Around about May 2002, I rang in to the television show “You’re on Sky Sports”.

The show is about viewers either emailing or ringing in about issues they have in relation to the current footballing news at the time or any issue about their club.

I rang in and was fortunate enough to be selected so I was live through to the studios.

The presenter was a gentleman from Liverpool who’s name I have forgotten but the footballer on the show that day to discuss points was Steve Claridge.

The point I made at the time was that England would fail at the latter stages of the competition because the players they had were simply not good enough to compete on a technical level.

Steve Claridge said I didn’t know what I was talking about as England had one of the best midfields in the world at the time and that it sounded like I was anti-England.

I explained that I supported an English club and that I was not anti-England at all, that I coached English youngsters and teams.

My opinion was based on what I saw from individual players in this country and from what I saw of foreign players based in this country and abroad. The simple fact was the foreign players were technically better, more subtle in their play, more creative and expressed themselves.


England went on to get knocked out by Brazil in the 2002 tournament in the Quarter-Finals by two goals to one.

People will say that Brazil’s second goal was a fluke by Ronaldinho as his free kick sailed over David Seaman’s head.

However England played 30 minutes of that game against a 10 man Brazil team who had Ronaldinho, arguably their most creative player sent off.

However nothing was learnt as four years later the English press and media went about stating that England no doubt had the best midfield in the World and yet again they failed, this time against Portugal.

Then eight years later, the same old rubbish is churned out about the best player in the world in his position, the best attacking player in this position, the best defender in the World here and it’s the same old story.

So what happens? It’s the manager’s fault, it’s the players fault, bad preparation, unlucky with injuries.

Well England must be the unluckiest football country in the World as this has been happening for 44 years!

Who is to blame then? The players? Is it Gerrard’s, Beckham's, Lampard’s, Rooney’s, Owen’s, Robson’s, Wilkins etc etc fault?

Can you really blame a mid twenties footballer for not winning you the World Cup or even the European Championship?

Can you really blame Manager’s who have been successful with club sides throughout Europe and fail with England?

The blame is easy to point to. The problem lies with the Football Association.

It is as simple as that.

They are the people who appoint staff to become coaches, to head coaching courses, to teach people how the game should be played.

If you gave me a 5 year old boy or girl with some potential and I coached them until they were 18 or 19 and I had this child for 4 or 5 days over that period, then I handed him or her to the England Manager, and that player could not compete with its foreign counterparts, then who is to blame?

Not the England Manager, not someone who may have coached him or her for a while at 16 or 17, but the blame lies with me, no one else.

This is what is happening all over the Country year in year out. For example Steven Gerard who by the way is a very good player, has been branded as the best midfield player in the World by the press and even Managers. The simple fact is, Steven Gerard is an excellent player but he is far from being the best in the World.

So could he have become a better player? Without a doubt. If Steven Gerard had been coached in Holland, Spain, France, Germany and Italy, I have no doubt he would have become a much better player. Why?

Because foreign coaches think technique, technique, technique. In England, its power, power, power.

When I talk about technique, I do not mean the ability to control a ball and pass over certain distances. I do not mean having the ability to strike a ball on goal.

I know Sunday League players who would fit into the category of being brilliant technical players if that was all it was about.

Technique to me is about being able to do all the above but under pressure. To be able to retain possession of a ball in tight areas without panicking. To be able to change your body position in a flash. To have the ability to make an opposing player look stupid if he dares to go too tight. To have an arrogance and cockiness about you on the football pitch which comes from having all of what I have written.

We in England do not have this, because we do not have the right coaches.

Here we teach look left, pass left, look right pass right.

We do not teach a child from an early age about having flexibility of the hip, of being able to change direction sharply because of that flexibility.

We do not teach them that using the toe poke can be just as important as other part of the foot.

Go to any game up and down the country involving children from 6 upwards and I would hazard a guess 99% of them have a goalkeeper who is told to kick the ball out rather than roll it.

Why? Fear is the reason. Fear of losing a meaningless match, fear from the coach or adult in charge, not the young player. That is why you have defenders in this country who can tackle, head, cover and kick as far as you want, but they cannot play football.

Not their fault as all they have been told from a young age is to defend so when the goalkeeper kicks a ball, they are ready to defend as the kick is merely a 50/50 chance of possession.

Give a child a ball in his own area, sure he may lose it many times and you may concede and finish bottom of your league, but he will learn to play and as he gets older and his understanding develops you will have a footballer who is comfortable on the ball. Do that all over the pitch and the team that finished bottom will succeed in future years, if not collectively, then individually.

On one course, the UEFA ‘B’ course, we were told to get the ball as quickly as possible into the opposing teams box.

At the same course I asked a tutor who was part of the England Under 19’s coaching staff, who had come in to lecture for that afternoon, why don’t we produce players of Ryan Gigg’s ability more often. His response astounded me. He said players like that can lose you games as well as winning them.

To his credit one of the coaches at the classroom session did say players of Gigg’s calibre were what we needed in our game.

One thing I want to make abundantly clear is that I do not take pride in England’s failure.

People say at the highest level it is not how you win but that you simply win.

Then tell me this - when Greece won the European Championships in 2004 did you enjoy their brand of football?

Have you enjoyed watching Spain play? Do you enjoy watching Barcelona play?

If you was coaching a child which examples would you give on how to play the game we love?

So how do we change the way football is played in this country?

Well first you change the mentality of coaches, of parents and of young players.

You tell them that it doesn’t matter if you win a game at Under 7, 8, 9, etc, just concentrate on your technique.

The pitches for small sided games should have zones marked across the back along the full length of the pitch where a goalkeeper has to roll the ball out to a defender. No attacker can go into that area until the defender either moves out with the ball or passes it out of the zone.

Once the ball moves out of the zone attackers are allowed into that area afterwards.

This will encourage young players to play from the back and become footballers.

The goalkeeper is allowed to kick it if but that should be restricted to a certain number of times in a match.

A simple thing like this will improve young players technique up and down the country by a great deal and it promotes every player on the pitch to play football.

After all that is what the nation wants isn’t it?

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On Thursday 29th September 2011, I was invited to and attended a meeting at Wembley Stadium headed Pro Scouts and Asian Clubs.

The meeting was headed by Jonathan Mills of the F.A and was attended by around twenty people representing Asian and ethnic minorities from across the country.

The basis of the meeting was about why there is not enough representation of Asians in football whether that was players or coaches alike.

The meeting was video taped by the F.A.

A few months earlier Kick It Out also held a similar meeting at Aston Villa in Birmingham.

The meeting I attended looked at the following points:

1) Potential Problems and barriers.
2) Route into Professional football for young players.
3) Football Culture and structure among Asian Communities.
4)Perceived/actual racism and racial stereotyping.
5) Ideal age for recruitment.

In October 2005, Suvrat Thatte issued a report for the F.A titled “Lack of Asians in Professional Football in England”

Below are the points highlighted in the report:

The perception was that due to the continued lack of attention from people within football, the Asian football community seems to have become insular.

They feel more comfortable playing in all Asian teams or sometimes in all Asian leagues so as to avoid the possibility of racial abuse which they may face at grassroots and amateur football.

The popular sentiment is “they keep to themselves”

The Asian football community was of the view that institutional racism was still prevalent among football.

Asian players were subject to racist abuse in their local amateur leagues, which made them maintain an insular identity in all Asian teams.

Also racial stereotyping was another important factor due to which the scouts and coaches stayed away from Asian players thinking that they were not equipped to play football.

The scouts and coaches were of the opinion that the Asians who play local league football were way above the ideal age of recruitment.

The scouts and coaches expressed a lack of knowledge about the Asian leagues and the tournaments in which they participate.

Also according to most coaches interviewed, they felt that there was a lack of support from the Asian parents with regard to their children’s participation in football.

The parents wanted their children to pursue an academic career and were uncertain about the opportunities and pitfalls which their children might face.

Asian children are expected to undertake religious studies mostly in the evenings; the time when the clubs conduct the training sessions at the Academies or Development centres.

Other problems such as deprivation, travelling costs and other financial factors also played a role in depriving the Asians an opportunity to further their talent.

So the question posed at the meeting ,where are we now 6 years on?

One of the first questions asked to Jonathan was can you tell us how many Asian are actually playing football, have the F.A got any statistics?

Well the answer at the meeting was that no they did not have any figures available to us at the meeting.

We were then given sheets asking us what are the barriers to “recruitment”, “inclusion” and “development” into grassroots and professional football for Asian players?

We were asked what are the barriers at Primary, Secondary and school leaving age?

To me, it is like the F.A have got a budget set aside and because Asians are making a noise about the lack of opportunities, meetings are held here, there and everywhere to appease the communities.

I can’t think of a barrier for any child who wants to play football regardless of the colour of their skin.

Asian children have just as much opportunity to join teams as any other child.

My own children play football, I’ve seen many Asian children play for non Asian clubs.

Why ask the question, infact why try to make an excuse and call it a barrier?

There were discussions about religion and that during some months, in certain religions fasting takes place and that can be seen as a possible stumbling block.

I can’t recall Muhammad Ali or now Amir Khan having suffered from that!

There are many black players who are religious and follow the Muslim faith, was that ever an issue when they were being looked at, at a younger age?

The problem does not lie at grassroots football when children play for amateur clubs.

It lies at the professional level and it lies with all the coaches and managers within those clubs.

If you are going to have meetings, then have them with the professional clubs where not just the scouts, Academy managers, coaches are there, but where the managers of the first teams and Chairmen are there.

That way you educate the right people, explain the problems to the people who make the key decisions.

When a scout goes out to watch a player and he sees a young 8 or 9 year old for example, a young stocky black lad playing up front, he can compare him to a professional player.

Same as he could to a white youngster.

He could go back and say to his Head of the Academy or Development, “I’ve seen a young version of Drogba” or “I’ve seen a young version of Rooney”. With an Indian, he cannot compare.

Is this right? Of course not but that is just human nature.

It is like if someone told you they had 2 or 3 Brazilian boys in their Under 10’s team, the presumption or attitude would be that you have to go and see them, they must be good, they are Brazilian!

On the other side of the coin if a scout heard about a young Indian cricketer, there would be a more positive attitude in going to see him, because comparisons can be made.

Again this is not right either.

I have said this many times, Asians do not have a right to enter academies at professional clubs just because there is an under representation of them within the game.

However they should be looked and judged fairly on their ability.

I know many players who have made it into academies and then released because they have been told they are not big enough or strong enough.

This I find amazing because surely it is easy enough to control a players diet, to control their exercise regime.

To be fair this applies to every race but Asians cannot continually keep falling at this hurdle!

There is no point in holding meetings with the Asian communities because we know what the problem is.

The F.A have been told in reports and countless meetings what the issues are but they feel fit to come up with more meetings, more budgets and barriers which do not exist at the levels they talk about.

Why is it that we cannot have meetings with the professional clubs directly?

If the F.A is so concerned about lack of Asians in professional football and the clubs always say we do encourage Asians, then why are you asking for Asian clubs to go and forge links?

Everyone knows where the Asian clubs are throughout the country apart from the F.A it seems.

Take a positive step and get the professional clubs forging strong links with these clubs.

During the final parts of the meeting, Jonathan did invite a handful of people one at a time to speak directly to the camera.

Funny that the people who had strong opinions and said things had not moved on, were somehow ignored!

In life there are walkers and talkers and the F.A at the moment are the talkers.

Either do something that the Asian communities can see is progress, real progress where they are involved with professional clubs throughout the country or at least have the balls to come out and say look “The simple fact is Asians are not good enough”

That way everyone knows where they stand because saying there is talent out there but its finding that talent makes you at the F.A and the professional clubs look stupid.

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Thanks, Joogy.

The Premiership is awash with players from South America and Africa and not one single player from the Sub Continent? Joogy thinks he knows why!

INDIAN FOOTBALLERS ARE SIMPLY NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

It appears this is the view of the coaches and managers of football clubs in England.

Why else has this country not produced Indian footballers, the same way as it has produced white and black footballers?

If we look at the Asian continent, we even have Chinese players who play in the English leagues including the Premiership.

 Many years ago a professional manager, Dave Bassett came to the conclusion that one reason Indians did not make it as professionals was because of their diet!

Maybe then the diets in the slums of Brazil, Argentina, Africa and other equally poor areas of this world where the greatest footballers are produced, are somehow that much better than anything Indians eat!

There has even been an Indian ‘A’ license qualified coach who has stated that Indians are simply not good enough to play in the English leagues.

There are many Indians who will argue this point, there are many non-Asians who will argue this point, but the simple fact of the matter is that at the moment according to statistics and opinion Indians are simply not good enough.

It is very easy to board that train of thought but we are here to say to all those coaches, all those clubs and all those ‘Yes I’m on board’ people that you are wrong and Indians are good enough and they are out there but you refuse to believe it or simply just cannot see it through your rose tinted glasses.

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A football coach is vital, especially at youth level where youngsters are reliant on the words and actions of their mentor, but are our youngsters actually being over coached?

Ask any five to eight year old to turn left, turn right, jump up, turn round or carry out any other instruction you choose to give and they will do it, without hesitation, without question. It is almost like teaching ‘parrot fashion’.

Probably the two words children mostly hear are ‘no’ and ‘stop’. There’s not a problem in using these as they are required but at the end of the day these are negative words and the less you can use them, the better it is.

I believe it is better and more beneficial to a young player and even senior one to ask the question ‘why’. If you put the onus on the player it allows the coach to understand the way a player interprets the game and for me it does not inhibit him or her expressing themselves.

For example if you see a child always toe poke the ball and on occasions the ball reaches its target, whether to a player or into the goal, it is wrong to tell him/her to stop doing it.

You ask why they do it and explain the benefits of what it achieves but also you teach them the benefits of using other parts of the foot and why you use that part. For if you tell a child ‘no’ don’t toe poke the ball, it is wrong, then you take something away from them.

If you consistently do that with players you will end up with a hard working player by the time they reach the latter stages of youth football and the beginning of adult football.

The expression, the ability to improvise, the arrogance and cockiness will have been coached out of them.

In this country coaches and managers start labelling footballers from the age of 7 in terms of where they can play. “He’s a defender, she’s a striker, he’s a midfielder etc;” Its total madness and when you watch a match between say a group of eight year olds playing 5-a-side or 7-a-side, you will see how this labelling works.

The players, who have been told to play at the back, remain at the back throughout the game. Their job? To defend of course. So next time you go and watch a game at youth level, whether you are a parent, coach or just interested observer, watch how many times you see the goalkeeper give the player at the back the ball. Usually it is kicked out and then at that point the so called defenders game begins. It’s at that point he/she is told to be wary of an attack and to break up the play by either putting in a tackle or heading the ball should it come near them.

The child continues to play in this position year after year and during training emphasis turns to tackling, to marking, to heading, to being strong and physical.

This is simply over coaching a young player to play in a specific position decided by a manager or coach.

Should a child not be allowed to play in several areas of the pitch throughout his or her life?

In what areas does a player need to be clever and smart? You have to be clever if you play wide, if you play up front and in midfield. In these areas you will have to learn tricks, learn to improvise, and learn to be expressive.

So would it not be of benefit to a child to be allowed to play in these areas of a pitch during a game.

Are there actual positions in 5-a-side football? In 7-a-side football?

The word position should not be mentioned, the word rotation and the explanation of that to players is what should be used.

By the time where positions are necessary isn’t it better to have someone who is comfortable on the ball whatever position they play in because they have been allowed to express and learn the game with an open mind, without restrictions but most importantly without fear.

Let children play with smiles on their faces, let them express and enjoy, when coaching think like them, guide them but do not dictate.


There is a reason why we never produce a Maradona, Pele,
Cruyff, Ronaldo, Messi etc; and it’s nothing to do with the
weather or beaches!!