Something Special Happening for English Football

Don’t get too carried just yet, but the signs are positive. The fruits of the FA’s DNA Project are starting to emerge

The FA had just never seem to get it right. Golden generations, penalty shoot-out defeats and that feeling that for all the talent and promise our players showed, they just couldn’t deliver in the big tournaments. In recent years we’ve seen the disappointment of our senior team fail miserably at both the 2010 and 2014 World Cup’s, as well as grind their way to a ‘honourable’ exit to Italy in the quarter finals of the 2012 Euro’s. We’ve seen the Under 21’s get knocked out in the group stage of the European Championships in each of the past three competitions. It hasn’t been a good time for English football. But this appears to be changing. 

This summer we’ve just witnessed the England U20’s going all the way to win the U20’s World Cup! An incredible achievement by the squad and a fantastic advert for the future, and present of English football. It was celebrated in the media yet perhaps more should have been made about it. This was unprecedented. England had only reached the semi-finals before this in 1993. But the tide has been changing in recent years. In 2010 and 2014 the U17 side won the European Championship’s and this year reached the final, only to lose in penalties to Spain after a 2-2 draw (where Spain drew in the 86^th minute.) It means that if England’s U21’s can reach the final of the U21 Euro Championships on Tuesday, having to overcome Germany to get there,  England would have reached the final of all their competitions this summer. Add in the Toulan Tournament, which England retained their crown beating Ivory Coast in the final (and yes actually winning on penalties) and it’s clear that English football has been the dominant nation in world football at youth level this year. That’s pretty exciting!

A positive culture shift

Recently I was on a coaching course at the FA and had the pleasure to receive a presentation from Matt Crocker, the FA’s Head of Development Team Coaching. It was an enlightening talk regarding what the staff with the youth sides do with their teams when in for training, games and tournaments. Crocker was one of the initial men brought in during the FA’s big re-stucturing in 2012 when Dan Ashworth was hired as the FA’s Director of Elite Development. It was a significant move for the FA who felt a change was necessary across all areas. With the newly built St George’s Park it was a new era for the English FA. A new start perhaps after decades of disappointment, heartache and frustration. 

I’ve written countless articles and books in recent years in which I’ve been critical of the FA and English football in general for the way in which we have gone about our football and development of young players. I’ve argued that the culture has been wrong and damaging and that we’ve held our players back with a culture of mediocrity. It’s evident through watching these England youth sides, going on the FA coaching courses and listening to those people in and around the FA now that there has been a huge culture shift for the better. 

The introduction of youth courses has been a significant enhancement in the positive development of young players and the coaches. The embracement of futsal has been fantastic for our country and this will only grow and get better. And it’s not just the men’s teams, the women’s game and disability teams have recently prospered too. 

The truth is, I was never sold on the ethos, culture and outcome seen at the FA, until now. I genuinely believe the FA finally have the right people, right culture and right approach to producing world class teams. And that’s the key aspect right there. The FA aren’t in the world of ‘developing’ young players. They are in the world of developing great teams. Too often we’ve criticised the FA for a lack of player production, or lack of quality from our players, but that’s not necessarily their job. 

What we are seeing is that they have professionalised the whole process, all the way through the youth sides. And yes, the truth is, with the money invested in staff, facilities and the planning which goes in to these tournaments and training camps, well you actually kind of expect this level of success. Trust me that’s no criticism, we’ve been ‘expecting’ for some time now, but it appears the FA are actually delivering, and that’s the important and positive thing. They are doing things properly, investing in staff and people to make it work.

The focus of the DNA is about style of play yes, but it is also importantly about the team and they place a big ethos on team and family at the FA with these youth sides. A very important element of team success is the social element and cohesion of the group. It’s evident this has been developed fantastically and the proof is on the pitch.

In terms of player development, well that’s where the Academies must be praised. Yes the FA conduct the coaching courses, and positively they’ve been improved and enhanced. The Advanced Youth Award is a truly excellent experience which takes you on a journey to learn, critique and discuss the key areas of player development. It is certainly helping develop a better talent pool of coaches working with our young players.  But ultimately what we are seeing with the England success this year particularly, is the fruits of the Academy system this past decade genuinely starting to blossom and produce some wonderful talent. 

A new generation emerging - one born on the streets?

In recent years we’ve witnessed the near dominance of Chelsea’s youth sides in the FA Youth Cup, this year winning their fourth in a row and proving that they are the ‘best’ Academy in the country. A 6-2 aggregate victory over Man City. Both of these Academies are showing that they are bringing through some very talented players. Jadon Sancho at City particularly appears to be one of the best players to come out of the Academy system for some time. Signed from Watford in 2015 he has gone from strength to strength in Manchester and has been a key player for England’s U16 and U17 sides in the past 12 months also. 

It’s clear there’s a new generation of players emerging, and in the case of Sancho we are seeing this most notably out of London. It’s pretty evident that the new generation of players in England are emerging from inner city, multi-cultural areas across the country. And London is the hotbed of the talent right now. In Rory Smith’s article in the New York Times titled “Premier League Proving Grounds” he looks at how London is nurturing this new generation of talented footballers he says;

“About 14 percent of the English-born players in the Premier League last year hailed from the 10-square-mile stretch that composes south London. Among them are Victor Moses and Wilfried Zaha, both now internationals for other nations, Moses for Nigeria and Zaha for Ivory Coast; Manchester United’s Chris Smalling; Liverpool’s Nathaniel Clyne and Joe Gomez; and Jordon Ibe of Bournemouth.

Most of them grew up in these housing complexes, with their first exposure to soccer coming not on lush green fields but on the ball court — an AstroTurf field enclosed by a wire mesh fence — that is at the center of many of them. These modest, worn spaces are often the only sports ground available to the thousands of children, often black or another minority, who live in the surrounding tower blocks.”

It’s the street football culture which for many appears to have been lost. The culture which many argue has cost us the development of players today. But not for these young lads. They are proving how important this environment is for the development of players. These environments find out those who can deal with the demands not just of football but of the social challenges which come with it. Deal with the pressures of this environment, emerge out of it positively, and that nice world of state of the art Academies can be a breeze.

As Smith says; “The reason for that is simple: The cages provide the perfect breeding ground for young professionals. Games take place most nights, and for much of the day on weekends, either in chaotic pickup matches or impromptu winner-stays-on tournaments.

The cages with the loftiest reputations — Tabard Gardens, the Damilola Taylor Center — draw players and teams from across south London, competing not just for personal pleasure but also for local pride.

Watched by dozens of onlookers, the games are raucously competitive and a chance to enhance social status. Speed and strength are paramount, but the emphasis is on individual brilliance, imagination, technical mastery. It is a macho, unforgiving environment, where losing collectively or individually — being nutmegged, for example — carries a social stigma.”

When you listen to players who emerge from South America, or those who come out of France, particularly the Paris suburbs, or the new wave of Moroccan players who are 2^nd generation in countries like France, Belgium and Holland, you are seeing that the development of young players occurs best on the streets. When young Brasilians are honing their skills in the cages playing futsal they are developing the skills needed to deal with the game, physically, mentally and socially. 

Watching France last week versus England and you see an ethically diverse group of players, players whose heritage comes predominantly from African countries. Not too uncommon from the France side who won the World Cup in 1998. Ethnic minorities who have have their communities in these large European cities are prefect breeding grounds for young players. Not to generalise too much but these families don’t often have the money to afford the things which can be a distraction to young kids. Where middle class kids have their computers and technology, or are being ferried to after school activities every night  these kids just play football outside with their friends and community. 

The desire for expressive players requires the right culture

They play all the time, almost unwittingly honing their skills. And often they are doing it without the gaze and command of an adult or a coach. They are learning how to protect themselves, how to stick up for theirselves, how to lead, manage and develop character. One has to ask if the Academy system as a whole is doing a good enough job at developing these type of player? It is no surprise that academies are now starting to change their scouting away from the grass pitches to the cages. And that the coaching methodologies are seeking to replicate this element of self-play. However it’s not easy to replicate. Attempting to give players ‘free play’ in a structured time and space setting is an issue. There’s a falseness in the Academy system when it comes to ‘letting players play freely’. But it’s important to find a way. 

We are seeing and are now starting to appreciate that perhaps our strict coaching methods, our restrictive ideas and style has not been conducive to producing players who can deal with the modern and future game. We adore the skilful players who come from Brasil yet have too often restricted our own players in their expression and creativity. This is changing. Our culture, one which is becoming more diverse and multi-cultural, is seen a new generation of football emerge from it’s streets and cages. Players with more edge to their game with the skills and creativity needed to succeed. 

Going back to the England youth sides, yes they have succeeded in improving their own house, in developing a stronger, more positive foundation and enhancing it’s staff. But they are incredibly fortunate to be working with some fantastic young players, who perhaps are as skilful, dynamic and dominant as we’ve ever 'produced' before. It’s a credit to the Academies, the coaches within them, the scouts for finding these players and also the multi-cultural, globalised country we live in. We are embracing different cultures, ethnicities and backgrounds and finding genuine talent. We are now starting to genuinely nurture this talent, and not killing it. And we are profiting from it greatly as is evidence this summer.

However, and this is the big one, the one I’m sure you’ve been arguing to yourself throughout reading this and watching these young lads lifting trophies these past few weeks. What next? Yes we clearly have good young players and an FA with the right ideas and people there to push these players and teams to succeed. But the true test is what happens to these young players in their journey going into the senior game. And this is English football’s biggest challenge. Bridging the gap between youth and senior football. Getting these young players the experience needed to take their potential and help them reach it. 

English football's biggest challenge

A lot of these players in these England sides are good enough to be playing consistent 1^st team football now. They are big enough and strong enough at 16 or 17 a lot of them, yet are denied their chances to progress because of how hard it is for them to break through. Yes Chelsea and Man City have fantastic Academies and the means to recruit the best talent in the country, and even the world. Yet for all their riches of money and talent they still struggle to get these players into their 1^st teams. And this is ultimately where Academies should be judged. 

Sure it’s good to win youth tournaments and have some excellent young players, but ultimately the job of an Academy is to produce professional footballers – and not just professionals who languish in the U23’s, but players who play 100’s of professional games in senior football. There is a big issue here with the development of young players between 17-21 and the players plus England will suffer because of it. 

In terms of continuity the hope of the FA is to have a settled group move through the age groups as much as possible, ultimately building cohesion and understanding as a collective on and off the pitch so when a large group of them progress to the senior side, they know each other well, know the DNA and can make international football look cohesive. And this makes sense. But the gap between even U21 and the senior side is so very vast. This is mainly to do with the difference in opportunities and level these players go to from their teens to early 20’s. 

Truth is these talented youngsters don’t progress up the levels effectively enough to become top senior players. The lack of Champions League level players England has is close to embarrassing when you consider that nations like Spain, France and Brazil have about 6-7 times more of their nationals playing in the world’s top club competition than us. It seems madness when you consider that we clearly have talented young players, but the problem is twofold.

1) not enough English players want or seek to play abroad. This is due in part to a cultural issue and concern, as well as a security/comfort of being at home. It leads to being comfortable, not taking risks (or significant wage cuts - see point No.2) and ultimately not getting the opportunity to develop further. Which is why it’s positive to see Reece Oxford move to Borussia Monchegladnbach this summer for a year loan. It begs the question however why he hasn’t broken through at West Ham since his impressive debut two years ago. Perhaps a move away from his comfort zone will be the best thing for him, he may well have got complacent and developed an ego after all the hype at such a young age? It's not easy to deal with all that going on. A move abroad will also help educate him on a different culture and league. 

2) The big problem, is money. Our young players get paid far too handsomely at a young age which leads to an inevitability for many of a drop off in performance and work ethic. The lifestyle which that money brings, for teenagers, takes one hell of a strong and disciplined individual to overcome. And this creates a barrier for the foreign moves too. Foreign clubs may like an English players talent yet they can’t afford his wage demands. For them its seems ludicrous to consider the wages young English players receive. And so you’ve got players earning a lot of money at a young age, yet with little prospects to push forward and break through, yet they price themselves out of moves to other leagues, which in turn denies them opportunity.

A young lad at Chelsea or City (and many others across the country) feel they’ve ‘made it’ already, yet the foreign lad who has been earning less works harder, strives more, is determined to be better in order to earn more. It’s about hunger. And our Academies and the clubs, aren’t producing enough players with the hunger and desire to be relentless in their pursuit to achieve. Too often this past decade we have seen a talented group of players not enough willing to leave their comfort zone or lower their demands in order to play. Agents don’t help because the option will always be to take the option with more money. But the truth is these players need to play. This World Cup winning U20 side needs to be playing every week. Not just sub appearances but consistently.

The need to play, not just get paid

Imagine if these players accepted minimal for the chance to play. And then assessed what they could get when they became 22-23 years of age, after playing 150 games and making a statement in their performance. That won’t happen playing U23’s.  Loan moves help to get experience but in many cases the loan is not a success; the player either doesn’t play enough, isn’t supported adequately or doesn’t have the drive or desire in him to play for his loan side with the passion needed. A player playing for a contract plays with more hunger. 

Of course looking at Patrick Roberts this past season at Celtic and you see a player who has thrived with his loan. This is pleasing and fortunate, as when City bought him from Fulham it felt like another talented youngster, who had broke into the first team, thrown into the reserves of a big club. And yet it’s not just English football which suffers this, Portgual have a similar frustration themselves with Renato Sanches at Bayern.

The years of 17-21 are huge in the development of these young players, and I’ll always argue it’s better to be playing senior professional football at a lower level league or smaller nation, than playing U23 Academy level football. As with anything there’s examples both sides of the argument but if English football wishes to truly make its mark on the international scene and win at senior level, it will require it’s players to be playing consistently at the top level. And that is still the big concern. 

For these rich club it’s easier and more effective to buy big a player already there, then give a young player time and experience to develop and become as good or better in 3-4 years time. With vast money, developing and trusting in youth is not a priority. And that’s a real shame. Which is why we are thankful for managers like Pochettino and Koeman who have shown a willingness to embrace young English players, and look what has happened. Marcus Rashford is a great example of what happens when necessity for a position leads a manager to use his young players - and what happens? You seemingly unearth an absolute gem of a player. It makes you wonder doesn't it? How many others are there? Harry Kane benefited from the trust Tim Sherwood put in young players and now look at him, one of Europe's best centre forwards. 

Yes it’s been a fantastic year for English football and the FA. And they should be highly congratulated and praised for what they've done and are doing. There’s no denying there are fruits of the work being laid for the past several years coming to fruition now. Credit to those at the FA who have pushed the level forwards significantly. Better late than never I guess. 

Germany did this in the early 2000’s and Spain and France in the mid-1990’s. However at least we’ve got our act together now. What is needed now is to see these talented youngsters playing consistent senior football – preferably at the top level. That appears to be the most important element, and yet also the biggest challenge.

The Whitehouse Address @The_W_Address