After England left these shores for South Africa a few short weeks ago, there was much expectation that finally, England could very well bring the trophy home. Having said that, that dream was destroyed in no uncertain terms by the old enemy Germany in Bloemfontein as England crashed out of the tournament losing 4-1. How may perhaps such an experienced team who qualified so easily fail to perform? Not surprisingly, the English media has found no shortage of scape goats and causes for what was England’s worst defeat at a World Cup. There has been a lot of talk about the Italian manager, formations and more but the issues are a lot more serious.
Since its formation in 1992, the EPL has achieved fabulous success as a global brand. The price of this success has been felt by English football. Improved television income has pushed wages higher and higher. In turn this has meant there has been a developing gulf amongst club and country. Clubs pay their footballers lots of money and are more and more reluctant to let their players play for their national teams.
In turn, footballers get greatly rewarded by EPL clubs to the extent that success is recognised by securing money-spinning contracts as an alternative to anything they accomplish on the pitch. Typical players who rarely turn out for their clubs are still millionaires and after these players put money ahead of playing matches at club level, there can be little doubt they don’t have the mental strength or hunger to play international football.
In the past, there was always a regional reserve league which meant young players from smaller clubs could be guaranteed to play versus decent reserve teams from more established teams like Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspurs and Man Utd. Nonetheless, in recent years, the EPL has changed consequently they will only play against other Premier League reserve clubs. This means that Championship reserve teams no longer get to play versus EPL sides. For teams like Ipswich Town, it means their reserve team now plays versus Stevenage instead of Tottenham and this drop in standard in opposition little doubt has a negative effect on the learning curve of young players.
With a great deal of wealth on the line, things are geared to Premiership survival. Teams spend large sums of money recruiting supposedly first-class foreign managers and footballers in a bid to keep their Premiership status. The ambition of promoted teams to the EPL extends no further than finished 4th bottom. The Premiership cash bonanza means that Premiership clubs can give you £1-2m for young footballers at lower division clubs. The players are eager to move and secure their financial futures but it may also signal the conclude of their careers. The young Crystal Palace star joined Tottenham but barely made an appearance and was last heard of on loan at Brentford, a league lower than when he was at Crystal Palace. From a football mind-set, Bostock would have been best served staying at Palace and learning his trade. How many more young footballers careers are cut down like this chasing the money instead of playing the fixture? Its difficult to blame the young footballers for taking the money.
There is also the frequent accusation that teams take part in too many games in England and an increasing number of managers want a winter break. Nevertheless, players don’t appear to be tired the moment asked to fly off to the Usa or Far East on pre-season visits. Or how about England’s friendly game next June away in Thailand?
There are so numerous ready made excuses for failure that players are ready to accept. They live a life well away from real life with their mansions, sports cars and trophy wives. Simply, there is not enough hunger or desire.
The match in Thailand also illustrates another trouble. Not to mention the EPL being a global brand name, so are the England team. Fans want to see the big Premiership stars play for England and in friendly matches like this, those stars will be expected, if not contracted, to turn out. All the same, it is not the case that the finest 11 players make the finest team. Too various footballers are in the team based on good reputation rather than performances. Young footballers should be promoted into the senior squad sooner.
For the approaching Euro 2012 campaign, England should do away with the services of all footballers aged 30 or over. None of them have played to their ability in South Africa so why should we persist with them. It would be much better to promote younger footballers who may still be hungry for success. Yet, while the worshiping of the Premiership persists, things are probably not going to improve anytime immediately.
