Bus-Conductor
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- Oct 19, 2004
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Recent conversations in the general youth thread, particularly with @IGSpur were the fermentation for this one. I'm sure some will disagree with some/all of it:
https://forensiconions.wordpress.com/2017/11/17/the-folly-of-youth/
The Folly of Youth
So, England is the new hot house for production of youthful talent. Only Gareth Southgate and the woefully inept Aidy Boothroyd have let the side down, by allowing England youth sides to play poorly at international tournaments in the last couple of years.
But even in those Southgate and Boothroyd teams there were kids with huge potential. Look further down the age range and the cup of talent positively runneth over.
Currently England’s youth are world champions at U17 and U20 level and Euro Champions at U19 level. But it’s not just those trophies alone that have got the rest of Europe paying attention, it’s the way those trophies were won and the depth of individual talent in all areas of the pitch that were displayed whilst winning.
Directors of football from Germany, a country with a very pro-active disposition to providing a pathway for it’s young players, are starting to talk about mining English academies of their raw materials. I believe this would be a great thing for both the kids and English football, because these kids are not getting the opportunities they need to develop in England. When it comes to youth development, England has become a great greenhouse with no retail outlet. If these kids get opportunities in Germany, it will be good for them, they will get good coaching and game time; good for the German clubs who’ll get good players and handsome profits when they inevitably sell them back to the cash rich Premier League clubs looking for the next big thing.
As a result of the Premier League’s EPPP directive, large amounts of money and resources have gone into improving every aspect of youth development at a handful of the very top English clubs, and the success the England national teams are reaping at youth level right now is almost entirely down to a handful of these superb academies, with Manchester City and particularly Chelsea’s academy leading the way.
EPPP Interlude (A brief explanation of EPPP)
In 2011 The Premier League introduced the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP), which contained some good and not so good provisions, designed to help produce better quality young footballers from English academies. It encouraged clubs to improve their coaching, coaching environment, facilities and very importantly tie in the academic education of it’s academy kids.
But the clubs wanted some quid pro quo, and that came in the shape of an increase of the time clubs are allowed to spend with kids and also, and here’s the real kicker, clubs qualifying for EPPP status, were no longer restricted to recruiting kids from within the 90 minute catchment area. This made it much easier for the top clubs, who had attained EPPP academy status, to poach kids from much farther afield.
So what we have seen is a concentration of much of the high profile youth talent at a handful of these “Elite” academies. But I feel it is too easy to point the finger at these elite academies and blame them entirely for the lack of first opportunity for some of the kids.
The problem is, England’s incredible summer of international youth success has created a bit of negative blow back for the architects of that success, namely the Premier League’s elite EPPP clubs, and in particular, Chelsea. It is continually pointed out that Chelsea acquire some of the country’s best young talent, that their youth sides -featuring some of that talent – dominate English youth football, and also triumph in European club youth football, yet fails to provide a pathway to first team football for those young players.
I personally think Cheslea (and to a lesser degree Manchester City) have become a scapegoat for the rest of English football’s failure and to a lesser extent the failure of the kids, their parents and their advisors too.
Read the rest here:
https://forensiconions.wordpress.com/2017/11/17/the-folly-of-youth/
.
https://forensiconions.wordpress.com/2017/11/17/the-folly-of-youth/
The Folly of Youth
So, England is the new hot house for production of youthful talent. Only Gareth Southgate and the woefully inept Aidy Boothroyd have let the side down, by allowing England youth sides to play poorly at international tournaments in the last couple of years.
But even in those Southgate and Boothroyd teams there were kids with huge potential. Look further down the age range and the cup of talent positively runneth over.
Currently England’s youth are world champions at U17 and U20 level and Euro Champions at U19 level. But it’s not just those trophies alone that have got the rest of Europe paying attention, it’s the way those trophies were won and the depth of individual talent in all areas of the pitch that were displayed whilst winning.
Directors of football from Germany, a country with a very pro-active disposition to providing a pathway for it’s young players, are starting to talk about mining English academies of their raw materials. I believe this would be a great thing for both the kids and English football, because these kids are not getting the opportunities they need to develop in England. When it comes to youth development, England has become a great greenhouse with no retail outlet. If these kids get opportunities in Germany, it will be good for them, they will get good coaching and game time; good for the German clubs who’ll get good players and handsome profits when they inevitably sell them back to the cash rich Premier League clubs looking for the next big thing.
As a result of the Premier League’s EPPP directive, large amounts of money and resources have gone into improving every aspect of youth development at a handful of the very top English clubs, and the success the England national teams are reaping at youth level right now is almost entirely down to a handful of these superb academies, with Manchester City and particularly Chelsea’s academy leading the way.
EPPP Interlude (A brief explanation of EPPP)
In 2011 The Premier League introduced the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP), which contained some good and not so good provisions, designed to help produce better quality young footballers from English academies. It encouraged clubs to improve their coaching, coaching environment, facilities and very importantly tie in the academic education of it’s academy kids.
But the clubs wanted some quid pro quo, and that came in the shape of an increase of the time clubs are allowed to spend with kids and also, and here’s the real kicker, clubs qualifying for EPPP status, were no longer restricted to recruiting kids from within the 90 minute catchment area. This made it much easier for the top clubs, who had attained EPPP academy status, to poach kids from much farther afield.
So what we have seen is a concentration of much of the high profile youth talent at a handful of these “Elite” academies. But I feel it is too easy to point the finger at these elite academies and blame them entirely for the lack of first opportunity for some of the kids.
The problem is, England’s incredible summer of international youth success has created a bit of negative blow back for the architects of that success, namely the Premier League’s elite EPPP clubs, and in particular, Chelsea. It is continually pointed out that Chelsea acquire some of the country’s best young talent, that their youth sides -featuring some of that talent – dominate English youth football, and also triumph in European club youth football, yet fails to provide a pathway to first team football for those young players.
I personally think Cheslea (and to a lesser degree Manchester City) have become a scapegoat for the rest of English football’s failure and to a lesser extent the failure of the kids, their parents and their advisors too.
Read the rest here:
https://forensiconions.wordpress.com/2017/11/17/the-folly-of-youth/
.
