It also has a lot to do with foreign managers coming over and not knowing who members of the first team are let alone the youth and reserve team squads. This would no longer be a problem if young players were nurtured like their counterparts in Spain and Germany where youth is now the main priority, particularly in the current economic crisis that is preventing many clubs from splashing the cash and instead opting for their home-grown talent. Ironically, many, many clubs now find themselves in debt due to their insistence that buying players from abroad saves money, but if the managers and chairmen had even bothered to study the benefits for teams that have put youth near the forefront of their plans in the past, it appears they would have been better off putting the funds into their own academies rather than searching overseas.
Whereas countries such as Germany and Spain build on their success our players seem to squander their talent. On what? The temptation and the trappings of fame such as girls, flash cars and parties thrown by P.Diddy or whatever he’s calling himself these days? Whether they are the reasons or not we would do well to take a leaf out of Germany and Spain’s book in changing the way we nurture our young players – particularly between the ages of 18-21. There are a host of ideas we could supplement into the English game and it may mean that we will have to stop being so proud of doing things the ‘English way’. It is an ignorant and arrogant attitude to say that we cannot take some tips from how other countries play the game and how they deal with matters off the pitch as well as on it such as the popular idea of incorporating a winter break. It is also foolish to suggest that we cannot play any other style apart from our own.
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Players of different attributes come and go, but according to some, because we invented the game we should play the game like we have traditionally played it – the opposite to what Martinez thinks we can play. We have got to move with the times and maybe installing a winter break and many other things that people are suggesting will rectify our game. At least if we do try it there will be no excuses this time. The relatively recent set of rules stating that a Premiership club has to name at least eight home-grown players in a 25-man squad is a start but that can mean anyone – English or otherwise – who has been registered with an English or Welsh club for three years between their 16th and 21st birthdays.
To some this is a positive sign, but it may very well result in clubs adopting exactly the same approach that they are pursuing now; buying young players in the same age group from abroad at the expense of English ones or, as Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson has pointed out, it could mean young hopefuls not being given the chance to experience first team football in the lower leagues because they are needed in the 25 man squad to warm up the bench. It may mean top-flight clubs being reluctant to send out their players for invaluable first team matches on loan to lower league clubs which has paid dividends for players such as David Beckham and Jermaine Defoe in the past. Whatever impact it has be it positive or negative at least it’s a start to trying to sort out the problem, which is better than nothing. We will not find out if it works for a few years yet, but win or lose we can be sure of one thing, we’ll have a good old moan on the way.
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