Thursday, 17 February 2011

The Price of Being a Promising Youngster

Earlier this week, the Premier League (that well-renowned beacon for fairness and equality only matched by the Soviet Union under Stalin) actually outlined plans that were for the benefit of not themselves, although they would get some of the riches from it, but for the betterment of English football.

Their proposals were to revolutionise the way academies and youth development are run in England with the aim to bring through better quality young players and more of them by allowing coaches to spend more time with promising youngsters like systems across Europe.

The new regulations involve scrapping the current rules that all clubs can only recruit young players into their academies that are within 90-minutes travelling time from the club and developing residential centres for the youth squads at training grounds, similar to the Clarefontaine facility in France, only at club level.

Naturally, this is a good idea, more coaching time means better technical quality of players at youth levels and more time spent with players of their own age, even living together, boosts team spirit and younger players become accustomed to how their teammates play, similar to the legendary La Masia academy at Barcelona.

However, here is the kicker, the new system would impose a Grade system on youth academies across the 92 professional clubs in the top four divisions, ranging from a grade one to grade three and the fear is that only the very top clubs will have the finances to run a grade one facility as its costs are estimated at £2.5 million a year. Obviously, in theory, this works as the best teams should have the best youngsters as they will then have access to the best coaches, but, the grade one academies will be able to pick up promising players from the age of 9 whereas grades two and three will have to wait until a player is 12 before they can sign them up.

Greg Clarke, the Football Chairman, has warned that this system will lead to children being "sacrificed on the altar of football efficiency" as children who are deemed to be not good enough will have been in the system for so long and trained so extensively they will not have had experience of any other life. Thus, they go into the real world of work with no prospects and no qualifications and no real idea of how to cope. The pressure on them to make it would be unimaginable.

Furthermore, Clarke has warned that the new system would lead to up to 40 football league clubs closing their academies as they will not be able to attract good enough young players (as they will all be snapped up by the heady lights of London, Manchester and Liverpool at the age of 9) and therefore the academies will not be sustainable and not be able to justify the funding that lower league clubs give to their academies. A problem Clarke has warned will destroy lower league football.

I for one, am much prouder of the fact that our league system can support 92 professional football clubs, unlike systems in other countries which these plans are based on, rather than a successful national team, but if the Premier League can dress up these proposals in the wrapping that they will improve the national side, it may well win them public approval.

However, the impact that these proposals have, particularly in terms of the affect on talented young football players, need to be seriously considered. Perhaps a system whereby promising youngsters are not only given football coaching, but proper education may well be a solution but don't count on that being considered as it will cost clubs a bundle to fund and as Lord Triesman pointed out last week, the FA is pretty much a toothless institution these days.

Or even promoting a similar system to the Glenn Hoddle soccer school out in Spain where cast off youngsters are given a second chance to make it in the game by being offered contracts at this club and attempting to impress league clubs. Even a case of if a young player is deemed not good enough by a top club at the age of 16, allowing him to move on for free to his hometown club as he would have still had the benefit of all the best coaching from a grade one facility, but lower league clubs would also benefit from the best coaching, even if they do not have the best facilities.

But, with the power of the Premier League so huge, settle in for the slow death of lower league football and youngsters flowering at their hometown clubs once these proposals are inevitably approved.

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