The moment England departed these shores for South Africa a couple of weeks ago, there was much expectation that finally, England could well bring the trophy home. However, that dream was destroyed in no uncertain terms by the old enemy Germany in Bloemfontein as England crashed out of the finals losing 4-1. How may well such an experienced team who qualified so easily fail to perform? Not surprisingly, the English media has produced no dearth of scape goats and explanations for what was England’s worst defeat at a World Cup. There has been a good amount of talk about the Italian manager, formations and more but the issues are a good deal deeper.
Since its formation in 1992, the Premier League has achieved outstanding success as an international brand. The cost of this success has been felt by English football. Improved TV cash has forced wages to rise. Therefore this has meant there has been an increasing divide between club and country. Teams pay their players a great deal of money and are ever more unwilling to let their footballers appear for their countries.
Consequently, players get massively rewarded by Premiership clubs to the extent that success is classified by obtaining money-spinning contracts ınstead of anything they accomplish on the pitch. Mediocre players who rarely turn out for their teams are still millionaires and the moment these players put money ahead of playing games at club level, there is certainly little doubt they don’t have the mental strength or hunger to play international football.
Traditionally, there was always a regional reserve league which ensured young players from smaller clubs could quite possibly be guaranteed to play versus decent reserve sides from larger clubs like Arsenal, Tottenham and Man Utd. Of course, in recent years, the Premier League has changed hence they will only play against other EPL reserve clubs. This means that Championship reserve clubs no longer get to play against Premiership sides. For teams like Ipswich Town, it means their reserve team now plays against Stevenage as an alternative to Spurs and this drop in standard in opposition certainly has a negative effect on the footballing education of young players.
With a great deal of wealth at stake, everything is targeted at EPL survival. Teams spend large amounts of money bringing in apparently superior foreign managers and players in a bid to preserve their Premiership status. The ambition of promoted clubs to the EPL extends no further than finished 4th bottom. The Premiership cash bonanza means that EPL clubs can feature £1-2m for young players at lower league clubs. The footballers are keen to move and secure their financial futures but it may well also signal the end of their careers. The young Crystal Palace star signed for Spurs but seldom made an appearance and was last heard of on loan at Brentford, a division lower than when he was at Palace. From a football perspective, Bostock would have been best served staying at Palace and learning his trade. How many more young players careers are curtailed like this pursuing the money instead of playing the match? It’s difficult to blame the young footballers for taking the money.
There is also the regularly occurring accusation that teams take part in too many games in England and an increasing number of managers want a winter break. Nonetheless, footballers don’t appear to be tired when asked to fly off to the United States or Far East on pre-season trips. Or how about England’s friendly game next June away in Thailand?
There are too many ready made excuses for failure that footballers are ready to accept. They live a life well away from the real world with their mansions, flashy cars and trophy wives. Put simply, there is not enough hunger or desire.
The fixture in Thailand also illustrates another difficulty. As well as the Premier League being a global brand name, so are the England team. People want to observe the big Premiership stars play for England and in friendlies like this, those stars will be expected, if not contracted, to turn out. Even so, it is not the case that the finest 11 players make the very best team. Too a large number of footballers are in the team based on track record of rather than performances. Young footballers should be promoted into the senior squad sooner.
For the impending Euro 2012 campaign, England should dispense with the services of all footballers aged 30 or over. None of them have performed in South Africa therefore why should England persist with them. It would be more effective to promote younger players who may still be hungry for success. Nevertheless, while the worshiping of the Premiership carries on, things are unlikely to get better anytime quickly.
