England Exits 2010 FIFA World Cup : English FA Has A Lot To Answer For


by Vic W

There are two parts to this public recrimination of England's fall from the World Cup. The first dealt with Coach Fabio Capello's shortcomings and tactical failures.

That was plain as daylight and Capello has to go.

That wasn't 6 million pounds worth of tactical knowledge on England's bench against Germany at the World Cup today.

The Business End of the English Game

The deeper problems remain in the English Football Association. They are the governing body of the game in England and regulate the Premier League which is a business corporation made up of the top clubs.

The Premier League's mandate is profitability. Unfortunately, that is the root of the problem with the game. The Premier League attracts a lot of sponsorship money and part of that is driving the need to buy expensive foreign talent to make the game more exciting to the fans.

People buy tickets and subscribe to TV channels to watch the top foreign players in the world. This feeds a frenzy of sponsorship money going into expensive transfer fees and wages.

Clubs are spending based on future year's projected revenues from sponsorships and not running the books responsibly based on operating revenue, which causes teams like Liverpool and Portsmouth to be in deep debt.

Manchester United are in deep debt as well because their US based owners borrowed hundreds of millions of pounds to purchase ownership share and the club is servicing this debt from operating revenue.

Why were these foreign owners allowed to saddle the club with so much debt? The FA did not put in proper ownership and financing rules and they have to answer for this.

The Crowded Pool

Foreign players take up space in club squads that could otherwise go to young English talent. This means less playing experience for English players and this has a direct negative impact on the national team.

I'm all for clubs buying the absolute top talent in the world. Those stars make the game more exciting and also make local players better by direct contact as teammates or opponents. You improve when you play against better footballers.

Unfortunately, not all the English clubs have the clout to sign a Robinho, a Kaka, a Cristiano Ronaldo or a Leo Messi. So they bring in second tier talent that don't always benefit the team and conversely take playing time away from young English talent.

Poor Youth Development

England do have youth academies. But they don't receive the same kind of emphasis or resources that other top footballing nations give. France and Germany as well as Spain have much stronger emphasis on academy development and training.

The famous Clairfontaine in France is one of the best in the world. Barcelona has one of the best academies for young talent as well. Germany also have a strong emphasis on young talent and the German clubs consistently bring these youngsters through to the senior team to give them valuable top playing experience.

In England, a lot of the revenue that comes to clubs is often spent on huge transfer fees and large player salaries.

That type of money —often in the tens of millions of pounds —should go into better academy resources. Better coaches. Better facilities. More opportunities for the youngsters to develop technique and tactical knowledge.

Even the big clubs discard young English talent in favor of big name foreign stars if squad size becomes an issue. David Bentley and Matthew Upson were both discarded at Arsenal in this manner.

Glen Johnson couldn't get playing time at Chelsea and was shunted off to Portsmouth where he eventually developed into a top player.

The feeling seems to be among top English clubs - is to let young English players go and develop at smaller clubs and if they rise to the top - they'll skim them off again at that time.

FA Powerless

The FA technically controls the Premier League. But the Premier League bosses often hinder the FA in advancing the interests of the national team.

Managers would refuse to release England players for friendlies or try and bargain with the England boss for less playing time to avoid injury.

The Premier League has refused to implement a winter break the way Germany has - because that would translate into lost revenue.

Everything about the Premier League is about money. Without a winter break, the top English players play 40-50 games a season starting from September to May. When the June World Cup rolls around, they're mentally shattered.

The Premier League operates to advance its business interests—often at the expense of national team interests and the FA is powerless to do anything about it.

As a result, the England team suffers.

Summary

A major rethink needs to happen at the FA about how they want their national team to fare in the future.

They can shake their head, fire the England manager and keep the coaching merry-go-round spinning for years.

Nothing will change and England will keep spiraling out of World Cups and Euros like this.

Or they can redefine their relationship with the Premier League and put in tighter controls over ownership, financing and expenditure as well as winter breaks and essentially bring the Premier League to heel - in the national team's interests. Until that happens - England will continue to crumble and this heartache will perpetuate.

The ball—as they say—is in their court.

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