by bigmick » Mon Aug 24, 2009 11:42 am
When Keegan first said it S@int many laughed (as they did at lots of his pronuciations) but his idea isn't as ridiculous as it sounds. That said, like many things in football and in life, fashion comes into play and what seems like a great idea one minute, begins to fade as circumstances alter. I think much of our lack of success in producing players has been as a direct result of sticking too rigidly to a fashionable approach, and also in Rafa's case as a result of almost laziness where the youth ranks are concerned. Now I know sections of the forum will begin foaming at the mouth now and they won't bother reading beyond this point where I try and explain my point, but just for my own sanity I'll have a go anyway.
The "fashion" side of our approach is mirrored by most of the top clubs, in that we almost totally ignore the British Isles as a potentially fertile area for producing players. Yes no doubt someone will paste up a bunch of names, Richie Partridge, Lee Peltier, that bloke who got shot up the erse etc etc but to me many of these players are signed as an afterthought almost. When the nuggets are unearthed by the flow of time, the Aaron Ramsey's, the Theo Walcotts, the Jack Rodwells, the Jon Bostocks do we kick the door down to sign these kids? Are we willing to not only make the financial outlay which is often demanded, but do we commit to a programme whereby we genuinely move heaven and earth to give them an opportunity? Some will swear blind that we do, but for me the fact that the best British kid we have at the club is Jay Spearing is a damning indictment of the system as is. The best we have probably wouldn't feature in a top 200 over the last five years, so if we are genuinely doing our best then our best is a fecking disgrace.
On the question of not just fashion but laziness, I use the word quite deliberately and once again our manager is by no means alone. Nobody bothers it seems to me these days at looking at lower division players. Players such as Kevin Keegan, Ray Houghton, John Aldridge, Phil Neal etc etc etc (honestly you could name 100 of these players) all came out of the lower leagues, and it seems to me we along with other clubs are too lazy to find them, unearth them and develop them any more. Rob Jones came straight from Crewe into the Liverpool first team a couple of days later before being the man of the match at Old Trafford on his debut, going onto play for England before injury cruelly robbed him and us of what would have been a fantastic career. These days though clubs are too lazy, it's too easy to go to AZ Alkamaar and pick up a Honduran International, too convenient to raid the ranks of Locomotiv Leipzig for the up and coming left footer, too comfortable to take an Easyjet flight to Belgrade to check on the tricky right winger at Red Star.
It'll change though, as credit crunch becomes the new delayed gazelle. Suddenly the road to Damascus will become the road to Gresty Road as managers once again open their eyes to the gems which lie all around them, needing only a polish and some faith to become something special. People who have scoffed and told us that football has "changed" will watch on in awe as some of these players who are plucked from obscurity develop into top class stars. Because nobody will ever convince me the players aren't there if you look. The Tow Law Towns, the Cobh Ramblers and the like have produced players before, they will again if someone gives them a chance.
Last edited by
bigmick on Mon Aug 24, 2009 11:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
"se e in una bottigla ed e bianco, e latte".
