Where is English Football?
posted by The Blue Devil @ 7:26 PM
Lakenheath Old Boys
We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Lakenheath Old Boys
We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
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2 Comments:
Thanks. I'll listen to this on the train into work tomorrow.
A good chat, but it's confounding to me that serious journalists still are trotting out the old canard that England have a chance of winning another World Cup, in Brazil this time, no less. There's absolutely no evidence that '66 was anything but an unrepeatable historical anomology. England has too small a population base, it's too well-off politically and financially to support the under-class that's traditionally been the key to a world-cup win, its player development lags behind probably 10 or more countries, it's miles behind tactically, and its top league is unwilling to sacrifice its financial aims in favor of promoting the national team.
It's only the financial dominance of the Premier League that gives anyone the confidence to stand in front of a microphone and say that England's got a chance at winning an international tournament. But even a side-ways glimpse at the league reveals that not one single English player can claim to be the dominant player in the EPL. Not one. If you made up a team coached by Hodgson of solely English players, they'd still not beat another top Premiership outfit that could field RVP, Suarez, Mata, Oscar, Lukaku, Fellaini, Hazard, and Aguerro.
There's no mention at all that those foreign players are also responsible for keeping English players, especially young ones like Oxlande-Chamberlain, Rose, Rodwell, Albrighton, Cleverly, Richardson, etc out of their club teams first XI.
There's no or very little mention that the first difference you see when an England game kicks off is the opposite team plays the ball better, quicker and with better technique and attacking purpose.
But I did think it was a useful discussion to have highlighting the pull between the full England squad and the Under-20's. But again, I thought it weird that there was little mention that England is transitioning between old and new guard, so even though Chamberlain and Wilshire would obviously have helped the U-20's campaign if they'd been free or not injured in Jack's case, it's silly to think that there's much left for them to learn at the U-20 level. They're established players now and shouldn't be drafted into a U-20 squad to make sure that Ashley Cole gets 100 caps or Frank Lampard has a final lundge at Charlton's goal record.
I'll stop here. What did you think?
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