Jamie Carragher has said today there is a certain fear factor involved when representing your nation which isn't present when representing your club side. Ignoring the fact this is the man who was too scared to fight for a place in the national team and only come back when our options ahead of him were injured, what right does he have to come out with such drivel? And since when is he allowed to speak on behalf of the national team? He shouldn't be anything to do with it, let alone providing excuses for any shortcomings at international level.
My opinion, for what it's worth, is that any player who turns their back on the national side at any level (I'm looking at you David Bentley), should no longer be called upon to represent us. Excuses of fatigue and not being in the first XI aren't worthy of turning your back on what can only be described as the greatest honour for any footballer. I don't care what Harry Redknapp has said about Champions League and the Premier League taking precedence, if you're a player who doesn't pull on a shirt every week with the aim of representing your country then you don't belong in our beautiful game. Playing for England is the epitome of the game.
Excusing any personal misdemeanors and concentrating solely on what Wayne Rooney does on the pitch and his attitude while there, I think the rest of our camp could take a leaf out of his book. When he was 16, he stormed onto the scene and played as if he was still kicking a ball around in the playground with jumpers for goalposts. Rooney has carried this attitude through playing for Everton, Manchester United and England. I can't see him ever turning his back on his country, nor providing feeble excuses like Carragher has. For further emphasis on this point, see David Beckham, probably the most chastised England player in history after "that" kick in 1998.
I've been looking within our development structures and coaching methods to try and find a reason why Carragher says we are playing with fear, but so far I haven't been able to come up with anything. This leads me to the conclusion that it is down to the man, not the pressure from the media or fans and that Carragher is in fact talking bollocks. If Wayne Rooney, David Beckham (more specifically his moment of redemption, single handedly dragging us through qualifying against Greece for 2002) and Steven Gerrard can seemingly play without this fear he talks about, who is he speaking for? Maybe he needs to look a bit closer to home to see who is really being affected by this "pressure".
If this is what is in the back of Carragher's mind when he walks onto the pitch, then this further re-iterates my point that when he retired and turned his back on his country, he should have stayed retired. The only reason he was selected for the 2010 World Cup squad was down to his versatility.
Further to this, Carragher was bored at the World Cup. Poor bloke was cooped up in a world class hotel with his every wish catered for. They had a thousand ways to stay entertained. Has he forgotten why we were there? I wish my job paid me what they paid him, let me have the summer off and still gave me the right to moan about being bored when my summer is interrupted every 4 years by probably the greatest stage I'll ever work on! I think I could handle sitting around in a plush hotel being waited on hand and foot as a 'sacrifice' for that opportunity. I'm pretty sure I could do my job to the best of my ability in such tiresome surroundings too, the odd stretch of boredom would probably pale into insignificance I'd hope.
If you were under so much scrutiny and that bored, why didn't you stay off for the summer like you originally said you would? You could of been doing something useful like going round and watering Wayne Rooney's plants. I didn't respect you when you first made yourself unavailable for England selection Carra', but I've gone from being mildly annoyed by your re-emergence into the setup to utter disdain.
Carra' should now be referred to as "Tweek" from South Park, who inexplicably thinks he is under pressure when he isn't.
"Argh that is way too much pressure!".
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
Monday, 27 June 2011
The Future of English Football
If Gareth Southgate is the man to revolutionise grass roots football in England, then I'm going to win Britain's Got Talent by turning up and shitting on the desk in front of Amanda Holden. I despair at what I've read today, it seems we've gone back 10 years in the plan for development of our young players. People have watched the Barcelona side (to coin a Gary Brabin phrase) "football to death" everyone they've come up against and filled their pants at the prospect of trying to come up with a plan to stop them. So instead of trying to beat them, it seems we're all going to join them. Who is going to beat Barcelona by trying to do what Barcelona do? Anyway, I'm getting away from my point...
Gareth Southgate has today come out and said about the "horror" of watching a kids 11 a side game where the kid lumps the ball forward from the back to great applause from parents. I ran an under 6's team through to under 8's around 5 years ago, back then we were hearing exactly the same things. I had to drop out from running this team, but learnt a lot through the coaching courses I took and the communication we used to receive from the F.A. All the courses then were directed at exactly what our "Head of Elite Development" has said today. What youth football has he been watching for the last 5 years?! I haven't seen any 11 a side games, unless there's been a drastic change I haven't heard about then kids football aren't allowed to move onto full size pitches with 11 players until they are 13 years old.
Something that Gareth Southgate does point out that I agree with is the pressure from parents. This is the single biggest problem with youth development in our game today. I attended a number of courses where all the emphasis was on as many touches on the ball as possible, encouraging a pass at the back rather than lumping it forward and all the other things which are quite key for the development of our youngsters. But where I think the issue is with our local youth football teams lies, is pressure. As crazy as it sounds, parents want to see their kid win more than they want to see them develop. The team I was at was quite lucky, there were none of the stereotypical pushy parents that are being referred to. But it makes me cringe to remember some of the parents from opposition teams who would be shrieking at their kids to "get it out of play" or go mad if they dared pass it backwards.
In my experience, this attitude of win at all costs spurns from parents who are wishing to live some success through their children. It's horrible to see, I'm all for encouraging and supporting your child but when it verges on desperation to see them win, the problems start. I have a fine example of this from my time in charge of a youth football team. We were playing a 'local rival', a lot of the kids from each team were friends and the team we were playing had a bit of a reputation for being the best. Bear in mind we are talking about a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds as this story goes on. A lot of our boys spent the weeks building up to the game worried, myself and our other coach kept emphasising it's just the same as any other game and that we were there to enjoy ourselves, win or lose. The game itself ended in a narrow loss for our boys, 3-2. We had a pretty special goalkeeper for his age, who despite being extremely talented would blame himself for any goals let in. When the opposing team scored their 3rd, he burst into tears and was distraught at himself for letting the team down. Myself and the other coach ran onto the pitch to console him, telling him to "keep his chin up", that we were very proud (which we were) of him and that he had let nobody down. He was inconsolable and as we were taking him off the pitch, a coach from the opposite side said "is he going to stop crying so we can get on with the game?". I turned and quietly said "you're talking to a 6 year old, just leave it". His reply was "I used to let loads of goals in as a kid, you didn't see me crying".
It would of been very easy at this point to lose my temper, this is exactly the attitude that needs stamping out. But I remember when I was a kid, my coach was my idol. What he said was gospel, more so than parents or teachers. It frightens me that we have people like this responsible for doing his own shoe laces up, let alone the development of our footballers. This guy is obviously making up for his own shortcomings in football through what were a very talented set of kids. It's this sort of attitude I've seen throughout youth football which I think is killing it. The coach from the opposite team had a very talented bunch of kids, but to prefer to see them win rather than string 10 passes together or demonstrate some skills is plain wrong when dealing with 6 and 7 year olds. To go as far as slating a 6 year old for crying, there's a lot I could say about this guy as a person as well as a coach.
I'm not one of these people that completely disagree with any form of competition, I think sports days where there are no winners or losers are a reason we are falling behind the likes of Australia and the USA in sports development. But the "winning" in youth football needs to be seeing a kid progress into an academy and hopefully into the professional game. People need to ask themselves why they are getting involved, if you're a coach and you're there to eradicate some bad memories you had as a child or for personal glory, you shouldn't be anywhere near the game of football in my opinion.
We used to set tasks for our boys on match day to try and turn the match experience into more of a training game. We'd say "we want everyone to attempt one trick" or "there will be a prize for everyone if at any point you complete 10 passes". Without wanting to blow our own trumpet, we had a scout from Ipswich who would regularly come to our games and praise our approach to the game. What we were doing wasn't exactly rocket science, anyone who can see past the end of their nose can see if we encourage technique and composure on the ball from day 1 of a footballers development, we'll have players who are more comfortable in possession at the end of a production line. This is why I've despaired and worry that we are going backwards in the development of our players today, we've been saying the same thing for what must be 10 years now and there's been no action.
The key to your success as our head of elite development will be to tackle the attitudes, small sided games and telling our coaches to encourage passing over hoofing are not the answer Mr. Southgate. I fear you've come into a role that you are out of your depth with and are telling us what we want to hear. Trevor Brooking seemed to set the wheels in motion for what looked like a good blue print to drag our game out of the doldrums. Please don't mess it up, we have a thirst for football in this country like no other. Harness that and find our coaches that are encouraging good football, find the clubs that have the backing of parents and only hand out charter standard status when you know you've got everyone on board in this philosophy. As with the Respect campaign, draw up a document that EVERYONE involved in a club must sign. Parents, coaches, players, chairmen, get all their names signed on a document that says we are here to develop young footballers, not win trophies. Winning games will come as a result of development, it might be a longer path to get there, but it's in the long term interests of our club and national game. Hold evenings with each league, compulsory attendance with emphasis on development and kicking this sort of attitude out of our game. Don't give any funding to anyone who won't adhere to this, hit clubs where it hurts and make it so that the only opportunities within football for our young, enthusiastic players are with clubs who want to make the next generation of England players. Not the ones who encourage "if in doubt kick it out" or play the big clogger of a player over a smaller technically gifted player.
So basically, thanks Mr. Southgate, for sweet F.A and telling us what we've been told for years. Now go do something about it.
Gareth Southgate has today come out and said about the "horror" of watching a kids 11 a side game where the kid lumps the ball forward from the back to great applause from parents. I ran an under 6's team through to under 8's around 5 years ago, back then we were hearing exactly the same things. I had to drop out from running this team, but learnt a lot through the coaching courses I took and the communication we used to receive from the F.A. All the courses then were directed at exactly what our "Head of Elite Development" has said today. What youth football has he been watching for the last 5 years?! I haven't seen any 11 a side games, unless there's been a drastic change I haven't heard about then kids football aren't allowed to move onto full size pitches with 11 players until they are 13 years old.
Something that Gareth Southgate does point out that I agree with is the pressure from parents. This is the single biggest problem with youth development in our game today. I attended a number of courses where all the emphasis was on as many touches on the ball as possible, encouraging a pass at the back rather than lumping it forward and all the other things which are quite key for the development of our youngsters. But where I think the issue is with our local youth football teams lies, is pressure. As crazy as it sounds, parents want to see their kid win more than they want to see them develop. The team I was at was quite lucky, there were none of the stereotypical pushy parents that are being referred to. But it makes me cringe to remember some of the parents from opposition teams who would be shrieking at their kids to "get it out of play" or go mad if they dared pass it backwards.
In my experience, this attitude of win at all costs spurns from parents who are wishing to live some success through their children. It's horrible to see, I'm all for encouraging and supporting your child but when it verges on desperation to see them win, the problems start. I have a fine example of this from my time in charge of a youth football team. We were playing a 'local rival', a lot of the kids from each team were friends and the team we were playing had a bit of a reputation for being the best. Bear in mind we are talking about a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds as this story goes on. A lot of our boys spent the weeks building up to the game worried, myself and our other coach kept emphasising it's just the same as any other game and that we were there to enjoy ourselves, win or lose. The game itself ended in a narrow loss for our boys, 3-2. We had a pretty special goalkeeper for his age, who despite being extremely talented would blame himself for any goals let in. When the opposing team scored their 3rd, he burst into tears and was distraught at himself for letting the team down. Myself and the other coach ran onto the pitch to console him, telling him to "keep his chin up", that we were very proud (which we were) of him and that he had let nobody down. He was inconsolable and as we were taking him off the pitch, a coach from the opposite side said "is he going to stop crying so we can get on with the game?". I turned and quietly said "you're talking to a 6 year old, just leave it". His reply was "I used to let loads of goals in as a kid, you didn't see me crying".
It would of been very easy at this point to lose my temper, this is exactly the attitude that needs stamping out. But I remember when I was a kid, my coach was my idol. What he said was gospel, more so than parents or teachers. It frightens me that we have people like this responsible for doing his own shoe laces up, let alone the development of our footballers. This guy is obviously making up for his own shortcomings in football through what were a very talented set of kids. It's this sort of attitude I've seen throughout youth football which I think is killing it. The coach from the opposite team had a very talented bunch of kids, but to prefer to see them win rather than string 10 passes together or demonstrate some skills is plain wrong when dealing with 6 and 7 year olds. To go as far as slating a 6 year old for crying, there's a lot I could say about this guy as a person as well as a coach.
I'm not one of these people that completely disagree with any form of competition, I think sports days where there are no winners or losers are a reason we are falling behind the likes of Australia and the USA in sports development. But the "winning" in youth football needs to be seeing a kid progress into an academy and hopefully into the professional game. People need to ask themselves why they are getting involved, if you're a coach and you're there to eradicate some bad memories you had as a child or for personal glory, you shouldn't be anywhere near the game of football in my opinion.
We used to set tasks for our boys on match day to try and turn the match experience into more of a training game. We'd say "we want everyone to attempt one trick" or "there will be a prize for everyone if at any point you complete 10 passes". Without wanting to blow our own trumpet, we had a scout from Ipswich who would regularly come to our games and praise our approach to the game. What we were doing wasn't exactly rocket science, anyone who can see past the end of their nose can see if we encourage technique and composure on the ball from day 1 of a footballers development, we'll have players who are more comfortable in possession at the end of a production line. This is why I've despaired and worry that we are going backwards in the development of our players today, we've been saying the same thing for what must be 10 years now and there's been no action.
The key to your success as our head of elite development will be to tackle the attitudes, small sided games and telling our coaches to encourage passing over hoofing are not the answer Mr. Southgate. I fear you've come into a role that you are out of your depth with and are telling us what we want to hear. Trevor Brooking seemed to set the wheels in motion for what looked like a good blue print to drag our game out of the doldrums. Please don't mess it up, we have a thirst for football in this country like no other. Harness that and find our coaches that are encouraging good football, find the clubs that have the backing of parents and only hand out charter standard status when you know you've got everyone on board in this philosophy. As with the Respect campaign, draw up a document that EVERYONE involved in a club must sign. Parents, coaches, players, chairmen, get all their names signed on a document that says we are here to develop young footballers, not win trophies. Winning games will come as a result of development, it might be a longer path to get there, but it's in the long term interests of our club and national game. Hold evenings with each league, compulsory attendance with emphasis on development and kicking this sort of attitude out of our game. Don't give any funding to anyone who won't adhere to this, hit clubs where it hurts and make it so that the only opportunities within football for our young, enthusiastic players are with clubs who want to make the next generation of England players. Not the ones who encourage "if in doubt kick it out" or play the big clogger of a player over a smaller technically gifted player.
So basically, thanks Mr. Southgate, for sweet F.A and telling us what we've been told for years. Now go do something about it.
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Tweet Twats
Does anyone else get really annoyed on Twitter when they see a celebrity re-tweet something along the lines of "Hi Andy Peters, please RT this for my friends son who is dying in hospital". As sympathetic as I am to anyone who has a loved one in any sort of horrible situation, I can't help but think why are you using Twitter and enlisting celebs to 'help' in the form of retweeting? Who is this benefiting from this apart from the person who got a retweet and their ego?
Surely when a loved one or someone you know isn't in a good way, things such as Twitter and celebrity all fall into complete insignificance? I know it would for me. If anyone I know finds themselves in any sort of situation, what the frick is asking that retired footballer or local radio DJ to re-tweet it going to do to help? If you're after some sort of charity donation and a celeb with far more exposure than you'll ever have gets the message out there for you, fair enough. But how on earth does knowing that the celeb has read your tweet and taken a second to hit the retweet button do to help?
For me, these people are selfish. They are using their 'situation' to gain a bit of recognition and after that feeling that you're almost slightly famous for a second. It's a bit twisted. I love seeing a bit of Jeremy Kyle style drama on my social networking, there's nothing better than seeing someone break up in a relationship on Facebook or seeing a status or tweet clearly aimed at someone calling them a slag! But to pull at the heartstrings just in order to be seen - sick and wrong.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not an anti-celeb sorta person and have reveled in the moments where any sort of celebrity has sent me a tweet. So much so that I kept a list! I long for the day Katy Perry responds to my offer of a night out, but in my defence I'm asking these people actual questions or just having a bit of fun.
The moral of the story - if you're a celeb and I see you re-tweet one of these numb nut requests I'm going to unfollow you (quite a threat I know, ask Jack Wilshere of Arsenal and England fame). If you're one of these idiots that has someone close who isn't in a good way, here's an idea... go and actually help them and be with them, see what they want that will help! Put down the social media and be with the one that needs your help.
A classic case of causing unnecessary trouble.
Surely when a loved one or someone you know isn't in a good way, things such as Twitter and celebrity all fall into complete insignificance? I know it would for me. If anyone I know finds themselves in any sort of situation, what the frick is asking that retired footballer or local radio DJ to re-tweet it going to do to help? If you're after some sort of charity donation and a celeb with far more exposure than you'll ever have gets the message out there for you, fair enough. But how on earth does knowing that the celeb has read your tweet and taken a second to hit the retweet button do to help?
For me, these people are selfish. They are using their 'situation' to gain a bit of recognition and after that feeling that you're almost slightly famous for a second. It's a bit twisted. I love seeing a bit of Jeremy Kyle style drama on my social networking, there's nothing better than seeing someone break up in a relationship on Facebook or seeing a status or tweet clearly aimed at someone calling them a slag! But to pull at the heartstrings just in order to be seen - sick and wrong.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not an anti-celeb sorta person and have reveled in the moments where any sort of celebrity has sent me a tweet. So much so that I kept a list! I long for the day Katy Perry responds to my offer of a night out, but in my defence I'm asking these people actual questions or just having a bit of fun.
The moral of the story - if you're a celeb and I see you re-tweet one of these numb nut requests I'm going to unfollow you (quite a threat I know, ask Jack Wilshere of Arsenal and England fame). If you're one of these idiots that has someone close who isn't in a good way, here's an idea... go and actually help them and be with them, see what they want that will help! Put down the social media and be with the one that needs your help.
A classic case of causing unnecessary trouble.
Blogging 'Ell
I've decided to start a blog. I like a good rant and all other the social media is very restrictive when you've got a point to get across! So this has what has brought me here. I've been thinking about starting one for a while and today have finally taken the plunge.
Before I started, I was trying to decide whether it would be a gloves off, pull no punches type of blog where I really lay into my chosen subject, or a don't mind my mum seeing sorta thing with no naughty words. I've gone with the former, if I'm going to do this I might as well do it properly. If I've got something to say and this is the platform I'm going to use to say it, then it would be half hearted to tone it down. And frankly, of no interest to anyone.
I'm not generally a grumpy person, so don't expect any sort of "I hate life" type posts or anger at the world in general. I'd say I'm very happy go lucky, but hopefully I'll raise a smile by giving my opinion on the things I enjoy and the things around me. A lack of common sense and stupidity is my biggest pet hate, I'll be looking to vent here on all occasions I come across either of these!
My original idea was to solely blog some of the ridiculous comments I hear from private school kids on the train when I'm on my way to work, for example this morning I heard a kid say "My brother went to school in Shepreth, it's so embarrassing,". I hear comments as tragic as this on a daily basis from private school kids and find myself so disillusioned with how detached they are from the real world. So expect plenty of quotes and ramblings on what private education is doing to kids as I hear more nonsense on the train each day!
Hopefully this has given you a good idea of what's to come, I'll keep this place updated so head back if you like what you see. If you don't, then rather than moan about it, don't come back!
Oh... the name. I've called the blog "Unnecessary Trouble". Some of you may recognise this as a song by Hard Fi on their Stars of CCTV album. This is my favourite album and the line "just make sure you cause trouble when it's necessary" I think is rather apt in life. That and I couldn't come up with anything witty of my own. I'm likely to quote this on occasion, so hopefully this has brought you up to speed.
TTFN (That's ta ta for now)
Before I started, I was trying to decide whether it would be a gloves off, pull no punches type of blog where I really lay into my chosen subject, or a don't mind my mum seeing sorta thing with no naughty words. I've gone with the former, if I'm going to do this I might as well do it properly. If I've got something to say and this is the platform I'm going to use to say it, then it would be half hearted to tone it down. And frankly, of no interest to anyone.
I'm not generally a grumpy person, so don't expect any sort of "I hate life" type posts or anger at the world in general. I'd say I'm very happy go lucky, but hopefully I'll raise a smile by giving my opinion on the things I enjoy and the things around me. A lack of common sense and stupidity is my biggest pet hate, I'll be looking to vent here on all occasions I come across either of these!
My original idea was to solely blog some of the ridiculous comments I hear from private school kids on the train when I'm on my way to work, for example this morning I heard a kid say "My brother went to school in Shepreth, it's so embarrassing,". I hear comments as tragic as this on a daily basis from private school kids and find myself so disillusioned with how detached they are from the real world. So expect plenty of quotes and ramblings on what private education is doing to kids as I hear more nonsense on the train each day!
Hopefully this has given you a good idea of what's to come, I'll keep this place updated so head back if you like what you see. If you don't, then rather than moan about it, don't come back!
Oh... the name. I've called the blog "Unnecessary Trouble". Some of you may recognise this as a song by Hard Fi on their Stars of CCTV album. This is my favourite album and the line "just make sure you cause trouble when it's necessary" I think is rather apt in life. That and I couldn't come up with anything witty of my own. I'm likely to quote this on occasion, so hopefully this has brought you up to speed.
TTFN (That's ta ta for now)
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