Made in England

Okay so the World Cup is coming to an end, for England it never really got started. And when competitive football ceases for the summer what’s left for the football die-hard? Three words that will become the centre of every football fan’s world; ‘the rumour mill.’

Liverpool have already made some high profile signings this summer: Rickie Lambert, Emre Can, Adam Lallana, and are processing deals for Belgian striker Divock Origi, English left-back Ryan Bertrand, and Serbian winger Lazar Markovic. So far only two of our signings are English although we are interested in a third.   This is not uncommon for the biggest teams in England – Chelsea, Arsenal, City and that other team along the M62 – Hull. If we take a wider perspective we’ll find the biggest clubs throughout Europe also show little interest in signing English talent. This begs the obvious question: Why?

Since I have followed Liverpool, the core of the team has invariably been English. I don’t remember a time when Steven Gerrard has not pulled on a red shirt and stepped onto the Anfield turf. The club is currently doing its best to continue this trend. Players such as Raheem Sterling, Jon Flanagan, Daniel Sturridge, and Jordan Henderson are growing as players alongside established England players like Glen Johnson and Steven Gerrard. Liverpool has added players that were members of England’s World Cup squad this summer, with a third of the squad set to wear a Liverpool shirt at the beginning of next season. England players are at the centre of other teams at the top of the Premier League: Wayne Rooney, Jack Wilshere, John Terry, and Joe Hart. When you look through the squads at teams such as Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea, and Arsenal, the home-grown talent is less prominent.

The best leagues in the world remain the English Premier League, La Liga, and the Bundesliga. When Premier League teams, such as Liverpool, need a new player, I can’t help but look for the best players, which usually play within these leagues. This is the same for Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, etc. When it comes to transfers the world has definitely shrunk over recent years. The best teams in the world can choose any player, from any team and from any country. The modern game has less so called World Class talent form England than any time in living memory.

If Liverpool are to compete with the best in Europe, they will need the biggest and best players to do so. It is looking increasingly likely that Luis Suarez with play at the Nou Camp next season, and of course Liverpool will seek to replace him with the best that Suarez’s transfer fee can buy. Where will we look? So far, it has been towards La Liga/Bundesliga (delete as appropriate) and not the Premier League. Is it right that in order to compete at the highest level in England, a team must look to other countries to find the talent necessary? As this becomes increasingly the way things are done it raises any number of questions. These include: why does it happen, whose fault is it, should it be stopped, and if so, how?

I must confess at this stage that I am ‘the eternal optimist.’ This is especially true when it comes to sport. I am always convinced that Liverpool, and England, will do well. Yet, for the first time ever, even I went into a World Cup thinking that England would struggle. Despite this unaccustomed realism, my expectation was still high. The country expects a lot from the England National Team, probably too much, considering the quality and depth the team possess. If the Premier League continues to look elsewhere and bring in foreign players when they strive to improve the quality of their squads, this problem will only be compounded.

Joachim Loew, the German manager, has said ‘If England has a problem, it is that their league has a disadvantage because higher percentage of foreigners, so it becomes difficult for national coach to get things moving.” The German league has undergone a resurgence in recent times, at both domestic and international level.  Less than five years after that wonderful night in Munich when Liverpool players scored all five goals in England’s trouncing of Germany, which team were World Cup semi-finalists? Young players have been given a chance to thrive in their local teams, and have evolved as teams throughout their development. The German, Italian, and Spanish leagues all have a higher number of homegrown talent in their leagues’ top teams, and in the leagues overall.

If foreign players are too prevalent in the Premier League, is it the fault of the teams or the English FA that there are so few top class English players available? The financial fair-play regulations have, so far, proved somewhat unsuccessful in stopping top teams buying all the best players for enormous amounts. This has proven that teams will continue to seek the best players for their club, no matter how they can do it, how much they spent, or where they come from. If this is continued into player nationalities, it seems that teams will continue to buy the best even if they are not English, to further their domestic pursuits, regardless of the negative effects this will have on the national team.

The FA must hold some of the blame, in my opinion. Wembley stadium has been an impressive redevelopment of the home of football, but since the completion of the renovations, the FA have completed a series of high profile events and drives to recoup the money spent. In recent times, the FA has faced a lot of criticism over corporate spending, and lack of interest in player development. It seems logical to me that in order to promote youth development, and improve English talent, the FA should focus more time, effort, and money on development coaches and programs.

There is a simple fact that cannot be ignored, you build a house by starting at the foundations and building upwards and not the other way round. Stevie G and co did not begin playing football at international level they started in the garden, the park and the school. It is easy to look at the obscene figures spent by the FA on Wembley and blame that. Well, what’s done is done, we can’t ‘unbuild’ it now. Let me give you a more horrifying set of figures, the ratio of UEFA-qualified coaches to active players, in England is 1:812. Our major competitors? Germany 1:150, France 1:96, Spain 1:17 (that’s right 1:17!) Yes I know Spain also failed to make it out the qualifying rounds but that was a blip, since 2008 they’ve been European Champions, twice, World Cup winners and their domestic clubs have won three Champion Leagues.

It would seem the answer to the question, why do we have to go to Europe for the best players is quite simple, they have the best coaches and lots of them.