tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1816893551784386940.post4965613996595038627..comments2023-07-02T12:09:36.303+01:00Comments on The Carvalho Peninsula: The Football League: A Hindrance At BestCharlie Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06692073738573179234noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1816893551784386940.post-40175297740274269092011-12-04T21:46:50.490+00:002011-12-04T21:46:50.490+00:00Axing the Football League won't make these tea...Axing the Football League won't make these teams cease to exist, it will only limit the number of players who are making sufficient earnings to be considered "professional".<br /><br />The problem stems from British cultural ideas about what consititutes "good football" - my Italian friend recently conceded that the Premier League was "the most exciting". I was shocked - he's very proud of Serie A - until he qualified it with "more red cards & bad tackles, & nobody can defend so there are more goals".<br /><br />He's spot on. A Blackpool team that relied on all-out attack and Charlie Adam nearly stayed up despite being absolutely atrocious at the back. My mate Dave (everyone has at least one) is making a killing at the bookies every week by putting £1 on "No clean sheets" for like 5 games. It comes through practically every week. Man City are smashing everything in their path... on the domestic front. In Europe they got 1 point from 6 against the 5th-placed Serie A team.<br /><br />Yes, coaches are often unqualified in England's lower tiers, but even the likes of Roberto Mancini or Alex Ferguson are being troubled on the European circuit. SAF has never been the most tactically variable, perhaps, but Mancini has 3 Scudetti and more. Then again, their squads have FIFA-based commitments to containing English players, and the non-English squad members are taught not to play a more patient game on a weekly basis. No "boring" Serie A tactics, no Tiki-Taka; more A-ttack-a-ttack.<br /><br />It's better than the quality of football in my native Scotland, granted, but it's still pretty much Hoof-Ball MkII.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1816893551784386940.post-23482831925866350842011-10-24T23:30:47.287+01:002011-10-24T23:30:47.287+01:00Interesting post. Not something I'd necessaril...Interesting post. Not something I'd necessarily agree with but there's some very valid points in there.<br /><br />I'll park quite a few issues about the Football League's usefulness to one side to focus on the national team, although there may be a point that we have too many professional sides. I wouldn't say we should do away with them altogether though.<br /><br />The description you have isn't too far away from the German pyramid model, and although I'm not totally up on their league structure, I think there's a fair bit of discussion about whether it works or not. One area Germany (and France) work well is having their youth development schools under the control of the national federation. <br /><br />Here, youth development is under the control of the individual clubs. You regularly see the running club versus country battle, where Wenger, Ferguson and others are reluctant to release players. The standard of coaching also varies across the clubs, and because the players get less time together, especially at the Under 21 levels and younger. <br /><br />Again, France and Germany don't have this problem. If the power is removed from the clubs in this regard, it would be better for the national team - that way they benefit from coaching in both the national way (and get to know team mates) and the club coaching.<br /><br />You're dead right to pick up on the lack of qualified coaches. However, I'd say that's not so much a Football League problem as an intrinsically English problem deep routed in the pysche of the game here, from grassroots to top flight. More needs to be done to get coaches qualifications. Scrapping entire systems doesn't necessarily do this. If every club was given incentives for training and employing more qualified coaches, you'd see an improvement throughout the league. <br /><br />Many lower league clubs have very high quality facilities for youngsters and play a large part in developing them, before bigger clubs come in and lift them further (theoretically). For example, Southampton developed Bale and Walcott, Maidstone for Chris Smalling, Luton looked after Jack Wilshire in his early years, and so on. These players get a good education if the club is set up well. Southampton, Crewe and Exeter are just three excellent examples of this.<br /><br />Football League clubs also play a key part in the development of players through the loan system. Many of England's stars have, at one point or another, gone out on loan in the football league and developed through playing regularly (Beckham, for example, spent time on loan at Preston). <br /><br />Football League club also pick up and rebuild many youngsters discarded too early, before sending them back up the leagues - Bobby Zamora is a prime example of this. There's no way he'd be anywhere near the England team if it wasn't for his time at Brighton.<br /><br />There's also an excellent argument for allowing talented youngsters to develop in the Football League through the smaller clubs before taking them to bigger teams.<br /><br />For example, Tom Taiwo was taken from Leeds to Chelsea and John Bostock from Palace to Spurs. Both were promising youngsters left to rot in the reserves. Taiwo is now doing very well at Carlisle, while Bostock... well, is rattling around on whoever Harry can send him out to.<br /><br />Jonjo Shelvey is a more recent example. He rejected Chelsea for another season spent developing as a regular starter for Charlton before moving to Liverpool. Game time at Anfield was limited, so he's out on loan again. In all these games, there's a strong argument for letting the smaller clubs develop them - although maybe partnership options aren't a bad idea.<br /><br />I don't disagree with the idea that the Premier League was a great creation, funnily enough. But the greed and self-interest of a lot of clubs is what's really hurting youth development for the national team. There's a lot of valid criticisms here but, in my opinion, aimed at the wrong place. The Football League is not the problem.<br /><br />GaryGary Andrewshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00963442478999029157noreply@blogger.com