Why do England suck?

B teams in general in British football are absolute *********, but there could in fact be a worse structure for a reformed lower league trophy: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/you-believe-irn-bru-sponsorship-8171608

Every time there's one of these inquests the cost of coaching and amount of coaches relative to other European countries comes up and nothing ever seems to be done about it.

 

Christ, that's awful. Who thought that would be a good idea. Some people really should be shot into the sun.

 

If you want any further proof of why lower league fans view the organisers of the Premier League as bad. At the Stevenage AGM a fan asked why their team voted for it:

Blackmail, pure and simple

 

Counterpoint: There is basically no lower league culture at all in Spain and barely one in France, Italy and NL. The only country which gets even remotely close to England in terms of interest in lower league teams is Germany and even there, B teams are a common sight at 3rd tier level and below.

While the power of the Premier League vs lower league teams is a subject worth discussing, I don't think it has anything to do with the England football team. Except in perhaps illustrating that the issues which really drive English fans relate to league football, not international football.

 

The SPFL (the clubs) and the SFA (the everything else) enjoy their symbiotic relationship because it makes them money. The head of the FA Stewart Regan is an incompetent weasel of a man, but he remains in his position because the clubs (or, the people running them) keep voting for him.

I think this is dependent on how far down you describe "lower league" as. The difference in money between the Championship and League One is near incomprehensible. Even still, the best players at individual clubs at all levels will still get hoovered up by the big teams and not develop properly because they're not playing. About the only one recently who played for any sustained length of time at a lower league club in England before getting a move and being successful is Dele Alli who played something like a hundred games for MK Dons. Having clubs at those levels being able to support themselves with their own players is something that should be encouraged given the depth of support (financial and physical) that so many English clubs have.

I'm probably remembering somewhat wrongly but I think in Germany all the Bundesliga teams and then all the teams in the level before that have academies, something that the German FA put in. There seems to be much stricter rules on player development and the running of clubs in Germany which the money in England has overrun.

 

The academy system is a totally different subject though. And whether a young player with world-class potential is more helped or hurt by playing in intensely competitive 3rd or 4th tier fixtures with and against 30 year old journeymen who can barely pass the ball 10 yards on water-logged pitches is a different question too.

Look at the other national teams, the majority of them switched to big clubs in their countries by the time they're 15-16.

 

Please tell me they're not serious about hiring Klinsmann now.

 

It sounds ridiculous, but I struggle to see the FA hiring a German even if he was the best manager for the job. It's backward, but that's the FA.

 

Do the English need a new german enemy?

 

Fat Sam for England.

Bloody hell.

 

Better than literally all of the other options that have been mooted since Roy bumbled off. Make of that what you will.

 

An interesting article about Big Sam

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/premierleague/1440432/england-target-sam-allardyce-turned-into-one-of-footballs-great-innovators-by-spell-in-america/

I admit being one of those who thought he was a big oaf of Neanderthal who belongs to another era.