It's going to take more than six years though. The problem is that in this country the development of young players is mainly under the influence of the clubs. Take Charlton for instance. We develop players for Charlton, not England. At the moment we have a lot of young English players, but that's mainly because we don't have the funds for a global scouting network, however if we did we'd be casting our net wider and I and about 99.9% wouldn't care where the latest hot prospect came from. This is essentially the situation at the top clubs, for every Jack Wilshire there's an Alexander Song or Sceszney (just using one team as an example) because Arsenal rightly don't care where there prospects come from because Arsenals only priority is to find players for Arsenal. What we'd have to do to copy the German method would take years - its taken the Germans about 12 and would take us much longer. The FA would have to take a much more pro-active stance in youth development, that includes training (and paying for) thousands of highly qualified coaches to go into secondary schools and work with kids from age of year seven. Right now most kids are trained by either a PE teacher who has no/limited football specific training or someone's Dad. And then we wonder why the players aren't coming through.
Are all very good players on their day add in the players that are good but not as good as those mentioned we might have the basis of a good team , who with the right tactics the right coaching the right attitude and effort might just surprise us and other teams
It won't be free flowing exciting football we might frustrate and bore us and other teams and go further than I expect
But the experience the younger players will gain from this is undoubtatedly going to stand them and the England team in good stead for the future
Done my bets with Boylesports yesterday, they giving you £40 worth of free bets if you place a £20 bet.
£20 on Spain to win it at 11/4 £10 on A.Young to be Englands top scorer at 6/1 £10 on France to come first and England second in the group at 4/1 £10 on Van Persie to be tournament top scorer at 10/1 £5 on Spain to win it with Torres top scorer at 25/1 £5 on Spain to win it with Llorente top scorer at 25/1
Seen a few people backing Russia, what is that based on or is it just a gut feeling ? Personally see Poland as a better "dark horse", easyish group, home advantage and three great players from Dortmund including the Bundesliga player of the year upfront
Russia have as good a first XI as anyone except maybe Germany and Spain. Akinfeev is a good keeper, Kerzakhov, Arshavin and Pogrebnyak will give many defences problems. Also, pretty much all their squad actually play wwk in week out for their clubs.
Right, done some research on where England are based. All 3 of our group games are in Ukraine, but we're based in (Krakow) Poland.
Two of our group games are in Donetsk, which is the furthest possible Polish or Ukrainian city from Krakow. The other is in Kiev, 500 miles away.
Donetsk is something like 900 miles from Krakow, which is almost the same distance Dover is from Krakow. We could have been based in Iraq and had shorter journeys.
Furthermore, to compound this nightmare by the England camp, if we qualify then the quarters will be in Ukraine again, either be in Kiev or Donetsk. If we come 2nd in the group, which is likely, then the quarter will be in Donetsk again.
If we follow this route of coming 2nd, then the semi final will also be in Ukraine, and unbelievably Donetsk again. Finish 1st and progress to the semis and we'll have a game in Warsaw, our first in Poland.
And it'll be our last, as the final is also in Ukraine, Kiev.
So effectively we could go a whole tournament without a game in Poland, and at most we're only guaranteed 1. We could have 4 games in Donetsk if we finish 2nd and make it to the semis, each trip being a 1800 mile round journey from Krakow.
gary neville has come out and said they want the players to be able to walk out of the hotel and be able to grab a coffee etc.
2006 had too many distractions with WAGS...2010 was too secluded...so they are trying to find a middle ground and make it feel like the players have the freedom of being away with their clubs.
Right, done some research on where England are based. All 3 of our group games are in Ukraine, but we're based in (Krakow) Poland.
Two of our group games are in Donetsk, which is the furthest possible Polish or Ukrainian city from Krakow. The other is in Kiev, 500 miles away.
Donetsk is something like 900 miles from Krakow, which is almost the same distance Dover is from Krakow. We could have been based in Iraq and had shorter journeys.
Furthermore, to compound this nightmare by the England camp, if we qualify then the quarters will be in Ukraine again, either be in Kiev or Donetsk. If we come 2nd in the group, which is likely, then the quarter will be in Donetsk again.
If we follow this route of coming 2nd, then the semi final will also be in Ukraine, and unbelievably Donetsk again. Finish 1st and progress to the semis and we'll have a game in Warsaw, our first in Poland.
And it'll be our last, as the final is also in Ukraine, Kiev.
So effectively we could go a whole tournament without a game in Poland, and at most we're only guaranteed 1. We could have 4 games in Donetsk if we finish 2nd and make it to the semis, each trip being a 1800 mile round journey from Krakow.
WHAT WERE THEY THINKING????
Just another excuse to pull out the bag if we have a dire tournament
Hodgson doomed to fail, or a get out of jail free?
I see the media are still trying to pick the team a la Rio, someone who is reportedly incapable of playing several games in sucession due to injury - ideal for a tournament.. not!
The Russians have a 72% bigger bribery budget than any other team. Expect lots of goals from dodgy pens and a few conceded goals ruled out for offside particularly in the semis...
UEFA must think we are absolute idiots if they think we are going to beleive it was a public demonstration against Krakow not being awarded any fixtures. Why would Van Bommel lie about this? And since when do public demonstrators use monkey noises as a way of conveying their message?!
All over twitter that Wilshere has been tested positive for cocaine.. Didnt think he'd be the same after all the time he has had out..
Hopefully its not true and he comes back good for england..
That's been going round for months and months a load of rubbish IMO.
For once I agree load of old tosh. Just having a break whilst in training was his words and im inclined to agree he dont want to be asked every 2 minutes how its going
Comments
Hart
Cole
Jones
Gerard
Young
Wellbeck
Rooney
Are all very good players on their day add in the players that are good but not as good as those mentioned we might have the basis of a good team , who with the right tactics the right coaching the right attitude and effort might just surprise us and other teams
It won't be free flowing exciting football we might frustrate and bore us and other teams and go further than I expect
But the experience the younger players will gain from this is undoubtatedly going to stand them and the England team in good stead for the future
£20 on Spain to win it at 11/4
£10 on A.Young to be Englands top scorer at 6/1
£10 on France to come first and England second in the group at 4/1
£10 on Van Persie to be tournament top scorer at 10/1
£5 on Spain to win it with Torres top scorer at 25/1
£5 on Spain to win it with Llorente top scorer at 25/1
Thomas Muller top scorer e/w 33/1
Russia e/w 22/1
Kerzakhov top scorer e/w 40/1
Personally I think Germany will clean up
All 3 of our group games are in Ukraine, but we're based in (Krakow) Poland.
Two of our group games are in Donetsk, which is the furthest possible Polish or Ukrainian city from Krakow.
The other is in Kiev, 500 miles away.
Donetsk is something like 900 miles from Krakow, which is almost the same distance Dover is from Krakow.
We could have been based in Iraq and had shorter journeys.
Furthermore, to compound this nightmare by the England camp, if we qualify then the quarters will be in Ukraine again, either be in Kiev or Donetsk.
If we come 2nd in the group, which is likely, then the quarter will be in Donetsk again.
If we follow this route of coming 2nd, then the semi final will also be in Ukraine, and unbelievably Donetsk again.
Finish 1st and progress to the semis and we'll have a game in Warsaw, our first in Poland.
And it'll be our last, as the final is also in Ukraine, Kiev.
So effectively we could go a whole tournament without a game in Poland, and at most we're only guaranteed 1.
We could have 4 games in Donetsk if we finish 2nd and make it to the semis, each trip being a 1800 mile round journey from Krakow.
WHAT WERE THEY THINKING????
While the draw was in December i think.
2006 had too many distractions with WAGS...2010 was too secluded...so they are trying to find a middle ground and make it feel like the players have the freedom of being away with their clubs.
I see the media are still trying to pick the team a la Rio, someone who is reportedly incapable of playing several games in sucession due to injury - ideal for a tournament.. not!
The Russians have a 72% bigger bribery budget than any other team. Expect lots of goals from dodgy pens and a few conceded goals ruled out for offside particularly in the semis...
No one likes us...
Didnt think he'd be the same after all the time he has had out..
Hopefully its not true and he comes back good for england..
And so it starts...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jun/07/euro-2012-holland-racist-abuse