The Way Forward – Solutions to England’s Football Failings

It has been almost 50 years since England made the final of a major championship and the national sides, at all levels, continue to disappoint and under perform  English football is in a state of crisis. And it appears no-one knows how to improve the situation. Until now.

Matt Whitehouse, editor of the award winning blog The Whitehouse Address has the answers in his new book The Way Forward– Solutions to England’s football failings.

It is obvious that changes are needed and there is much said and discussed regarding English football’s failures. The recurring problem we have is that there are many words, yet little action. What is clear is that unless change is implemented soon, England will continue to exist in the backwaters of international football – enviously watching the likes of Spain, Germany, Holland and others, as they deliver high quality teams that are capable of winning tournaments. 

So what are the solutions needed to improve English football and develop a greater number of quality players? The Way Forward examines the causes of English football’s decline these past several decades and offers a number of areas where change and improvement need to be implemented. 

With a keen focus and passion for youth development and improved coaching the book seeks to address the fact that no single fix can overcome the current problems and that a multi-pronged strategy is needed.

The book has been regarded as “an opinionated, passionate and at times controversial view of the state of England’s youth development” which makes The Way Forward an honest and comprehensive insight into the issues which are holding English football back from other nations. 

Learning from the past

The book is set out into four parts which seek to give an understanding and background to the issues which have plagued England’s past and which are affecting its present and future. Evidently it is not a simple fix or a single solution to fix the issues plaguing the nation. The book aims to cover all these aspects in order to give an in-depth analysis of what is required to improve the state of youth development.

A major focus of the book is concerned with the quality of coaching across the youth levels as well as paying particular focus to the changes which have occurred recently with the creation of the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) which has sought to improve the standards and quality of coaching and facilities across England’s youth academies. The intentions and aims of Ged Roddy, the creator of the plan are admirable yet there is a worry that a similar situation will occur like what happened in 1997.

Howard Wilkinson was appointed Technical Director of the FA in 1997 and embarked on the creation of his Charter for Quality, a document which pointed towards the need to improve the standards of coaching for youth players in England. 

The aims were like the new EPPP and were admirable as they sought to improve the technical development of young players. Yet the implementation was the problem; the plans were watered down and although ‘academies’ were formed these were unmonitored and on the most part continued to use the old methods of coaching.

These ‘old methods’ were based on the football philosophies of Allen Wade and Charles Hughes, the men who ran the FA during the late 60’s to 80’s. These men were the ones who believed in direct football and who put no value on ‘possession’. It led to the philosophy of direct play which became a characteristic of the English game, a game which many refer to as ‘barbaric’ and akin to ‘trench warfare’. 

Of course around the late 70’s and early 80’s there were sides like Liverpool and Nottingham Forest who had coaches who did not believe in the ‘FA way’, yet what did they know?! They only won six European cups between them! Instead of the English FA taking lessons from these successful sides, they chose a different route, one which would effectively ruin the future success of England nationally.

It is not hard to see what happened for England. The FA educated coaches on their ‘way of playing’ which saw a large number of coaches go out into the coaching world professing this style and developing players and teams based on it. And what did the ‘direct style’ require? Well giant centre forwards who could challenge and fight for the aerial ball. In turn it needed centre halves who could counter their size and strength. 

It resulted in a lack of skill and quality and the inevitable neglect of players who were small or skilful. The English game became an ugly and fiercely contested battle which saw the country suffer in the present and the future. How damaging delusional philosophies and ideals can be to a nation’s success.

Elite levels required 

Since England’s failed ‘Golden Generation’ and the failure to reach the 2008 European Championships the decision to improve standards across English academies saw the creation of the EPPP, yet there are still issues which it has failed to address. 

The quality of coaching across all levels is still a significant issue and specifically a concern throughout football academies where the players need elite levels of education in order to become suitable for the top levels of the game. Without question the quality of coaching is certainly affecting the development of top quality English players.

The problem with the academy system is that a culture of ‘mediocrity’ has permeated whereas what is really needed is a focus on elite development. The truth is there are too many players in the system who are not good enough to become a professional. The book gives solutions as to what is needed to improve the standards in academies. 

The Way Forward also addresses the issues below the academy set-up; those underlying problems as to why there are too many mediocre players across English football. With an emphasis on the key years of development between 7-11 years the book highlights the concerns about the quality and teaching of physical education in schools as well as the coaching in the grassroots game. The result is that young players are being affected physically, technically and socially. 

A key improvement required is a need for higher quality coaching and an emphasis on creating positive learning environments which will be required in order for England to produce better all-round players who possess skill, creativity and physical literacy.

And the book does not neglect a serious issue in English football, the Premier League and how this 'beast' is holding back English players from developing to the senior game. A need to win, short termism and a lack of trust in young players is stunting the development of players between 17-21. The book proposes that the Premier League needs to change the rules regarding 'home-grown' players and make integration between youth and senior football better then English football will continue to play catch-up with other nations.

It is is not just coaching that needs to be improved though; the book seeks to give a holistic understanding of developing players and sees a need to improve the quality of scouting, talent identification, sport science, and psychology.  

What the The Way Forward seeks to do is outline the multiple issues holding back English football and provide solutions for these problems to be improved in order for English football to produce a greater number of top quality footballers. 

The book makes a compelling case for all footballing parties to work together to improve standards and modernise their approach. Improvements need to come from the FA and their work with grassroots football to increase the quality of coaching, as well as from the Premier League and the academies who need to do more in terms of the environments they create for producing elite players. 

The Way Forward is for anyone who has an interest in English football and the state of our national game. Focusing on improving the quality and quantity of English players in the professional game the book gives as comprehensive analysis of English youth development as has been seen before and is therefore of huge value to coaches, parents, teachers, and fans of of football. 

The Way Forward – Solutions to England’s Football Failings is available to order from Amazon - click here to purchase your copy

If you have any questions regarding the book or youth development you can email thewhitehouseaddress@gmail.com