football.

Which English players are actually technically gifted? Wilshere, the latest victim of England over-hype, and Carrick, who isn't fancied by a manager who has no appreciation of what he has to offer. It's a funny one, Wilshere obviously gets picked to create some sort of illusion that Roy is 'forward-thinking' yet clearly lacks the balls to drop big-name, older players. But then who could do a better job that is English? Redknapp? Marginally maybe.

The set-up is obsolete from the top to the bottom, England need only to look at what Germany have done, if the FA seriously want to compete then a complete overhaul is what's required, whether they care enough or have enough patience, I don't know, but I doubt it.

On the other hand if you look at England's population in relation to Germany, Brazil, Argentina, then maybe it isn't so bad. I don't think forcing teams to play more English players will have any significant effect, it will just lower the quality of the prem, imo.

the problem is, do you spend £8.5m on the likes of coutinho or £10m on a will hughes?

As long as english players cost a premium, they will be overlooked by cheaper foreign talent

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Put more effort into quality coaching to kids at a young age. Anything else is just a quick fix. This things take time but people seem to expect results straight away.

One of the reasons why I gave up playing for my side in my younger days was someone had a go at me for not hoofing the ball out from defense instead of keeping control of the ball and working my way out of it.

Absolutely bonkers.

I read an article the other day on this topic, and the author pointed out that England, in the whole history of WC, made and won the one final, European international not much different. He also pointed out that even if the entire PL was all English, the national team was only going to ever look at the top 50 players, so those same top 50 are likely playing in the PL now in any event. And though it may stunt some progress--the English players playing alonside the worlds best should count towards something as well. Basically he was saying that when 1st division teams were 95% homegrown, England still wasn't challenging for top honors in international football--though I reckon they were not struggling as much against lesser sides as they seem to today.

So to me, as others have said, it comes down to better youth set up. One thing that may help as well--and I don't have figures so may be off base--is to have the clubs academies have a quota. Perhaps they are already predominantly English, but I see a lot of foreign youth in the clubs younger teams.

I think it's the pitch sizes that youth level play at. English youths play on 50 yard pitches at the ages of 16. There isn't enough time on the ball to make decisions as there is on a standard pitch which is why we tend to hit it clear because they never have 5ft to themselves.
Compare that to Spain where they have 8 year olds training and playing on pitches the size of the Bernabeu. This benefits them hugely as they have time on the ball as much as the internationals, and gives them the time to make their decisions without being rash. Ok, those type of big pitches and goals aren't fair on upcoming goalkeepers at first, but in the long run they'll grow in between the posts .I don't understand how people expect us to produce quality when we have such varieties of pitch lengths.
It's like training a lad from the age of 6 until his 15 how to run 10m. Then after all the years of training tell him that he's competing for the Olympics vs Bolt and has to times what he does by 10.
It's all good saying that parents are the root of the problem telling them to 'get it out' but that's probably the best advice if they don't have the time to control and compose themselves.
Nudging the coaches to tell them to pass it a bit more wont do anything unless we have challenging facilities and not just ones that give average kids encouragement

One of the reasons why I gave up playing for my side in my younger days was someone had a go at me for not hoofing the ball out from defense instead of keeping control of the ball and working my way out of it.

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Same here, I played RB and my abiding memory of games is being screamed at to clear it. Ironically I was only there because of 5-a-side tournament held at my school. I enjoyed that - lots of touches of the ball, no senseless hoofs or leg breakers..

As it is now we need a manager that has some ideas.. preferably picked up this millennium, and with a decent track record.. we're going to be rubbish for years

it goes way beyond coaching at youth level.

just look at any kids playing football on the street, at the sort of age where they wouldn't have started having any coaching. in the Latin American countries it's still about ball control, all the little tricks and techniques, they're trying to emulate the stars they watch on tv, which showing their national leagues has lot's of tricky technical players. then watch the uk kids playing football, it's all kick 'n' rush. no-one has the ball at their feet long enough to even attempt to learn about control.

and all the hyping up of players like wilshere and bale is making it worse. how many kids over here want to emulate them? how many want to emulate the likes of suarez (footballing abilities, not biting) or coutinho?

until everyone, especially the press, stop hyping up and hero-worshipping the English 'kick it and run' merchants and denigrating the foreign technical players it's never going to improve.

All very interesting points! I think it's a mix of it all. If the current big Englisdh stars are being praised on the likes of MOTD for passing it out of danger, a good attacking movement etc rather than celebrating how Terry can throw himself in front of a shot (which was pretty cool tbf) or how Rooney (our top forward) gets back and executes a slide tackle kids aren't going to want to stand there and one touch it round a team. I only play football casually every now and again but the satisfaction I get from being involved in an intricate pass and move play that results in a goal or even a close chance is the best feeling in football, for me.

I play with a very mixed age group, some men are 50 who play (yes, it's that casual) but you can see the long ball tactics ingrained in them. There is almost a look of confusion when you run within 10 yards of them looking for the pass to feet.

This needs to change. When current stars are playing like their continental counterparts then English kids will want to too I agree. Coaching needs to be specialized and patient. Needs to praise the pass and encourage the bold moves.

The idea of home grown players playing for their local team in the prem is very attractive but is it ever going to be realistic? I don't know. Little steps is key but they have to be working towards encouraging technique in players. As I think Shankly said if God had intended football to be played in the air, their would be grass up there. (Sorry, if that wasn't Shankly and it's not exactly to quote but you can appreciate the point at least haha)

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Thank you

I have my doubts as to the desire of kids in this country to play sports, many I see today are overweight whimps who are more interested in playing FIFA than actually playing the game. People talk about kids being brought from abroad to full the academies but overall if the talent was there outside their door, clubs would look closer to home. We literally are at an all time low for home grown talent in this country and it has very little to so with foreign players being here at the moment IMO.

I don't buy into the cultural argument, that we can never be good cos our kids play playstation.. I don't know but i'm pretty sure they have the same distractions in Spain, Germany etc.

The key is nurturing the kids with talent and passion.. I think most people now (even the FA ) have realised the vicious circle we're in.

The decline in English talent should've been addressed years ago.. the last decent chance we had of winning something was probably Euro 96. Gazza, for all his faults, lived for football and was distraught when dropped by Hoddle.. I can't imagine any of the current squad being bothered if they're left at home.. It's broken from top to bottom.

I do reckon we're in for a revelation in the coaching system such as the Germans to blow everyone else out of the water

I hearby nominate the people on this thread to form the new council for the development of football in Britain.

Chembers,

I disagree with your assessment of pitch size. In fact I think it is the opposite problem.

All of the youth teams in my local area started playing on a full pitch from the age of 12. This is a huge jump and the new distances are large. The advantage then goes firmly to those kids who are bigger/faster/stronger or who have developed earlier.

This leads to the good old hoof it forward and let our big quick centre forward outpace their defence and be clean through. This leads to coaches picking those types of players and possibly helps explain the appreciation we have, as a nation, for the 'explosive' box to box type of player.

The downside is that kids don't develop the ball control, skill set and similar attributes that you see in Spanish or Brazilian players. This means our kids struggle in an environment where they have to play quick one touch passing in tight quarters.

In Brazil for example, the kids only play 5 or 7 a side until well into their teens, so that they can develop their ball control and don't resort to the tactic of hoof it out.

this is rather simple

spain are fascists and racist. look at their coaches. they openly call their own guys gypsys and as for what they do to balck players!!!

the germans are staunchly patriotic but also don't pay people to come in.


in short the english clubs are unpatriotic and out for any gain they can get so all and sundry come in.

spain = us and no-one else types and the germans won't by policy take in foreign players....

its not technical stuff on its own... it is attitude. go look at lfc academy. it is flooed with kids from the artic circle down to southern europe. its ridiculous.

Classic