Tragic Football Stories - Let us Kick Around the misshapen Jabulani that is English football right here

Wealdstone (Nottinghasm Forest)

Think the local tourist board should change the name to Nottinghasm forthwith.

Now available for call-up again

Marlon King out yet?

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/04_03/bartonDM_468x589.jpg

HE'S READY

we did that england XI already didn't we?

With Adams for manager, obviously?

nah, he'd be too preachy.

gazza has already been locked in for this one imo

Didn't Harry say he'd take the England job?

yeah he said that.

he wasn't asked by anyone important, but he said it nonetheless

Fabio's staying.

Arsenal have made the bold decision to pull out of the FA Premier Reserve League. The surprise move comes despite leaked details of a much needed revamp, which is set to come into play for the new season.

The Gunners join Fulham, Stoke City, Birmingham City and Tottenham Hotspur in deciding to pull out of Reserves League, and will instead opt to arrange their own second string fixtures in the form of friendlies. The decision will see a complete overhaul of youth development at Arsenal, with those previously in the Reserve team now stepping up into the first-team as part of the 25 man squad rule. The Under 18′s will continue as normal, while a large number of players will be leaving on loan.

The clubs prowess in the Reserves has been well documented, and it was thought that Arsenal would be one of the key participants in the new re-shuffled league. However, this move is a sign of the quality in the Academy, with players now poised for a quicker route from Under 18′s football into the first-team. The best players will be moved up to work with Arsène Wenger, while those just needing a little extra will leave on loan.

Neil Banfield’s role should also adjust slightly. He is expected to focus more heavily on helping making the transition into the first-team a smooth one, while still taking the friendly games.

Further details of how the new ‘Arsenal XI’ will play their games this season should be announced shortly.

ignoring the arsenal specific bits of the arsenal based article- messing around with what is seen as the 1st step for youths as english football shows it obv needs more than a knock out round that could see most clubs u21s not have anything to play for after the first couple months of the season. ffs fa.

Davenport was accused of launching the ferocious attack on his 28-year-old sister Cara after being told she was pregnant again.

hum, Gerrard or Terry?

28-year-old tho

too young for Rooney

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/02/article-1291467-0A4C3526000005DC-726_468x346.jpg

http://ezpicshare.com/images/bigsam-1278198850.jpg

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/world_cup/865175/ENGLAND-FACE-YEARS-IN-THE-WILDERNESS.html

LET'S be clear about one thing - no country has ever won the World Cup with a foreign coach.

Fucking stupid walrus face, might as well suggest digging up Alf Ramsey.

But whoever succeeds Capello will have a huge job on their hands otherwise we might have to accept suffering a spell in the international wilderness as Holland did in the 1980s.

Holland won euro '88.

But yeah, really looking forward to Capello choosing John Terry for the Hungary friendly. You know, just acting like nothing happened and then killing his Eng career, slowly but surely, and finally dropping him at some point during qualification for the Euros.

Haha, 'strue - you'd think he would've cited england's spell in the wilderness in the 70s instead. I'm sure that must've been under foreign coaches too, so it would suit his argument perfectly.

Yeah its got nothing to do with it.

Also given that Dunga and Maradona failed to lift the cup people might have been saying all sorts about how former players don't win WCs as coaches but bcz Beckenbauer did with Germany in '90 that won't happen as that scenario has worked, even if only the one time in nearly 20 WCs.

But whoever succeeds Capello will have a huge job on their hands otherwise we might have to accept suffering a spell in the international wilderness as Holland did in the 1980s.

did they have a foreign manager or something?

*All* foreign teams have foreign managers.

I think the point is everyone has managers who aren't Big Sam's Big Fat Face.

Also given that Dunga and Maradona failed to lift the cup people might have been saying all sorts about how former players don't win WCs as coaches but bcz Beckenbauer did with Germany in '90 that won't happen as that scenario has worked, even if only the one time in nearly 20 WCs.

― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 4 July 2010 11:12 (Yesterday) Bookmark

carlos perreira, iirc?

Heskey, who will “wait and see” on his own England future, reckons fellow squad members in South Africa James Milner and Stephen Warnock aren’t the only Villa stars with a part to play in the qualification campaign for the European Championships in 2012.

He said: “I think there is a great group of players behind this on. Didn’t the under -21s get to a final? The under-17s, too, became European champions.

“James Milner has just been promoted to the senior squad and there’s some good new lads coming through. So yes, I still think the future is safe.

“Look at Villa. As well as James, there’s English players in Stewart Downing, Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor.

“I don’t think there will be a new, huge batch of players sweeping into the England squad. There’s going to be fresh players, though, younger ones.

“There’s going to be some experienced players still doing their thing.

“But we will have young legs in there too so, fingers crossed, everything is bright in my mind.”

Not sure Heskey isn't OTM

Only clicked on the link because I was sure he meant David Villa.

“England players want Fabio Capello to be fired following the release of the ‘Capello Index’ ratings. A backlash from the FA in May forced the England boss to shelve the launch of the internet site that rated every player and team at this summer’s World Cup finals. But the controversial stats were published yesterday provoking a storm of protest from the players. An England star said: “The FA should either fire him or he should do the honourable thing and resign.”

England team wish for Capello to be sacked for he is showing the world how shit they were. Previously they were able to get away with it without anyone noticing.

seems I am on a sunday morning of reading football news-

How can England win the World Cup? They could start by asking Watford - worth a read?

half decent article on the top 4 academies producing so little for the england team

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/academy-system-of-big-four-has-zero-impact-2029322.html

Article from F365's John Nicholson after watching England u-19's in a few games. Not promising

Pretty much sums up everything I believe about The Englolish Game.

For a second I thought this was the much-vaunted under-17s.

But here's the thing:

English lumpish big strong we'll-worry-about-technique-and-possession-when-we-see-what-height-you-finish-up-son youth development has obviously been a thing for a long long time.

But the knowledge of this as a problem has been around for probably 10-15 years now. Maybe tied to acceptance of foreign talent into the english game in a big way?

When does it start to get solved?

xp maybe Matt just answered that for me

Wouldn't be in the least surprised if the under-17s were cut from the same cloth. "Hey guyz we won this tournament against kids half our size but twice as able. Shd be no problem once we're all at the same physical level eh?"

(that said i saw england u-15's playing a few years back and they were technically superb- all boro players in the midfield iirc, including a johnson. what happens these guys?)

Allegedly the U17s can pass the ball properly, which is a good start.

Said it a month ago didn't I? 10 mediocre players with sound technical skills wd be a thousand percent improvement on the shite we've got now.

is that wolves fan or england victim speaking?

is this mentality tied to over-competitiveness at youth level? the bigger kids at 10 are more likely to win an under-11s tourney (particularly if they're played on fullsized pitches), so they get picked and developed ahead of maybe the potential Leo Messis?

xpost lol england "fan" but I don't care enough to be a victim. Wolves heading in the right direction imo

bit peeved about the whole Maierhofer debacle tho. Dude deserved a chance.

Tha article is ok but somehow also confused as to how 'fannying' they want from the kids that are coming through. Some 'sophistication' ok but not too much, y'know. Almost scared to bore people with passing.

In some ways it'll probably be a small country doing a Hungary 7-1 score at Wembley that might get the FA or someone to wake up. The problem then becomes the Premier League (the sky ad on the side of that F365 article) that will try and resist the change.

Also, there is love for the Championship, the product gets people through the gates. Wonder how that compares with lower leagues across europe.

is this mentality tied to over-competitiveness at youth level?

Yes, I think so. The excellent article on Ajax stressed the focus on individuals rather than team results- often to the extreme of entire youth teams really only existing to support the development of the one or two potential stars in it.

Almost scared to bore people with passing.

i'd say nearly 50% of the problem could broadly be aligned with this tbh.

scared to bore people != successfully completing 5 yards passes

English lumpish big strong we'll-worry-about-technique-and-possession-when-we-see-what-height-you-finish-up-son youth development has obviously been a thing for a long long time.

A long long time, like the entire history of English football basically?

In some ways it'll probably be a small country doing a Hungary 7-1 score at Wembley that might get the FA or someone to wake up.

That was 1953 remember.

Yeah but I think Ramsey's 60s team were tactically innovative and modern. Problem is we've had nobody forward-thinking in charge since then- Venables perhaps, but I hear the "Theme from Flash Harry" in my head whenever I think of the dude.

Not that that's got anything to do with his tactical nous.