FABIO CAPELLO IS LEAVING CUPBOARD BARE
England boss doesn't care about the next generation - and he should
AS A football fan living in England, Fabio Capello has had a wonderful week.
The best seat in the house - buckshee - for Chelsea's truly terrific meeting with Liverpool and Arsenal's dismantling of Villarreal.And very little need to do a stroke of work.
Sure, he may have noted that Frank Lampard is still scoring goals, Ashley Cole is still defending erratically, Jamie Carragher is still retired from international duty, Theo Walcott is still whippet-fast.
But hardly reason enough to reach for the pad and pen.
For Capello, watching the Big Four - whose dominance had Richard Scudamore preening in predictable style - has become, at worst, pointless and, at best, an exercise in re-acquainting himself with the bleedin' obvious.
Not that it will concern him unduly. Give or take one or two minor berths, the Italian knows the squad he will take to South Africa next summer.
It's pretty much the squad Sven Goran Eriksson took to the World Cup in Germany three years' ago. And not far off the one that went to Portugal for Euro 2004.
On both occasions, England were unfortunate enough to be eliminated at the quarter-final stage in penalty shoot-outs.
Considering that key players are clinging to their prime with varying degrees of strength - Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, etc - it is not unreasonable to expect the so-called golden generation to have another shot of at least reaching that final eight phase.
With a following wind and a touch more accuracy from 12 yards, they could go even further. And Capello's job will be done.
The response of the players to Capello hints they might even finally fulfil their promises. And the rampant start to the qualification process suggests a healthy forecast for the national team.
But as the economy can testify, not mending the roof when the sun is shining is a catastrophic mistake.
The future of the English national team is like global warming. We all know disastrous consequences lie in wait but what the hell? We won't be around for them and we're getting a better suntan in the here and now. So who cares?
But where is the next Ferdinand? The next David Beckham? The next Ashley Cole? The next Gerrard?
As Stamford Bridge stopped vibrating on Tuesday evening, Gerrard and Carragher were joined at the hip as they trudged towards the team coach and silently past the massed ranks of media.
They stopped only to talk to the representative of the Liverpool Echo. Scouse loyalty runs deep. And the pair looked every inch the last of a dying breed.
Anfield's academy - which gave the game these two and Michael Owen in the mid-90s - is no longer a breeding ground for top-class English talent, let alone Liverpool talent.
Carragher and Owen featured in the FA Youth Cup final of 1996 when they helped overcome a West Ham team that included Ferdinand and Lampard.
When Liverpool beat Birmingham on Thursday in the first leg of the semi-final of this season's competition, two of the three goals were scored by Lauri Dalla Valle. One of Finland's finest.
And then there is Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson's eye for young talent gave England Gary and Phil Neville, Paul Scholes and David Beckham. Between them, 320 international caps.
But for the Neville brothers, now read the Da Silva brothers. For Scholes, now read Federico Macheda. They say that 17-year-old Davide Petrucci - poached from Roma - could be the next big European young thing at Old Trafford.
The figures are startling. At the start of the 2008-09 season, only eight English players had progressed through the ranks of a Big Four club and into its first team.
And only TWO of them had made their debuts after 1999 - the year the current academy set-up was introduced.
Immoral
For the last England under-21 squad, the Big Four provided just two players. One, Michael Mancienne, has spent a good portion of his Chelsea career on loan at Wolves, the other, Frazier Campbell, has been sent packing by Fergie to Spurs where he still can't get a game.
Apologists for the Premier League clubs' immoral trawl of the footballing nurseries of Europe and South America will say that playing alongside the cream of continental talent will benefit English youngsters. Maybe. But only the one or two who get the chance.
Of course, it won't concern those who bask in the Champions League exploits of our superpowers. It won't concern those who believe familiar names might eventually deliver in South Africa next year.
But it should concern those who want a decent future for the national side.
Tens of millions of pounds will be spent, trying to bring the World Cup to England in 2018. And it will be a worthy bid. After all, England will have the stadia, will have the infrastructure, will have the fans.
It just won't have a team worthy of the name.
Now get the News of World print edition for more from Andy Dunn
This article has 6 comments
No surprises there Mr Dunn.
Go look at complex manufacturing supply chains. What actually happens is that R+D gets driven down to Tier 1 or Tier 2 suppliers. The big boys say: 'this is what I want, deliver it to me'.
We've not quite reached that yet. What we've reached is the cost-cutting/cost optimisation stage of talent generation. Linking it to overseas TV contracts, weak overseas negotiating positions and producing a United Nations effect.
The places to develop English talent have to be at the Regional Brands. Places which can run a good business training up rough diamonds and selling them for £10m.
I'd list Ipswich, Southampton, Derby, Leicester, Leeds, Middlesbrough, WBA, Wolves, Birmingham, Coventry, Cardiff, Bristol City, West Ham on that list.
But it might be elsewhere.
Arsenal look like having a fantastic bunch right now. Wenger's brought up 'his boys' for a generation since his arrival, now they're starting to arrive.
Everton look like they're doing the same. Rodwell, Gosling etc.
We might miss a decade, but I think the U20s is bright.
By Rhys Jaggar. Posted April 26 2009 at 10:42 AM.
Martin you should know by now that the English press don't want another England team to win the World Cup as they are quite content to carry on worshipping the class of 66,therefore they will do their utmost to undermine any attempts to emulate their success!
By Rita Cocking. Posted April 19 2009 at 8:38 PM.
I can't believe you can still harp on about the young players coming through.
We've had it every manager after Venables and look how far it's got us. I can just about remember the Robson/Venables eras of picking the best players and making the best team so bogged down in future generations we have been ever since. In the mid 90's when the greatest crop of talent to ever come out of Man Utd's academy were vying for England places it was all "this is the time" then when the players started coming into maturity they were sidelined for the next generation.
Can you honestly say that Gareth Barry wasn't forgotten about. He was superb when he was younger and is superb now. What happened to those mid years of him perfecting his craft. Oh yes we were harping on about whoever came next.
I think if we had of concentrated on the players we had at the exact points of the major championships rather than trying to give the next generation a go we would probably have won something and we definitely wouldn't have this inferiority complex which has led us to pick a manager from abroad.
So no I don't think Capello should watch youngsters. He should make sure all the current players still have what it takes.
By pete. Posted April 19 2009 at 10:16 AM.
What's the point in starting to look for replacements and rebuild the side at this point? The fact is, that Capello's choosing players that will be fit and ready for the 2010 World Cup, which is out immediate aim. After the World Cup has finished, that is when we start to look at younger players and who will be fit and available for 2014 -not with just a year to go.
By Daniel. Posted April 19 2009 at 9:30 AM.
Andy, I hadn't even thought of this. You are so right. Like everyone these days it seems, I was living for the present, without a thought for our future. But if there is to be a future for national football ( and I do have my doubts considering the popularity of the clubgame ) then we must start reviewing the situation NOW. Although who is going to do it bearing in mind the self-serving nature of the Premiership clubs I have no idea.
Where is Sir Trevor?
By robert harding. Posted April 19 2009 at 8:25 AM.
Isn't this just typical. The England team are finally achieving at something like their potential and we find something else to moan about. We have a fantastic side that could actually achieve something, and that should be Capellos focus, not what may or may not happen in 9 years time. Success, as successful countries know, breeds success and if we achieve something the game will have a huge upsurge in interest. Not that we are short of talent anyway, Rooney, Walcott, Johnson, Lennon, agbonlahor are all well under 25 and getting games. Why don't we just focus on the good stuff while it's good?
By Martin. Posted April 19 2009 at 8:12 AM.