Why are English Youngsters Behind the Rest of the World?

Whilst listening to the Chappers Premier League Podcast, guest panelist John Salako pointed out that the lack of great players being produced from England can be attributed to the lack of players that make it out of the country. A fair point considering that England are one of the few countries who have a near 100% rate of players playing their trade in their native country for the national squad. But why do English players rarely leave the United Kingdom?

[caption id="attachment_531" align="aligncenter" width="216" caption="Rare Exports: Hughes and Lineker were part of a generation of British players that did make it abroad"][/caption]

If we were to go back to the 20th century, having British players playing abroad was a common sight. Mark Hughes and Gary Lineker at Barcelona, Kevin Keegan at Hamburg, John Charles at Juventus, Chris Waddle at Marseille, many great British players had spells abroad. However returning to the 21st century and seeing a British or, more to the point, English player abroad is a rare occurence.

The most notable players who have left the country include;

Player	Club	Season(s)	Appearences	Goals
Steve McManaman	Real Madrid	1999 - 2003	94	8
Stan Collymore	Real Oviedo	2001	3	0
Jay Bothroyd	Perugia	2003 - 04	28	5
David Beckham	Real Madrid	2003 - 07	116	13
Michael Owen	Real Madrid	2004-05	36	13
David Beckham	LA Galaxy	2007 - present	48	9
David Beckham	AC Milan	2009 - 10	29	2
Jermaine Pennant	Real Zaragoza	2009 - 10	25	0
Darius Vassell	Ankaragucu	2009 - 10	22	4
Matt Derbyshire	Olympiakos	2009 - present	19	6

Eight English players, who have played some part in the national squad or U21 squad, not a fantastic figure to display how much foreign clubs are attracted to English talent.

One thing you have to take into consideration with this argument is, how strong is your native league to other leagues in the world? The Premier League obviously ranks highly, along with La Liga, the Bundesliga and Serie A. It is also worth noting that the Spanish, German and Italian national squads also feature a vast  majority of players playing in the native league but this statistic is completely redundant when you compare the success of those teams to the recent success, or lack thereof, of the English squad.

[caption id="attachment_530" align="aligncenter" width="310" caption="Extortionate: Andy Carroll's £35m move proved how expensive young English talent can be to foreign clubs"][/caption]

The most likely reason that foreign teams do not buy English players is their ridiculously inflated price tags. The latest player to enter this world of mad figures is Andy Carroll with his recent £35m move from Newcastle to Liverpool. The transfer market is a buyers market with Liverpool needing a replacement for Fernando Torres and Newcastle negotiated fantastically to get that figure. However, comparing this deal to other players that have been bought around the continent, the pricing was obscenely high. However, is it purely because we want to keep English players in England? And will pay top dollar to do so?

What Salako suggested in the aforementioned podcast, to improve the quality and talent of our young players, is to get them playing abroad - to experience different styles of play, different tactics and probably more game time too. I whole-heartedly agree with his sentiments, but another aspect (which was also briefly mentioned in the same podcast) was the introduction of more competitive reserve leagues.

Referring back to two of the other, more successful, countries who dominantly have their national team playing in their native country; Germany and Spain. Both the third level and second level of the league pyramid, respectively, have reserve teams playing within the league, with obvious restrictions. In Germany, reserve teams can go no further than the third tier and Spanish reserve teams can not be in the same league as their first team counterparts (not too sure what would happen if, for example Barcelona get relegated to the Segunda and Barcelona B are competing in the Segunda, Germany's implementation is certainly more sensible).

If the English league were to incorporate a similar system it certainly would be interesting, and how they would integrate into the already huge league pyramid was also be a bit tricky. On the other hand, why not just use affiliated teams more to their potential? If a reserve team was to compete in a competitive first team league, they're oppositions would be the same if not worse to players being loaned out to Football League teams. In theory, this argument makes is totally feasible but how do we explain the way that the Spanish and German giants of Barcelona and Bayern Munich use the system so well to develop their youth talent?

[caption id="attachment_528" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="Feeder: Royal Antwerp have made the most of their links to Manchester United in the past"][/caption]

One system, combining the the aspects of gaining experience abroad and an affiliate system is simple - foreign feeder teams. Manchester United have exploited this excellently with Royal Antwerp. Players such as Jonny Evans, John O'Shea and Frazier Campbell all joined Antwerp at some period throughout their career. However not many other teams spring to mind instantly who take advantage of such schemes within the English leagues.

And lastly, but probably most importantly, is the lack of quality coaching in England. Foreign experience may widen a players scope on the game but nothing can replace being taught at a high level. The severe lack of coaches was outlined last year when figures shown that England have 10% or less of the number of UEFA B, A or Pro coaches in comparison to their European neighbours Germany, Italy or Spain.

These figures have caused the FA to take action in the youth development department, with Gareth Southgate being recently appointed as the "Head of Elite Development" and will work alongside Sir Trevor Brooking. What will come of his appointment is yet to be seen, but after an unsuccessful World Cup bid and "falling out" with the current FIFA regime putting another bid in doubt for the foreseeable future, the FA will surely have to have this issue as their key development in years to come.

[caption id="attachment_529" align="aligncenter" width="310" caption="Hope: Jack Wilshere has proven there is hope for England's youth system (Source: Action Images)"][/caption]

To end on a lighter note, it's not all doom and gloom for England's youngsters. The recent "generation" of players coming through the ranks such as Jack Wilshere, Andy Carroll, Kyle Walker, Jordan Henderson and Chris Smalling are all receiving call ups to the first team squad sooner than expected in their careers. Plus, the newest batch of players within the U21 squad; Josh McEachran, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Connor Wickham are all showing bags of potential.

Health vs. Fitness in Modern Day Football

On September 13th 2010, former Celtic and Bristol City player Evander Sno suffered a suspected heart attack during an Ajax reserve game in Amsterdam.  Sno, thankfully, was resuscitated on the pitch and brought to a nearby hospital to recover.

[caption id="attachment_66" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Health scare: Evander Sno was revived after a heart-attack on the field. (Source: SNS Images)"][/caption]

After only 18 minutes on the field, Sno had collapsed and had to be given a defibrillator three times before he was fully revived.  Reserve team coach Albert van der Dussen said "He looked surprised to see so many people standing round him. I don't think Evander realised what was going on but everyone was greatly relieved when it was all over.

"The ambulance crew then took over and took him to hospital."

It'll be interesting to see how his career unfolds after this scare as surely doctors will encourage him to hang his boots up, which is such a shame as he seemed like such a prospect after coming through the ranks in Holland.

However, this isn't the first time that a professional footballer has been on the receiving end of a health scare and unfortunately many modern day footballers have been tragically lost due to unexpected heart attacks.

The big names that people may recognise who have been taken from us include Sevilla's Antonio Puerta, former West Ham United and Manchester City player Marc-Vivien Foé and Motherwell's Phil O'Donnell.  Another player who I would like to mention was a player from my supported team, Swansea City, and that is Besian Idrizaj.  Besian was only twenty-two years old, as was Puerta, which adds to the shock of their untimely deaths.  These players do not form the definitive list either, however one things seems common throughout a lot of these tragic events and that is the cause of death; often to do with the heart.

[caption id="attachment_69" align="aligncenter" width="609" caption="Tragic: Puerta, Foé and Idrizaj all died of sudden heart conditions during their playing careers before they reached their 30s."][/caption]

We would think that fantastic athletes like the players we watch week in week out would be medically sound, but that is not the case.  Heart Specialist Stewart Hillis who works for the SFA in Scotland has outlined the requirement of cardiac screenings for players due to the increased speed and intensity of the game and the training sessions they take part in.  "You can be fit but you might not be healthy" Hillis added.  It's a shocking revelation to the general public to realise even some of the fittest people in sport can be at risk to health scares like this.

In a paper titled "Causes and Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death in Young Athletes" by Massimiliano Bianco, Sante Bucari and Paolo Zeppilli, published by the International Boxing Association, the causes of these incidents are investigated.  The conditions are categorised as exercise-related sudden death or ESD and are described as unexpected and witnessed sudden cardiac arrest occuring within 1 hour from an exercise bout in an apparently healthy person. The paper also lists the most frequent heart diseases attributed to these conditions.  They include Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (Foé's diagnosed condition) and Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (Puerta's diagnosed condition).  They conclude the same sentiments of Hillis - that athletes should be encouraged, if not forced, for cardio screenings to detect these conditions as they can often be concealed rather than overt.

The awareness of this will no doubt be increased due to the well known names suffering - proving that even at the very top, no one is invincible.

Our best wishes go out to Evander Sno for a speedy recovery, and to the friends and family of all of those who have suffered a loss by ESD.