Why an embarrassing exit might be good for England.

Like most England fans I was apoplectic on Friday evening at the standard of the performance it simply wasn’t good enough. Abject, turgid, disastrous, ponderous were just some of the words that sprung to mind to describe the performance. On the other hand I certainly wasn’t surprised at this. I knew England were not the side others seem to think it is, all the same the degree to which we played badly was shocking.

I spent a lot of time on the blower to various pals of mine that evening talking about this and wondering why it happened. In the back of my mind there was an article I had read in the Guardian earlier in the month about coaching. So I dug the article out and had another read (you can find it here). It makes really, really shocking reading.

Need a bit more of this.

To condense in England there are only 2769 coaches holding either the UEFA a,b or pro coaching badges. This compares with Spain 23,995, Italy 29,420 and Germany 34,790. I guess when you look at it like it isn’t surprising we are not producing technically gifted players who can retain the ball under pressure.

Howard Wilkinson was much maligned as the FA technical director, but in reality he was spot on wanting to create an academy at Burton, which he hoped to model on the French Clairefontaine and it was monumental folly for the FA to put off the academy in favour of an expensive white elephant in Wembley, more on that later.

But an academy system for the elite players simply isn’t enough. Clearly there is a structural problem in the English game from the bottom up that prevents us from creating technically gifted footballers. It is a coaching problem. Look at the Balkan nations, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia et al. There is nothing in the DNA of people born along the Adriatic coast that allows them to be more proficient at trapping a football. Rather there is a cultural, and systematic approach to football that develops technically gifted footballers. There is no reason why this could not be created here.

There are issues around how sniffy we are about expertise, in the UK football culture people who have been there, done that, in a playing sense are somehow considered well qualified to do other roles in football. This is demonstrated by the way so many top managerial appointments go to illustrious former Pros, often with no qualification. Even how we chose people to be pundits on TV. In reality though this is rarely successful, and most of these former Pros who walk straight into managerial positions at tops clubs sink, think Southgate, Ince, Shearer….

So there needs to be a cultural shift, to properly appreciate and value proper coaching. Clubs can have a big role in this, I don’t understand why all Pros and certainly all trainees are not doing refereeing and coaching qualifications as part of their jobs.

Our august organisation.

But it surely needs to be led by the Football Association. English football fans, and the media are often given to ridiculous bouts of hyperbole and unrealistic expectations about the standard of our footballers, about our national teams prospects in international competition and the relative standard of the Premier League. However there is one respect in which English football is a genuine world leader and this is in respect of money and riches.

Our game is awash with money and there is no reason why if the will existed to we could not address those awful statistics about numbers of qualified coaches. Unfortunately our FA is a shambles, it has failed to adapt to the times and has the turning circle of the Exxon Valdez. Nearly five years on the findings of the Burns Report have failed to have been implemented, despite the scandal that led to Lord Triesman’s departure his card had already been marked due his attempts to reform the FA. It is a disgrace that the best part of a billion pounds has been invested in the wasteful White Elephant that is Wembley whilst Burton remains unbuilt.

So you know what I am starting to think that an embarrassing and calamitous exit from the World Cup might not be the worst thing that has ever happened to English football. If our so called “golden generation” were to fail once again, nowhere near the winning post, then it surely must force us to have some introspection about what is fundamentally wrong with our game structurally. Maybe, just maybe, the FA would be forced to work with their willing partners in the PFA and the LMA to genuinely address the problems with coaching in English Football.

I don’t want to sound anti England. I am a massive, passionate fan of England, it wounds me watching performances like that on Friday and I desperately want England to succeed. But there is something wrong, and rotten in our game that needs to change. Maybe only hideous failure can make this happen.