England national team - what would you do ?

[Ashley]

Simple.

Start again. Get hid of Roy (possibly anyway).

Sack off all th3 ageing players and the late comers. So see you later to

Baines

Lambert

Gerrard

Lampard

Johnson

The others

Have a team like this

Hart

Walker/Chambers Stones Cahill Shaw

Wilshere Barkley

Walcott? Rooney Ox

Sturridge

Changes need to happen fast and very fast we are so far behind as a footballing nation it is unbelievable.

[indierich06]

All Premier League teams should have to field a minimum of five English players (not home-grown, English). I'd also like to see a cap on the number of foreign players a side can sign per season. We still want some of the best players in the world to come to this league, but the number of foreign players signed from foreign leagues is getting ridiculous. Until we force English teams to play English players, they're never going to focus on developing outstanding English players.

I'd like to see salary caps for young English players too. I'm not saying pay them 100 quid a week until they're 21, but some young lads are on about £40-50k a week by the time they're 18 - what've they got to strive for? Where's the incentive to improve? It's madness. I think a more structured wage system for young footballers in general would only be a good thing - it would help to keep them grounded and give them a good reward structure, rather than getting a £50,000 a week contract after a handful of good games.

Everyone talks about following the German system too, but I think Belgium's method of putting Belgian player development above all else has yielded some remarkable results, and you can only imagine the quality of player we would be able to produce if we fully committed to truly developing English players:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jun/06/belgium-blueprint-gave-birth-golden-generation-world-cup-

Something's got to change, and it can't just be an evolution, there needs to be a real revolution in English football and shaking things up would undoubtedly upset clubs, chairmen, the Premier League and our Sky/BT overlords, but if we want to be a truly great footballing nation - and we undoubtedly could be if we truly wanted to - then we need to make drastic changes and build from the ground up.

[Fox92]

First off I'd re-shape the FA. There's too many people who were never directly involved with football. I then think the Premier League should be removed and we revert back to divisions 1, 2, 3 and 4. Then there is a cap or something brought in. Don't Germany require their teams to have at least 70% German players? It's so easy for teams such as Chelsea and Manchester City to just go out and buy players, as they do. When was the last time a player come through Chelsea's youth system, literally? There should be a cap on wages, too.

[indierich06]

First off I'd re-shape the FA. There's too many people who were never directly involved with football. I then think the Premier League should be removed and we revert back to divisions 1, 2, 3 and 4. Then there is a cap or something brought in. Don't Germany require their teams to have at least 70% German players? It's so easy for teams such as Chelsea and Manchester City to just go out and buy players, as they do. When was the last time a player come through Chelsea's youth system, literally? There should be a cap on wages, too.

Probably John Terry? There's Bertrand and McEachran as well, but they've hardly had a game over the past couple of years. More definitely needs to be done.

[Captain...]

I think we need an inclusive policy that extends from the very lowest level to the highest.

In the short team we need to get the squad together more often for training sessions, rather than pointless friendlies, but we need a solid coherent strategy to be aiming towards. I feel like we have taken steps forward recently with a more attacking fluid style of football, but too late to have any effect on the World Cup.

We need a clear idea of who is going to play in 2016, but more importantly, how they are going to play, and we stick with that for 2 years, rather than lump on a big man in a desperate attempt to snatch a win. Or trying experimental formations in friendlies. Different players, yes, but we can't switch around formations all the time then expect players to know what they are doing. When it comes down to it when we kick off Euro 2016 we should have a squad of experienced players that all know their role, not throwing the likes of Sterling, Barkley and Shaw in at the last minute and hoping it comes off.

In the long term we need to decide what our long term goal is, and not in terms of success, but what sort of a team we want to build, a difficult to break down defensive unit, a free flowing attacking unit, a powerful team full of athletes that will cover every blade of grass, and work towards that goal, not changing it every time a wonder kid pops up full of promise and inevitable disappointment. We should also ignore the press. Would any other national team disrupt their top goal scorer by pushing him out wide to accommodate a player that has played one half of international football and got sent off in the process. Of course we lacked balance and cover against Italy and they exposed the gaps, that team had never lined up like that before and some of the players had never played together.

We have to stop accommodating individuals and fans and the press and play the best team.

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

I seem to remember reading that for Sean Dyche to get to the level he is at the minute it cost £30,000 but I can't seem to find anything to back it up so may well have made that up.

That many pound notes?

For England to succeed we either need the poverty of the South American nations (where all kids generally play football to pass the time rather than phone games and don't eat McDonald's) or the focus and discipline of the Germans. It'd need a whole mentality shake up for the whole nation which I can't see happening, not just a case of throwing a bit of money at some better training facilities. I agree with indierich about salary caps for young players too, case in point, George Taft.

[Grandad.]

Get rid of the dinosaurs at the FA.

Increase the number of coaches, look into grass root football, develop a model that all England youth teams follow the same as the senior side, persist with youth and persist with Raheem Sterling.

But first and foremost sack Roy Hodgson.

[RowlattsFox]

I would agree with a salary cap for young players but that would need to be universally brought in by FIFA and not just the FA.

Continuity is important but difficult especially when players pull out of friendlies etc at earliest opportunity.

Funny reading this thread suggesting lack of English players in the premier league yet our transfer thread is full of foreign targets and wish lists.

[Corky]

Coach players to be adaptable beyond the Premier League, other countries have players who are comfortable in different countries, leagues and environments. Look at Bale, he'll learn far more from the pressure and standing at a huge club like Real Madrid than a decent team in Tottenham and it should, in turn, help Wales.

This article is interesting about the Premier League and the England team: http://thepremierleagueowl.com/the-premier-league-is-to-blame-for-england-but-not-in-that-way/

[indierich06]

I would agree with a salary cap for young players but that would need to be universally brought in by FIFA and not just the FA.

Continuity is important but difficult especially when players pull out of friendlies etc at earliest opportunity.

Funny reading this thread suggesting lack of English players in the premier league yet our transfer thread is full of foreign targets and wish lists.

Because talented English players are few and far between, and there is much more value in the foreign transfer market. It is something that would shift gradually, if clubs put more emphasis on producing English players there would be more quality English players around, which would hopefully stop the value of good English players from being completely disproportionate.

[Ricey]

- 2 week winter break at the start of January.

- Scrap FA Cup replays.

- Minimum of 6 home-grown players in any Premier League matchday squad.

- Be patient and wait for the restructured grassroots coaching to take effect at adult levels.

[MC Prussian]

I'd put Ash in charge and see how it slowly but steadily crumbles underneath him and would be intrigued to see how he copes with the failure and negative press and the whole aftermath.

[Manwell Pablo]

Also I think with the amount of Asians playing football now and Asian are really big into football these days. Can they be a big part of Englands future ?

It's shocking that we haven't got any Indians playing in the Premiership.

Taylor, professor football, among others who have in the past.

[Manwell Pablo]

- 2 week winter break at the start of January.

- Scrap FA Cup replays.

- Minimum of 6 home-grown players in any Premier League matchday squad.

- Be patient and wait for the restructured grassroots coaching to take effect at adult levels.

This is it for me, there have been improvements made we just need to be patient and keep on working.

Do not agree with forcing English players into every side the top clubs will just snap up the best talent for millions and millons and the gap at the top will just get wider.

The footballers in our national side mostly play for top clubs and given they aren't that great any kid with the right amount of talent will be able to break through, the problem is there is a lack of them.

[Guest MattP]

Also I think with the amount of Asians playing football now and Asian are really big into football these days. Can they be a big part of Englands future ?

It's shocking that we haven't got any Indians playing in the Premiership.

Can barely produce a decent cricketer for us.

[purpleronnie]

Trawl other countries looking for footballers who qualify to play for England.

[One Legged Beaver]

I'd put Ash in charge and see how it slowly but steadily crumbles underneath him and would be intrigued to see how he copes with the failure and negative press and the whole aftermath.

That would be entertaining.

First change would be to put 4 stars on England's badge

[CosbehFox]

Start with the lowest point of the game and work up from there, the priority at the moment has to be grassroots football because with the numbers getting smaller and smaller every year the pool from which the national team can pick their players will also decrease.

If the FA start funding more grassroots projects then they'll get more players playing for a longer time. Helping teams improve the quality of the pitches, and helping to fund new clubhouses may cost them some money but there will no doubt be an improvement in the numbers that play football at the lowest level giving clubs a larger pool to pick from and therefore nurture for the future.

Furthermore, if you improve the quality of the pitches that (young) teams, and players, are playing on then you're far more likely to see these teams playing a much better style of football than they would on a poor pitch and this will only help improve the style of play that the country adapts as a whole. If you get the idea that playing football on the floor is right at a young age the player will want to do it all their life.

After that they have to make coaching badges cheaper than they are at the minute, if you make them cheaper you'll get more coaches qualifying therefore giving kids at a younger age more coaches to enhance the skills they have as they're more likely to have a qualified coach at their team therefore allowing a young player to have more one-on-one time with a coach who can tell them where to improve their game, unlike just the one coach that many teams have now.

If they are cheaper you're also much more likely to get more high level coaches as the cost won't put them off taking it a to a higher level, England have 1,161 elite coaches compared to Spain who have 12,700 and Germany who have 5,500. This is probably the statistic which scares me the most, Spain, a team who have just won 3 major tournaments, have 11x more elite coaches than England do at the minute, does that not tell it's own story?

There also needs to be a complete overhaul of the youth setup in England, the emphasis needs to be on the skill and technique of the game rather than stamina and strength. Clubs at the highest level should be made to invest in their youth setup which should be governed by the FA to make sure the facilities, and coaching is up to a high enough standard.

Finally, players shouldn't be rejected for being 'too small' it's absolutely horrendous that even goes on today, look at Xavi, Iniesta etc. size shouldn't make a difference if the player should be picked for an academy or not, it should be on their ability. If a player is good enough, they are good enough regardless of their physique. When they do arrive at an academy working on their strength shouldn't start until 16/17 at least.

The FA need to realise that the fix to the national team isn't a long one and will take years for the results to come but if those results are a major trophy then the effort that they've put in, as well as the money, will be worth it.

Exactly along the lines I was going to put. Our lack of qualified coaches is shambolic. Some of that can be put down as having the highest coaching training fees in Europe. Also read recently that any average person who wants go beyond the standard FA badges is often told to forgot it as if you aren't an ex pro, no one wants to employ a nobody at a club.

[CosbehFox]

Everyone talks about following the German system too, but I think Belgium's method of putting Belgian player development above all else has yielded some remarkable results, and you can only imagine the quality of player we would be able to produce if we fully committed to truly developing English players:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jun/06/belgium-blueprint-gave-birth-golden-generation-world-cup-

That chap is overstating his role there. Belgium have been lucky to get such a surge of players at the same time (of which a lot left Belgium before they were 18/19 - even earlier in some cases).

Just to add as well in Germany, the schools still hold power of the youngsters until they are 18. There's none of this academy lads on a standard college course of sports studies. It's largely helped by the wider picture of having a working school week of roughly 7.30 to 1.00 which allows an afternoon of sports activities every day (once you are 14 in the UK, there is only 1 hour allocated to PE). Then on top that it's very common for Germans of a working age to have Friday afternoons off. Keeps a social balance (tradesmen for example learn their trade over five to seven years rather than two/three of here - acknowledging that experience is the most powerful asset to any tradesmen and by the end of that period, the person is independent of anyone).

[Dan]

All Premier League teams should have to field a minimum of five English players (not home-grown, English). I'd also like to see a cap on the number of foreign players a side can sign per season. We still want some of the best players in the world to come to this league, but the number of foreign players signed from foreign leagues is getting ridiculous. Until we force English teams to play English players, they're never going to focus on developing outstanding English players.

I'd like to see salary caps for young English players too. I'm not saying pay them 100 quid a week until they're 21, but some young lads are on about £40-50k a week by the time they're 18 - what've they got to strive for? Where's the incentive to improve? It's madness. I think a more structured wage system for young footballers in general would only be a good thing - it would help to keep them grounded and give them a good reward structure, rather than getting a £50,000 a week contract after a handful of good games.

Everyone talks about following the German system too, but I think Belgium's method of putting Belgian player development above all else has yielded some remarkable results, and you can only imagine the quality of player we would be able to produce if we fully committed to truly developing English players:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jun/06/belgium-blueprint-gave-birth-golden-generation-world-cup-

Something's got to change, and it can't just be an evolution, there needs to be a real revolution in English football and shaking things up would undoubtedly upset clubs, chairmen, the Premier League and our Sky/BT overlords, but if we want to be a truly great footballing nation - and we undoubtedly could be if we truly wanted to - then we need to make drastic changes and build from the ground up.

That Belgium article says a lot really. They've got the attitude and that's why this 'golden generation' is going to be the first of many for them.

That bit about their youngsters moving at 16 is another thing I'd change. I'd ban foreign transfers under a certain age.

[Dan]

Coach players to be adaptable beyond the Premier League, other countries have players who are comfortable in different countries, leagues and environments. Look at Bale, he'll learn far more from the pressure and standing at a huge club like Real Madrid than a decent team in Tottenham and it should, in turn, help Wales.

This article is interesting about the Premier League and the England team: http://thepremierleagueowl.com/the-premier-league-is-to-blame-for-england-but-not-in-that-way/

That's another very good article which I agree with.

[RonnieTodger]

Not a solution but it's noticeable how many of the other "big" countries have recently retired or younger managers taken on. Lets face it, Hodgson compared to them, is a dinosaur. Sadly, unless Neville turns out to be an incredible coach we don't have much alternative.

In our country, doing the odd shift for Sky is a lot more lucrative than becoming a big-time manager.

[Manwell Pablo]

That's another very good article which I agree with.

Agreed

[Ricey]

Not a solution but it's noticeable how many of the other "big" countries have recently retired or younger managers taken on. Lets face it, Hodgson compared to them, is a dinosaur. Sadly, unless Neville turns out to be an incredible coach we don't have much alternative.

In our country, doing the odd shift for Sky is a lot more lucrative than becoming a big-time manager.

I would expect either Southgate or Neville to take over once Roy leaves.

[Fox92]

In our country, doing the odd shift for Sky is a lot more lucrative than becoming a big-time manager.

That's a good point, actually... Thing is, I'm impressed with some of the pundits. They've played the game, but some of them know what they're talking about. Neville (granted he is a coach as well), Carragher and I like listening to Hoddle as well, he usually talks sense.

We need to get rid of the rubbish in the FA. The people that don't know football. And get some of our ex players in, who at least know what they're talking about.