Is football deteriorating or is it me?

[Seagull over SW France]

Apart from Leon Knight being on the tranfer list...the thunder....and whether Keith Dublin is or isn't well rigged....am I alone in thinking that in general English football is going down the pan?
So far I have watched a few Premiershite/Championship matches and find the standard very poor...feel it must be said that signing all these foreigners of average talent,at the expense of potentially good English/British youngsters has finally come home to roost....all over the continent they have Academies to nurture talent,which obviously pays dividends,and our Academy at Burton-on-Trent is locked up and for sale! Is it not a sad reflection that we have to start our national side with a goalkeeper from sixth place in the Premiership(or wherever Tottenham are?).... discuss

 

[Les Biehn]

The FA are ****s. End of.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

The FA are ****s. End of.

I concur.

One issue that really makes me angry is the parachute payments. That money could easily be distributed to the lower leagues, where teams struggle to make ends meat. Their reasoning? To stop the relegated teams falling into financial difficulty. There is a simple solution to that......spread the money that is concentrated in the premier league further down the leagues in the first place!!

 

[Hannibal smith]

I watched Reading V Arsenal on Sunday and watching Arsenal was a privilege. Their passing, movement and finishing were why I watch football. You can't blame the foreigners at Arsenal for the standard going downhill.

Far from going down the pan, I think this could be a vintage Premiership season. Man U and Arsenal are better than last year and will ensure Chelsea won't run away with it.

 

[Commander]

I think Arsenal, Man Utd and Chelsea are really good sides, but I think agree with most of the rest of your post. Also agree with BOF's views on the parachute payments.

 

[Northstander]

Man utd for me this year, they look awesome

 

[Les Biehn]

The situatio with the academies is disgraceful, the FA should be ashamed. It's such short term thinking, they seem to be under the impression that grass roots don't matter and we won't fall behind other countries when it is clear we will. The investment should be there instead it is being used to line their pockets.

 

[Man of Harveys]

Academies don't matter. It's all about PASSION.

 

[Hannibal smith]

Hang on. The big clubs invest shit loads in Youth set ups. They all know its worth it when a Steven Gerrard or a John Terry comes through the youth System. Does it really matter if the FA does not have one? There are 92 league clubs all trying to find quality young players.

The biggest problem with English players is that thier prices are overinflated. £15M for Michael Carrick anyone?

 

[Brovion]

Academies don't matter. It's all about PASSION.

Absolutely. And COMMITTMENT!. And WAVING YOUR FISTS AND SHOUTING! The sooner we get back to proper British football and forget all this fancy, foreign namby-pamby skill and ball control nonsense the quicker we'll bring the World Cup back to where it belongs.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I concur.

One issue that really makes me angry is the parachute payments. That money could easily be distributed to the lower leagues, where teams struggle to make ends meat. Their reasoning? To stop the relegated teams falling into financial difficulty. There is a simple solution to that......spread the money that is concentrated in the premier league further down the leagues in the first place!!

The problem with this is the fact that the parachute payements were part of the comprimise to avoid losing a promotion / relegation spot.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Another thing that bugs me.

The Paint Pot trophy is designed to raise money for the smaller clubs giving them some much needed income, but I think you will struggle to find any team that makes a profit, before the Final stage.

I wish there was some form of compensation for the league clubs who suffer attendance falls when the champions league is playing. I know it is not the fault of the clubs competing in the champions league, but they must have a duty of care!!

 

[Barrel of Fun]

The problem with this is the fact that the parachute payements were part of the comprimise to avoid losing a promotion / relegation spot.

I can see where they are coming from, but in an ideal world the money concentrated in the premier league could be spread out further. I know that is an idealistic view, but it really gets my goat.

 

[robbied69]

They really need to put a limit on the amount of foreigners in a team.

Also, I feel teams should have a limit on spending and wage caps should be introduced. Some of the wages being paid are astounding.

 

[Man of Harveys]

I can see where they are coming from, but in an ideal world the money concentrated in the premier league could be spread out further. I know that is an idealistic view, but it really gets my goat.

But why would it be in Sky's interest to distribute the serious money any further down the football foodchain? What's the point of that to them? That doesn't lend any more value to the "ARSENAL VS MAN UTD SUPER SUNDAY" hustling that they do.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I can see where they are coming from, but in an ideal world the money concentrated in the premier league could be spread out further. I know that is an idealistic view, but it really gets my goat.

The fact that the Premiership was allowed to happen was wrong as it meant even more money would be held at the top of the game.

What was even more worrying was about 4 seasons ago the talk of a second league within the Premiership structure and one of the people really pushing this was Paul Scally and there was talk of only one team being promoted each year to this from what would be left of the Football League.

 

[British Bulldog]

Hang on. The big clubs invest shit loads in Youth set ups. They all know its worth it when a Steven Gerrard or a John Terry comes through the youth System. Does it really matter if the FA does not have one? There are 92 league clubs all trying to find quality young players.

We should be producing more home grown talent in this country but until we change the way the youth set up is run we will continue to fall behind other countries.

 

[NMH]

I'm not so sure about the average foreign contingent quashing the potential of home-grown talent. If brilliant English players were out there languishing in the lower leagues/divisions, they wouldn't be ignored in favour of some half-decent foreigner - they'd get snapped up, and they'd get played by top sides.

The problem though, may be that English football cannot keep an identity when there's a melting pot here. The game is singularly lacking in any one style because either foreign players learn our 'English game' or we learn theirs, and the many become at one with each other. A melding of tricks, talents and international standards.

You see how the Brazillians suffered last WC for having their internationals spread all over the world, and recall how shocked and surprised England were when we faced a decent unknown African side called Cameroon some years ago.

Granted that the F.A. are a bunch of no-brain turds though. Utterly worthless organisation.

 

[Dave the OAP]

I agree with the arsenal comment.

I work with loads of gooners and they rarely come in saying they had seen a duff performance.

I think just seeing Teirry Henry alone is worth the entrance money