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Once England departed these shores for South Africa a few short weeks ago, there was much anticipation that at long last, the football team could quite possibly bring the trophy home. Yet, that dream was destroyed in no uncertain terms by the old enemy Germany in Bloemfontein as England crashed out of the competition losing 4-1. How could quite possibly such an experienced team who qualified so effortlessly fail to perform? Not surprisingly, the English media has produced no dearth of scape goats and causes for what was England’s worst defeat at a World Cup. There has been enough talk about the Italian manager, formations and more but the issues are a good deal deeper.
Since its formation in 1992, the Premier League has achieved outstanding success as an international brand. The price of this success has been felt by English football. Greater TV earnings has pushed wages higher and higher. In turn this has meant there has been a growing gulf among club and country. Clubs pay their players an awful lot of money and are increasingly more reluctant to let their footballers turn out for their national teams.
In turn, players get greatly rewarded by Premier League clubs to the extent that success is classified by getting valuable contracts and not anything they achieve on the field. Ordinary players who rarely turn out for their teams are still millionaires and as these footballers put money ahead of playing games at club level, there is little doubt they do not have the mental strength or hunger to play international football.
Traditionally, there was always a regional reserve league which allowed young players from lower league teams may perhaps be guaranteed to play against decent reserve teams from more established clubs like Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United. Nonetheless, in recent years, the Premier League has changed which means they will only play against other EPL reserve clubs. This means that Championship reserve clubs no longer get to play against Premiership sides. For clubs like Ipswich Town, it means their reserve team now plays against Stevenage rather than Tottenham and this drop in standard in opposition little doubt has a negative effect on the learning curve of young footballers.
With such a lot of wealth at stake, everything is tailored for Premier League survival. Clubs spend large amounts of money recruiting allegedly superior foreign managers and players in a bid to retain their Premiership status. The ambition of promoted clubs to the Premiership extends no further than finished 4th bottom. The Premiership cash bonanza means that Premiership clubs can provide £1-2m for young footballers at lower division clubs. The footballers are keen to move and secure their financial futures but it may perhaps also signal the finish of their careers. The young Crystal Palace star joined Spurs but almost never made an appearance and was last heard of on loan at Brentford, a division lower than when he was at Palace. From a football view, Bostock would have been best served staying at Palace and learning his trade. How many more young players careers are curtailed like this seeking the money as opposed to playing the fixture? It’s difficult to blame the young players for taking the money.
There is also the widely used accusation that teams take part in too many games in England and an increasing number of managers want a winter break. Yet, players don’t seem to be tired when asked to fly off to the United States or Far East on pre-season excursions. Or how about England’s friendly match next June away in Thailand?
There are so numerous ready made excuses for failure that footballers are ready to accept. They live a life well away from real life with their mansions, flashy cars and trophy wives. Basically, there is not enough hunger or desire.
The match in Thailand also illustrates another difficulty. Along with the Premier League being a global brand name, so are the England team. Supporters want to watch the big Premier League stars play for England and in friendly matches like this, those stars will be expected, if not contracted, to turn out. Of course, it is not the case that the very best 11 footballers make the best team. Too lots of players are in the team based on reputation rather than performances. Young footballers should be promoted into the senior squad sooner.
For the approaching Euro 2012 campaign, England should do away with the services of all footballers aged 30 or over. None of them have performed in South Africa hence why should we persevere with them. It would be better to promote younger footballers who may still be hungry for success. Even so, while the worshiping of the Premiership persists, things are probably not going to improve anytime immediately.
My goal here is to talk about not only the game of soccer itself but also getting in shape for the soccer season.
