No more homegrown talent in the UK

the NationaHarry Redknapp says the 'X-Box culture' is turning English youngsters off football - and forcing top-flight bosses to look abroad for players.

Portsmouth manager Redknapp insists criticism of the number of foreigners in the Premier League is misplaced because the lack of domestic talent is forcing managers' hands.
"I'm fed up with managers being made scapegoats for the state of our domestic game," he said in his column for The Sun.

"The English working class is turning its back on football - and that is not my fault.

"I do have a lot of foreign players at Portsmouth but believe me I'd love nothing more than to field a team of 11 so-called 'home-grown' lads born within the city limits.


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"But it has become harder and harder to find enough kids of the kind of quality required to make the grade without buying an air ticket."

Redknapp added: "It may sound old and corny but when I was growing up, working class lads like me in the east end lived and breathed football.

"Now I rarely see a kickabout in the park. All I see are the dazzling lights of bedroom windows from the glare of TVs and computers. It seems football cannot compete with an X-Box."

The former West Ham and Southampton boss suggests that players from poverty-stricken parts of Africa are now the ones with the motivation needed to be successful in the game.

"Maybe they have the hunger and drive that working class boys of England had 30 years ago but now is replaced by video game passion," he said.

 

*cough*American players*cough*

Nothing better than going to a budding soccer nation looking for talent willing to prove themselves!

I think that is why players from African nations are so hot right now.

 

Yeah... when USSF reconfigured and the Bradenton academy started up, I figured it was the death knell of the college program.

Couple that with the NCAA myopia on 'off season play' {severely restricted} of a couple decades ago and that was a sure fire prediction, right?
Evidently not.... GOOD!

Well, NCAA realized they were going to shoot their college Basketball and Baseball programs in the foot, and soccer benefited from the rethink

 

I wonder, if our MLS teams will ever start their own youth academys like the Prem teams? College soccer altars the young players skills, at least i think it does. I'm tired of the MLS being called the "wastelands". I know we are not at the level of the Prem, but we have 11 years under our belt. They have clubs with 110 years of tradition, and some have never seen the Prem nor Champs league. Just venting i guess? I love Prem futbol, but would love to see us Yanks stick it to the Prem.

 

One thing I have noticed regarding youth soccer in my area, is that the kids are not really playing it unless it is an organized practice for AYSO or club. I have not seen kids getting together with the ball to kick it around.

When I was growing up, you had to drag us off the street, field or where ever we were because we were always playing some kind of game. I remember the old parental control of, "When the street lights go on, get in the house." I used to juggle the ball under the light all the time - my father did not complain that much because the light was right in front of the house. We did not have the video game distraction. There were no remotes. I think I remember being the remote control for the TV - my father or my brothers would tell me to go turn the knob on the TV to change the channel - one of the downsides of being the youngest in a house of 4 boys.

I know the quality and skill of the younger players is better than when I was a kid. I attribute that to better coaching, access to games on TV, training dvds, etc... But, for the betterment of the sport, I would love to see the kids out there playing short sided games organized by themselves.

 

I believe MLS actually mandated that all teams implement youth teams/academy’s at the beginning of this year. Some are taking it seriously, Chivas, Redbull, maybe Houston, I recall reading. Others it seems are simply looking at it as money making exercise, taking in however pays, which was not the point! We'll have to wait a few years to see how it’s working out.

 

I think motivation, work ethic is something inside an individual. Evidently someone from affluent Arlington Heights may have it and someone from Dakar may not. (Yeah I'm talkin about you Diop!!)

 

My backyard is the local neighborhood soccer field. If the kids try and play football back there, I become the "mean dad" and tell them to get off my yard. They've figured out pretty quickly that I don't seem to "notice" when they're playing soccer.

It has really helped my son's dribbling skills (he's 8 ). Next summer, I hope to find some field that a bunch of Hispanic kids are playing on so I can throw him in the mix