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Rodfarts 9:17 Wed Nov 25
The demise of youth football in this country.....

Is based on the fact clubs are taking youngsters that are just gifted athletes and trying to turn them into footballers. The game at youth level has changed so much over the years that it's going to take a massive change of the way we think, scout players and develop them to change it and move forward.

Clubs are only interested in the fastest, biggest and strongest and although that also plays it's part in football I do not think it should be at the front of the list as to what is a gifted football player.



I've watched a few youth & development games this season and all I see is 100m sprinters many with a poor touch, poor end product and no football brain. I rarely see players trying to retain possesion or try to go past another player with a bit of skill or pick out a killer pass.


If German/spanish/Italian coaches/scouts came over and looked at our F.A youth set up they would laugh their bollocks off.


Look at the England team and you can see exactly which direction we are going.

It's all wrong IMO.

Rodfarts 10:52 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

bruuuno 10:28 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country....


Then when they get older all the other players catch them up physically and most end up better.

Norflundon 10:43 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

They're playing for their career not the next 90mins
And in truth at the younger ages they learn far more from training than they do from playing matches

bruuuno 10:28 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

All I know is that when I was a kid the best teams were the ones with the biggest fastest most developed black kids in. And the best players were the biggest fastest most developed black kids.

Rodfarts 10:23 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

Yeah I get that norf......but I just think you have got to play for something......its what pushes you to do better.


It will not hurt the young players to have their sights on winning something and in fact it takes the fun out of the sport.

Hani 9:51 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

It's getting like France if you are tall and can run very fast your in.Small players often get dropped, In France that's why most of the youth teams have a large amount of black players in the same has been happening here for a good while. Lots of Oxlade chamberlain type players without the talent.

penners28 9:42 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

With young keepers they ask how tall the mums are usually.

Norflundon 9:32 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

Rodfarts 2:17 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

I don't understand how you can't agree with the non competitive aspect of youth football and then moan that the coaches pick the the biggest and strongest players to help them win.
Youth coaches aren't on silly money and if my job depended on results I'd pick the players that would get me results.
A youth team coaches job should be about one thing and one thing only....developing players and by taking away the importance of the result you allow coaches to do this
Obviously matches have to be competitive but if there's no league then coaches aren't under so much pressure to win week in week out
My pals two boys are at Tottenham and he was told straight away that at the level they're playing the results are totally irrelevant and all that matters is the players development and imo that's exactly how it should be

Rodfarts 5:07 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

Ag

Marston Hammer 4:58 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

Tricky question for the black players.

Brucies_Star_Prize 4:56 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

My flatmate was at Crewe until being let go as an 19 year old a decade ago. He says one of the first things he was asked after joining, was how tall his dad was. Apparently that was deemed important information.

I believe the thinking behind it is that you can coach an athlete technique, but can't coach a technically gifted player to be 6'3" and run the 100 meters in under 12 seconds.

i-Ron 3:54 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

Eric Dier was sporting Lisbon and Alli was MK dons, and both look good.

Didn't cost much more than one Antonio, and cost less than one Matt Jarvis.

Throw in Butland and that's less than one Enner Valencia/Andy Carroll with spare cash

Marston Hammer 3:46 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

scott_d 2:49 Wed Nov 25

The recent England squad was one of the youngest i can remember and pretty much all of them are playing regularly in the top flight.

This would suggest to me that the system can't be that bad and if the players are good enough they will get their chance and they will come through.

Of course if there were less foreigners in the premier league there would be more British players playing. However, this would mean the standard would be slightly lower and our top youngsters wouldn't be pushed as much as they our now. Can't have it both ways IMO

BRANDED 3:13 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

I would say that the standard of British players is rising all the time.

Look at Spurs?

Lily Hammer 3:04 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

Alex Song counts as one of our home grown number.

I'll overlook that one. The rest of them, though....



Seriously, I agree. Not good.

scott_d 2:49 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

Marston.

To some degree you are right, however, the young players are not afforded the opportunities that have been there in the past.

Clubs are not as willing to take the risk of playing a youth player in a competitive fixture, they are more inclined to play an older experienced player who has been brought in as a squad player to fill in for rotation and injuries.

Not every player is a stand out star from a young age and look destined for the top, Some players just get that opportunity and make the most of it. Look at Harry Kane last year, he only got into the team because Spurs were desperately short up front and Soldado and Adebayour were awful. If Spurs has bought a striker or two in the transfer window, which everyone expected them to do and no doubt they wanted to, then it's possibly Kane would be in the Championship now.

theaxeman 2:30 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

Fordy

Agree with your OP mate and when the rare bit of talent comes along they're forced out onto the wing or something because they be trusted which is why England have milner snd delph and spain have xavi and iniesta

Marston Hammer 2:25 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

scott_d 2:20 Wed Nov 25

The foreign players excuse is always trotted out and it's a load of old rubbish imo.

If the players are good enough they'll come through.

The way some people carry on you'd think our national team was winning everything in sight before the premier league started.

scott_d 2:20 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

Rodfarts,

I would say that the influx of foreign players has played a huge part.

The fact that clubs can now get a half decent player from abroad means they are less likely to take a chance on a youth player.

Not only that, the youth teams are now being flooded with foreign players too.

Arsenal is a fine example. They have a fair amount of youth players coming through that aren't even English, but they've been at Arsenal long enough to count as "home-grown".

I think the current set-up is riddled with flaws but counting someone who was born in Africa (for example) and only lived here for a few years as 'home-grown' is just ridiculous.

Chelsea are at it too, they sign young potential and loan them all out. This stops other clubs signing them and means they recover any expenses in wages and loan fees. It's a clever system which only ever benefits Chelsea football club.

Rodfarts 2:17 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

I agree and so they should.

I don't agree with the non competitive aspect of youth football either

Marston Hammer 2:17 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

Rodfarts 2:13 Wed Nov 25

Spain and Germany aside, who in Europe are miles ahead of us?

And how would you have any idea of the youth set-ups in other European countries?

lmwhu 2:14 Wed Nov 25
Re: The demise of youth football in this country.....

I love the misnomer that uncompetitive kids games are not competitive. Kids want to win whether they are playing for points or not. What it does stop is parents having a punch up as they are obsessing over 3 points in a league table

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