Post by johnnywarren on Nov 17, 2006 6:08:31 GMT 10
Big debate: is second-rate youth coaching dooming England?
Are poor academy coaches to blame for England's inability to succeed in major football competitions?
Guardian Unlimited
November 15, 2006 12:30 AM
Yes: John Cartwright, Former Lilleshall technical director, Arsenal head coach
I watched the match between Arsenal and Liverpool at the weekend, and you only have to look at Arsenal to see the foundation of the problem. They had no English players on the pitch. Of the four substitutes who came on for the two teams, only two were British. Why don't managers want to use our players? It is because we are not producing the quality of player that is good enough to play in the Premiership. Coaching isn't good enough in club academies or the rest of youth football.
It's a long story which goes back to the end of street football in this country and the beginning of organised coaching at the end of the 1950s. Before then you had children who saw the game being played and went out in the street and tried to recreate what they had seen. They would learn to play without pressure and develop skills. Since the introduction of organised coaching there is always pressure to win. We do not have players capable of winning a World Cup. It is no coincidence that our last success in 1966 came with players who had caught the back end of learning the game at street level.
Coaching would have been fine if it had been undertaken by people who were involved in the professional game, but instead it was done by educationalists - amateurs teaching the professionals. I go to coaching courses and see hardly anyone who has made their living from the game. For coaches to qualify they have to pass courses produced by teachers who set the standards and issue the certification after examination through the Football Association. It's back to front.
There needs to be a complete revamping of the system. Sir Trevor Brooking, the FA's director of football development, is the first person to come in that type of role who had a top professional's background, but he is caught up in fighting political battles. It doesn't matter what business you are in, you must have a target set down and say: "How are we going to run it? What are we trying to achieve?" That has never been done with regards to playing football in England. It's like sending up a spaceship and saying: "We don't know where it's going but we hope it will hit something anyway."
Youth football at a very junior level is based on mediocre standards that aren't good enough. We have a situation where people who have got a poor standard of recognition are telling others that a great player is coming up through the ranks when in fact that player is mediocre.
At international level England might get the odd result but you must not be looking only for results. We need to develop players who will put fans and managers on the edge of their seats.
Coaching at youth and academy level is about drill work, organisation and being part of a team rather than about the skill of individuals. Specifically, we're producing a generation of players who are unable to run with the ball and are instead constantly looking to pass and get rid of it.
It's all very well having a top academy like France's Clairefontaine but you have got to sort out the foundations. We had Lilleshall but it never worked properly - by the age of 14, 15 and 16 the players weren't good enough.
John Cartwright runs Premier Skills, a company providing free coaching courses with an emphasis on skills development.
No: Tony Carr, West Ham's director of youth development since 1973
Let's be fair, in recent years we've gone out of major championships on penalty shootouts rather than losing in 90 minutes on the pitch. If we're looking at what skills we should be teaching youngsters, then maybe there's an argument for it to be practising penalties. England man for man can compete with some of the best countries in the world but still haven't produced the results.
What we have to remember as well is that at clubs we're trying to develop a player specifically for the Premier League where football is fast and furious. There has been many a high-profile foreign player that hasn't been able to cope with the pace of it and we need to develop players who can adapt to their environment. In other countries, build-up play is slow in certain areas, more methodical, and defenders need more time on the ball. Maybe that is a factor in our failure at major tournaments.
I've known John Cartwright for many years and he has always banged the drum about the fact that we're not skilful enough and we're not teaching kids skills from an early age. There's an argument to say that's the case when you look at the number of foreign players brought into the game. It's a big dilemma for England, the FA and the clubs. It's very difficult for an 18-year-old to break into the first team at the big clubs in the Premiership and replace the likes of a Didier Drogba at Chelsea or a Ruud van Nistelrooy at Manchester United.
But I don't think it's necessarily a problem with coaching in the academies. I would challenge anyone to come down to West Ham, watch the work we're doing and say that we're not trying to improve their technique and skills. It's being taught from eight, nine and 10 years old.
The big issue in terms of our success in producing players has been that our recruitment is very good and our people have an eye for young talent. Coaching alone can't make a player. There has to be a bit of nature to add to the nurture. It is about finding that raw talent and giving it the right programme over a period of seasons to develop into a footballer who is ready to play successfully at the top level.
In terms of the Michael Carricks, Joe Coles and Frank Lampards of this world, the skills you see shining through they had when they arrived. Joe joined West Ham at 12 and the purpose behind his coaching programme was to polish that - teach him to try these skills in that area and not in another.
One of the problems is what is happening at grassroots level. We go to offer coaching in school because very little football is being played there and boys don't go out in parks or play street football as much these days. Developing skills begins at a very young age and you can't load all the problems on the football clubs.
You can point to a number of clubs who have produced extremely successful and talented players through their youth programmes: Manchester United, Middlesbrough more recently and of course Stevie Heighway at Liverpool with the likes of Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen and Jamie Carragher. We do produce them, but obviously not in the numbers that are satisfying the critics.
Are poor academy coaches to blame for England's inability to succeed in major football competitions?
Guardian Unlimited
November 15, 2006 12:30 AM
Yes: John Cartwright, Former Lilleshall technical director, Arsenal head coach
I watched the match between Arsenal and Liverpool at the weekend, and you only have to look at Arsenal to see the foundation of the problem. They had no English players on the pitch. Of the four substitutes who came on for the two teams, only two were British. Why don't managers want to use our players? It is because we are not producing the quality of player that is good enough to play in the Premiership. Coaching isn't good enough in club academies or the rest of youth football.
It's a long story which goes back to the end of street football in this country and the beginning of organised coaching at the end of the 1950s. Before then you had children who saw the game being played and went out in the street and tried to recreate what they had seen. They would learn to play without pressure and develop skills. Since the introduction of organised coaching there is always pressure to win. We do not have players capable of winning a World Cup. It is no coincidence that our last success in 1966 came with players who had caught the back end of learning the game at street level.
Coaching would have been fine if it had been undertaken by people who were involved in the professional game, but instead it was done by educationalists - amateurs teaching the professionals. I go to coaching courses and see hardly anyone who has made their living from the game. For coaches to qualify they have to pass courses produced by teachers who set the standards and issue the certification after examination through the Football Association. It's back to front.
There needs to be a complete revamping of the system. Sir Trevor Brooking, the FA's director of football development, is the first person to come in that type of role who had a top professional's background, but he is caught up in fighting political battles. It doesn't matter what business you are in, you must have a target set down and say: "How are we going to run it? What are we trying to achieve?" That has never been done with regards to playing football in England. It's like sending up a spaceship and saying: "We don't know where it's going but we hope it will hit something anyway."
Youth football at a very junior level is based on mediocre standards that aren't good enough. We have a situation where people who have got a poor standard of recognition are telling others that a great player is coming up through the ranks when in fact that player is mediocre.
At international level England might get the odd result but you must not be looking only for results. We need to develop players who will put fans and managers on the edge of their seats.
Coaching at youth and academy level is about drill work, organisation and being part of a team rather than about the skill of individuals. Specifically, we're producing a generation of players who are unable to run with the ball and are instead constantly looking to pass and get rid of it.
It's all very well having a top academy like France's Clairefontaine but you have got to sort out the foundations. We had Lilleshall but it never worked properly - by the age of 14, 15 and 16 the players weren't good enough.
John Cartwright runs Premier Skills, a company providing free coaching courses with an emphasis on skills development.
No: Tony Carr, West Ham's director of youth development since 1973
Let's be fair, in recent years we've gone out of major championships on penalty shootouts rather than losing in 90 minutes on the pitch. If we're looking at what skills we should be teaching youngsters, then maybe there's an argument for it to be practising penalties. England man for man can compete with some of the best countries in the world but still haven't produced the results.
What we have to remember as well is that at clubs we're trying to develop a player specifically for the Premier League where football is fast and furious. There has been many a high-profile foreign player that hasn't been able to cope with the pace of it and we need to develop players who can adapt to their environment. In other countries, build-up play is slow in certain areas, more methodical, and defenders need more time on the ball. Maybe that is a factor in our failure at major tournaments.
I've known John Cartwright for many years and he has always banged the drum about the fact that we're not skilful enough and we're not teaching kids skills from an early age. There's an argument to say that's the case when you look at the number of foreign players brought into the game. It's a big dilemma for England, the FA and the clubs. It's very difficult for an 18-year-old to break into the first team at the big clubs in the Premiership and replace the likes of a Didier Drogba at Chelsea or a Ruud van Nistelrooy at Manchester United.
But I don't think it's necessarily a problem with coaching in the academies. I would challenge anyone to come down to West Ham, watch the work we're doing and say that we're not trying to improve their technique and skills. It's being taught from eight, nine and 10 years old.
The big issue in terms of our success in producing players has been that our recruitment is very good and our people have an eye for young talent. Coaching alone can't make a player. There has to be a bit of nature to add to the nurture. It is about finding that raw talent and giving it the right programme over a period of seasons to develop into a footballer who is ready to play successfully at the top level.
In terms of the Michael Carricks, Joe Coles and Frank Lampards of this world, the skills you see shining through they had when they arrived. Joe joined West Ham at 12 and the purpose behind his coaching programme was to polish that - teach him to try these skills in that area and not in another.
One of the problems is what is happening at grassroots level. We go to offer coaching in school because very little football is being played there and boys don't go out in parks or play street football as much these days. Developing skills begins at a very young age and you can't load all the problems on the football clubs.
You can point to a number of clubs who have produced extremely successful and talented players through their youth programmes: Manchester United, Middlesbrough more recently and of course Stevie Heighway at Liverpool with the likes of Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen and Jamie Carragher. We do produce them, but obviously not in the numbers that are satisfying the critics.
