Comments on: English look on as Euro 2008 shows gulf in class

By: Lin

Lin — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:08:33 +0000

Interesting points raised by most, but you all forgot one reason….the fans and their influence over the chairmen.
Managers, whether british or foreign, do not get a chance to work at the clubs because the fans want instant results. If it is not there? They vent their disgust by not coming out, the result? The chairman fires the manager!!!
To save their jobs the managers ‘look’ for talent rather than ‘develop’. In looking there is not much available in the UK …so? They look outside!!!

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:11:32 +0000

Another problem is foreign managers! I do believe that Arsene Wenger etc have had a major impact on the Premier League. However what have they done for English football? Nothing!!! Foreign managers and the academy system were allegedly bought in to improve British players. Yet, all they have done is bring in young foreign players into the academy system and bring in big name foreign imports, to the detriment of English players. Having said that, if I were a manager I would buy foreign players because British, especially English players want more money, clubs want higher transfer fees and the players just don’t warrant the fee. Foreign players though sometimes not suited to the Premier League are technically better than any English player will be. We should be looking at clubs such as Ajax and their youth development programme and use it to improve young British players and not importing young players from abroad. This is not being zenophobic. Unless the Premier League, the FA realise that no young British talent will get a chance, England, Scotland etc will never win a big tournament!!!

By: KG

KG — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:19:13 +0000

Euro 2008 showed that football has moved on and left Italy behind. Negative dull football doesn’t succeed anymore and nor does anyone want it to. So who do England hire? An Italian manager.

England need a dynamic manager to rip up the blueprint and start again, they won’t get anywhere with Capello.

It’s the FA that’s to blame, they are so out of touch it’s untrue, and now we have them come out and ban competitive football for under 8’s as they can;t handle the pressure of winning. Dear god.

By: Kogy

Kogy — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:44:14 +0000

England players are over-rated……..England was never missed at Euro 2008. Infact what have they achieved if you look at their past performances….nothing.

It’s now upto Capello to try and change all this, otherwise there are many more unhappy years to come.

By: Five Times

Five Times — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:39:21 +0000

I think one of the main reasons English football has failed and wasn’t mentioned is the fact that not many Englishmen ply their trade outside of the UK.

By: Pico

Pico — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:22:56 +0000

Robert,

There is an infatuation in America with English football, and I keep arguing that it is time to look elsewhere to learn how the game is played. There is this large emphasis on the physical breakneck pace that people overlook the skill aspect of the game.

There is a bit of truth in the ArmsteR post, but the problem with English football started way before the big four got so financially dominating.

Cheers

By: EuroDose: June 29th - Euro 2008

EuroDose: June 29th - Euro 2008 — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 07:11:22 +0000

[...] Euro 2008 a harsh reminder to England. (Reuters Soccer Blog) [...]

By: ArmsteR

ArmsteR — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:24:16 +0000

I completely disagree with this. I think you maybe suffering from a drunken revelation whilst watching these games down the pub. I think knocking all of the english players pride for playing for their countries misses the mark completely of what is wrong with the english and british teams. You can’t convince me that beckham Shaun wright phillips gerrard john terry and the majority of the other players that have the honour to play for the English team do not have this pride. The problem comes from the strength of the pound and the exessive moneys the top 4 get from the champions league and the catastrophic implications to their clubs should they fall out of this elite band. Liverpools offering 12 million for downing, christiano ronaldo was bought for 12.5m tell me, who would you buy? With this difference in monetary values the top clubs can’t afford to pay over the odds for the english players. This means that the upcomming players in the english leagues aren’t exposes day in day out to the best training and development or being allowed to play with the best players and learn things from the foreign imports. If it wasn’t for the influx of young tallent 10 years ago from the man utd and liverpool camps our teams would have had alot more problems over recent years. If you take out of the equasion the players from just these 2 clubs youth academy, your looking at a team of the quality we all can see comming through the ranks. beckham, scholes, nevilles, butt, owen, gerrard, crouch, etc etc

the problem is that the british players just dont get the chances to develop as much from an early age and that the big 4’s youth development schemes are all filled with foreigners also. bring back leeds and their youth developments!!!!!! hehe

By: claudio

claudio — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:15:33 +0000

Hi Robert, what do you think are the reasons for this lack of pride in England´s team? Do you think the same applies to Portugal´s team ? They did not seem very passionate about wanting to win the match against Germany neither.