Developing Young Players – Let Our Youngsters Play In Their Style,

As you’ve probably heard the Premier League want to overhaul the structure of Youth Football. The Premier League believe young players need more coaching which nobody can dispute. My problem is with the FA and how coaches are told to coach.

As a Football Coach myself you work with fellow coaches all of different ages, the problem is when you go on  courses set up by the FA there is very little room for manoeuvre. Unlike in foreign countries when they allow everybody to teach using their own style and approach, we in England have strict rules to meet and pass the courses. Unfortunately this means a lack of diversity and although tactics and advice of different coaches will be different, players tend to develop in the same way and we need players to express themselves in a way they feel comfortable, not constantly stereotyping positions and decision making.

If we want to develop players with the technique and style of players like Ronaldo and Messi we need to let our youngsters play in their style, encourage something different and inventive instead of tying them down to the FA guidelines. Because of this we tend to see a lot of Foreign Managers and Coaches in England (which I believe is more of a problem than Foreign Players) as we look for a different outlook when all it takes it to allow Coaches a bit of leeway, hopefully allowing our youngsters to develop naturally. You never know maybe in ten years if we’re lucky England will stop being so awful in major competitions.