The Tragedy of English Football
A sport that divides a nation like no other. Some see it as a game played by hooligans on streets; others call it ‘The Beautiful Game.’ The nation is led by a group of world class players but who don’t unfortunately make a world class team. In the run up to a tournament, they are easily the best, but when it really matters, the team are left wanting. This team is England. Today I will talk to you about the tragedy of English football.
There are many problems with English football. For starters, England gave the game to the world. Its managerial class has spread the game to South America and Australia. England is the home of the world’s most expensive football league in the world where a few of the world’s best teams play. These teams are the best because they field some of the world’s best players- many of which are English. Take a look at Frank Lampard. He is currently battling injury and is a football genius and he puts himself in scoring positions. And at Chelsea, he does that. One of the many England players who fail to mirror their club form. Lampard starred in Euro 2004, scoring in 3 of the 4 games he played in, but fared less well in World Cup 2006 where he was one of the 3 players to miss a penalty in the quarter-final shoot-out defeat to Portugal. His luck was also out in World Cup 2006 where the officials failed to spot that his shot had clearly crossed the line after bouncing down of the crossbar. Another major problem is that he is 34 years old. Another example is Steven Gerrard. He made his England debut as a substitute where he came on against Ukraine. Since then, he has gone on to score only 21 goals 91 appearances. Gerrard is now 32 and like Lampard is cracking with age. England needs new talent.
This brings me onto youth development. England lags behind the rest of Europe in youth development. The fact that the FA believes that footballers are born, not made is a major fall-back. England does have the right facilities. The FA just spent 105 million pounds on building the St Georges Park. The centre has 12 world-class training pitches, with both grass and artificial surfaces, and a full sized indoor pitch with under floor heating. It provides a base and accommodation for all 24 England teams from senior down to the junior level. There is also a 60 metre race track and an Olympic sized swimming pool. What more could you possibly want? There are also hundreds of training schemes nationwide. England has the money and time, they just aren’t using it. The senior team train well and regularly but now, they just need to remain fit. This is now down to the manager…
This man is Roy Hodgson. I however believe that this recruitment was the wrong choice. This was England’s second choice to Tottenham manager Harry Rednapp. Hodgson hasn’t had may great achievements and they certainly can’t match those of Harry Rednapp. Rednapp took charge of Portsmouth in 2003 and took them out of Championship relegation and into Premier League promotion. If he had took charge of England, they would have been much better off. And this sparked off in the media.
The media does not help at all. They just make a big fuss over a small incident and soon, the tabloids spread it to everyone. Take John Terry. He was accused of racially abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand. Terry denied the allegation and soon went on trial after the Euro 2012 tournament. He was then finally declared of being racist to the defender. But the media made such a big fuss about it, it seemed that he was accused of racism, even before he went on trial.
But if you put these downfalls aside for a moment, there is a question people always ask themselves: ‘How did this tiny place on the world map conquer such a big part of the world.
Forget history. It will take just a couple England wins in their qualification campaign for the World Cup 2014 and the delusion machine will be cranking again.
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