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Is English football in a sad state?

2K views 43 replies 11 participants last post by  Madman 
#1 ·
The days the transfer window is one of the biggest parts of English football is the day that it has officially become a circus. Transfer window has come and gone, yet still several fans over the country are talking about it, with either optimism or regret.

These are the same fans that ask to 'save grass roots football' yet when it comes to the transfer window they contradict themselves by asking for more money to be spent and splashing out on expensive foreign players from abroad.

The more and more foreign players come over, at over the odds prices nowhere near their real value, the more and more young academy English players get left out in the cold, mostly ending up in Non-League or prison for possession of drugs once released from their club at the ages between 16 and 19.

Obviously I may be overstating this, and I know the saying goes 'If they are good enough, they will make it'. This however is never further from the truth, some players get better with age, some with experience at the top level, both of which we can never see if players are consistently get loaned out to lower divisions or as I stated before, released at a young age because there is no way into an oversized squad.

This whole sorry state of affairs is a vicious cycle which will only lead to England and perhaps other countries in a similar state (Italy) getting worse year on year. The transfer market is a huge attraction, with big stores for the papers to sell, and fans getting sucked in to the whole furore. In the long run though it is just a circus in what many would see as a ultimately predictable end. Money rules the world, and it now rules the heads of the fans who support the clubs. National team football now comes second, but that does no good for this beautiful sport in this now modern country.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
It is. But not for the reasons you posted. I mean the transfer window always remained exciting. But the biggest problem is, that people just won't acknowledge that there are problems. Just bang on "best in the world this and best in the world that".
 
#4 ·
Yeah and the English are not wanted anywhere.
 
#6 ·
They wanna get paid, be it Italy or Spain.

But English players are unwanted in England, probably the lowest percentage of local players at the top level. The are unwanted abroad, lowest level of players abroad(?) among the top countries. Their coaches aren't wanted in England, just 5 English managers at the top level and I can't think of any English managers abroad in a top league.

EDIT: 16 of 20 Liga managers Spanish.
17 of 20 in Serie A managers Italian.
11 of 18 Bundesliga managers German.
 
#8 ·
Or their not good enough to be paid those kind of wages abroad. Where a local guy will provide the same quality for less money.
 
#14 ·
Why is that most of the top level clubs in England are playing with foreigners instead?
 
#15 ·
Because every English club can afford to pay top wages whilst most Spnish and Italian clubs don't have a pot to piss in? There's a lad on my Saturday team who played in the Portuguese second division and he makes more money here working in a kitchen.
 
#16 ·
Got nothing to do with the foreigners being better?
 
#22 ·
Good first step is admitting it.
 
#25 ·
There are still more English players playing in the premiership than any other nation. So at least for now some of them are good enough. But of course some of the top players from other nations are better than average English players, that's simple common sense.

If there are say, 150 active English premiership players, then the best players of say, Serbia, should of course be better than the 151st best English player.
 
#26 ·
Only 81 English players used this past weekend out of 278 players used in total in the EPL. That figures is just 29% and is once again on decline from last year. This with the fact that there are also very few English players abroad in other leagues means a bleak future IMO.

Rob your observation above may well be true in some cases regarding the best player of Serbia being better than the 151st Englishman, but it is hindering the English game and at grass roots level as now very few players can make the grade. I often hear if they are good enough they will make it, but I believe there are several players who do not just because they never get the opportunity to play at the top level.
 
#27 ·
If they are good enough they will break though. Again, going back to the Serbia comparison. The English Championship is of a higher standard than the top division in Serbia, to play at the top level, Serbian players must perform well enough to earn a move to a top league. It's the same for Championship players. They need to earn the right to play in the premiership, through either promotion or earning a transfer.

If you're good enough you'll get there, like Jamie Vardy, Callum Wilson, Charlie Austin, Danny Ings etc have in the last couple of years.

Besides, if they do end up in the Championship, then it's hardly a bad level anyway. Players leave top flight Spanish and French clubs to play there.
 
#28 ·
Its nice naming examples of players who have made it. Name the 1000s of skilled players who never made it, oh right you cant because we forget about them.

One thing that helps players break through is gaining experience at the top level even if it is through trial and error, many players just never get this chance due to the nature of the EPL these days.

The NT will never be successful again I am pretty much sure of that, despite currently qualifying through an easy group.

As for the 2nd part, would you want NT players to come from the championship? A decade down the line that's what will be happening
 
#29 ·
I wouldn't mind NT players coming from the Championship if they were good enough, no. The Dutch NT gets players from it's own league, and outside the top few teams the quality is probably worse than the Championship.

The premier league prides itself on having the best players in the world. Only so many of those players are English. For the ones that do make it, playing against top international players week in, week out should improve them as players themselves. For a central midfielder for example, even against lower table teams they will be tested against the likes of Cabaye, Van Ginkel, M'Vila, Song, Kouyate, Wijnaldum, Sissoko, Fletcher, Gueye, Capoue, Inler etc.

It's the perfect proving ground, and someone like JonJo Shelvey, is capable of raising his game to accommodate that. If the player can't raise his game to get to that level, are they good enough anyway?

And we had no foreign players in the 70's and 80's, dominated Europe and the national team was still shit.
 
#31 ·
Even still it is just nonsensical that someone English can accept their own league being less than 30% English. That's all I am saying!

That's why the EPL for me, is going downhill. Just all media hype.

Very little about the English premier League these days is actually English. The players, the coaches, the owners... just about still got English referees for now.
 
#33 ·
The aim of the premier league was never really to be English. It was to provide the premier league competition in the world. If English players aren't good enough to play a significant part of that, then so be it. I want to watch the best footballers in the world against each other every week. If I want to watch English/British players, I can still watch the championship.

Plus Wales are doing well, and most of their squad is Championship based.
 
#34 ·
Bundesliga was 50% last year which is about where top leagues should strive to be. Enough balance either way.
 
#35 ·
At the end of the day, EPL clubs function as businesses and don't really have the interests of Englishman percentages in their business plans. They want good players who bring in revenue and ticket sales, if that player is English then he's English, if not then what can you do?
 
#36 ·
Yes but I'm losing interest. It's not helping the NT for the future and European results show it's not really helping the club's either
 
#37 ·
The competition itself is great though. I've absolutely loved the last couple of seasons. Results in Europe have been poor (maybe clubs are knackered from high octane football), but the games and level of competition are great.

A league where a mid table side like Stoke have team sheets with Bojan, Shaqiri, Van Ginkel, Afellay etc on, certainly interests me. Hell even teams like Sunderland and Newcastle who are really struggling, have some fairly blockbuster players.
 
#38 ·
Yeah you must named a number of Stoke players who have absolutely flopped. 3 of them in Serie A
 
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