When Greg Dyke used his inaugural speech as chairman of the F.A. to emphasise that his four year term in office would have as its priority the improvement of the England national side’s fortunes, the standout rhetoric centred on the issue of home-grown players being denied the opportunity to flourish in our own Premier League.
For that scenario to prevail, however, the effective development of those same individuals is essential – a fact which Dyke acknowledged. Addressing the cause of the technical deficiencies which exist in too many of England’s footballers when matched against superior foreign counterparts the 66 year-old said;
‘Technically they (English players) don’t learn enough when they are young – up to the age of 11- and as a result they can’t compete with Spanish, French, Dutch or German kids as they get older’.
Dyke concluded his oratory with the headline grabbing statement declaring his organisation’s somewhat superficial ambition for the England team to win the World Cup of 2022. That should not detract from much of what came before – the confronting of issues which can be managed during the current chairman’s reign.
Getting ‘our development teams playing the right way’, ‘improving how we identify talent and nurture it within our teams’, and ‘appointing outstanding youth development coaches’ were all included in Dyke’s clearly outlined targets.
Already, tangible steps have been taken to improve the playing experience and advancement of 7-11 year olds. There is no 11-a-side football for youngsters below the age of 12. For those taking part in the ‘mini-soccer’ that is now mandatory for under-7 to under-10 age groups there is a key stipulation in the rules which has as its sole aim the evolution of English footballers who are comfortable in possession. When a goalkeeper takes a goal kick he is entitled to wait for the entire opposing side to retreat behind the half-way line, so encouraging children learning the game to play from the back.
The F.A. are genuinely endeavouring to progress the game in their country to a state where it can boast technically proficient, intelligent, and imaginative footballers to rank in number alongside the traditional talent production lines in Brazil, Argentina, and Italy, as well as those of the nations cited by Dyke.
We too, the people on the terraces can play our part. There is a discernible shift in the playing styles being adopted by a large proportion of teams in the Premier League and, indeed, throughout the Football League. That circumstance has been inspired in part by Barcelona’s stunning Pep Guardiola led, two-times Champions League winning, outfit.
Foreign coaches in charge at our foremost clubs, with the monetary power to recruit some of the world’s finest exponents of the game, have implemented a swashbuckling, fast-moving brand of football – a further influence on today’s aspirational coaches. From the comfort of our couches we have been treated to Guardiola’s tiki-taka geniuses, various incarnations of Arsene Wenger’s enthralling Arsenal teams, and now, the embryonic signs of an electrifying Manchester City unit under their new Chilean boss, Manuel Pellegrini.
Of course, prior to the modern Barca revolution – and throughout it – we bore witness to a series of Sir Alex Ferguson’s enterprising Manchester United teams. By extension, when we pay our cash to enter a ground, we wish to see that football which has us rapt in front of our television screens replicated in front of our eyes.
Stoke City fans had long gown tired of Tony Pulis’ rudimentary approach by the time the Welshman was sacked at the close of the last campaign. Already, the previously much maligned Mark Hughes is being widely lauded for the far more attractive playing style adopted by his Potters team.