Tuesday 12th October 2011 at approximately 21:45, as England’s beleaguered players trudged off Wembley’s turf after yet another sub standard performance against so called ‘inferior’ opposition. Immediately fans and pundits alike were asking “Are England’s ‘Golden Generation’ finished and, do we have the players coming through the ranks?”
England’s 0-0 result against a Montenegro side missing allegedly their best player highlighted our apparent lack of imagination when teams set there stall out to defend. In the starting eleven for England were Adam Johnson and Ashley Young, two players who have recently been promoted into the Senior side from the Under 21’s but, do we have the conveyor belt of talent that the Spanish and French take for granted.
Is our Premier League producing enough potential Internationals to fill the void that will be left with the retiring of Gerrard, Terry, Lampard and Ferdinand.
In 2010, the Premier League had only 37% registered English players throughout its 20 clubs which is a very sorry statistic for our National game.
The answer sadly judging by Mr Capello’s current squad selections is no.
On the same night in Botosani, Romania our Under 21’s were clinching qualification for the 2011 UEFA European Championships with a nervy 0-0 draw themselves.
The starting eleven for England’s Under 21’s contained only four players who consistently start games in the Barclays Premier League. This has to be a worrying state of affairs for a country who every four years has high hopes of regaining the glory of 66.
Is the problem even deeper than the Under 21’s and does it stem directly from our Academy structure in the Premier League. Gone are the days of Manchester United bringing five English born players through in one season and all of them going on too win representative honours.
Does the problem lay at the door of the FA in the fact that they had started to build a state of the art National Centre of Excellence ala Clairefontaine then pulled the funding on the project. Only to restart it in 2010 and renaming it St Georges Park with a different ethos now preferring to use this facility as a coaching academy. With this in mind hopefully we can start building for the future of our game and producing players that can make the steps between our National sides seamlessly and compete with the best that Europe and the Rest of the World has to offer.
Follow Steve Featherstone on Twitter @Feathersworld
