Youth development is key for the future

I think all the developmetn pieces are either in place - or planned for. Time, resources and the success that funds the game will deliver the results. It will take a generation through. We are a developing football nations - there are no 'short cuts'. Patience people.....

It's not a trade off though, you can do both because the short term success pays for itself and generates money (prizemoney and sponsership) that wouldn't be their if we failed to make the world cup or played like we did under Arnold. look at NZ, that short term success has been a massive shot in the arm and was probably the key for Smith and Reid to choose to represent NZ.

This is the issue our game is facing short term success = top dollar socceroo caoch, long term success = top youth development system

Lazza, as usual your comparisons are not right, the AFL ground in Sydney is for a number of sports and also the RAS, the AFL and the RAS have invested money as well. The Olmpics are arguably more important for Australians and cater for a huge range of sports, both amatuer and professional. Many Olympians are basically amatuers who could not compete without Government help, dont see many soocer players after the w/c returning to work at Woolies stocking shelves. Quite a emotional and irrational argument your presenting.

You're right, it's not rocket science - it's a lottery. Germans got lucky this time with their new generation, but they have had poor teams since 1990 and I remember well the wailing in Euro2004 when they were pathetic. Players like Viduka and Kewell come along RANDOMLY, that is, so rarely that they are a useful example to nobody. They will come, we just don't know when. Secondly, cometh the moment, cometh the man - when the old guys retire, it creates space for the new guys to grow. Both Neil and Cahill, for example, took a long time to fulfill their respective promise. Their development was helped by participation in the national team. I think basically we are on track, just need to stop panicking every time there is a setback. I'm not super sure about development anyway - those players with talent and personality don't need much development.

We spend hundreds of millions to develop talent for the 2nd biggest sporting event in the world (i.e. Olympics) but only a tiny 40m for Football development? To even get that small amount we have to cop flak from all the other codes? The NSW State government is going to spend 45m to build an AFL ground in the Rugby League heartland? It's not rocket science - look at the French. They never won anything in Football until they spent some money and now have 20 odd specialist Football academies around the country producing talent. The Dutch have been doing the same thing for years. The English, on the other hand, keep failing because they've always neglected youth development and are only starting to get serious about it now.

it is interesting to note a side line in the guardians gushing piece on Ozil that england are also allegedly struggling to produce youngsters (altho i note the u17s did well recently) - could it be that a lot of countries struggle to produce elite players other than Australia? we are improving the set up and will improve the output. we may not have the same resources (money and population) as germany etc but we cans till go about producing decent players given time. i think the sidline also suggested that it was Germany's integration of immigrants into the national side which has been a major success - and looking at their team sheet its hard to argue. something the english havent necessarily been successful at? (not counting the poaching of Cascarino, John Barnes and the odd canadian tennis player and south afrian cricketer)

If we are going to fork out that much money, why not get someone that has some experience both as a high level coach and youth development. Houllier springs to mind. What we need to do is coach the coaches, from amatuers through to A league. Some A league games a tactically naive, and I'm a season ticket holder so I do watch a few games. The A league does have a junior comp, but by having only 3-4 allowed on the bench, you dont get to blood any youngsters. Have 7 on the bench like every other pro comp in the world, and throw some kiddies in the mix. There is some amazing talent out there that are 17-19 playing in the lower pro leagues and amatuer leagues, but there is no link between them and the local A league team. And if the cameras are there for the seniors match, why doesnt fox show the lead in game as well, instead of a reply of a MBL game from 2008. Apologies for the ramble

of course we are trying to produce players for the future. there has been some significant in roads and planning on that front. the NYL, the HAL, teams going to asia for experience, revolutionising the game re:6 aside games etc. Berger, Versliejen.... FIFA pro style licences for coaches. then theres the mariners centre for excellence, the NSWSoccer academies etc etc. do they not count? the fact there's a drop of from viduka, cahill and the like to now was well documented and expected with the transition from NSl to HAL. as has been said - give it time and dont expect to always have someone like kewell and viduka being developed every 4 years. they stood out for a reason! unless your argument was not enough transition occurred under Pims stewarship and an over reliance on those oolder players from 2006? in which case yes i agree (but at the same time those players are all in second divisions in europe....)

The A-League for all its promise has nothing connecting it to directly developing elite youth talent. The youth league is welcome, but its only with full academy structures that we can see us reach our potential at the national team level. Each club can then develop their own culture and philosophies which not only will make the league more interesting, but also create the sort of competitive environment which will feed the bulk of the Australia squad for future World cup campaigns. While the top layer of our NT squads will always be Europe based, the bulk must in the future come from the A-League. Too many of our squad now, while based in Europe, are not key players at club level only bit-part bench players and triallists. This is the wrong mentality if we ever want to compete with the likes of Germany. There is little incentive or expectation from the league for the clubs to invest in youth development though. So it clearly needs to be a league-wide approach, and thankfully we have as the incoming head of the A-League, Lyall Gorman. The head of the only club so far to be taking proper steps down this path, the Mariners. Some leadership from Mr Gorman is now what's required. But as we know someone must pay the bills. A good time for some of these mining magnates to show they can put back into the community via youth football development. Good PR given most of them aren't keen on mining rent taxes. Clive Palmer and Tony Sage hopefully have plans for their clubs, but how does the league fund the rest?

I agree - but its not going to solve our problems in defence or attack if we dont have a defender to replace Moore is it?

It might be simplistic but its a fair arguement to say we are not trying to produce players for the future. I think its great we are trying to get a new top quality coach but i think we cant just expect to get a coach thats good and it will solve all our problems u need players. Rukavytsya will not become a good player he is to one dimensional all he has is speed and he can only shot on his left, see thats the problem people dont know how to produce player Australia. As for Messi he is 1 in a billion i dont expect aus to produce players ike that over night perhaps even ever but i expect us to try and do better then what we are doing now. In 10 years from now we cant say the A-league is only 15 years old thats why, that 5 year old excuse isnt good enough to me to fe its a young league but if we dont try to improve what we got and become complacent there sno hope for us in the future. Last season 3 of our young Socceroos saw regular game time in the A-league out of 19 A-league based players how is that youth development?

Very, very simplistic arguement, no offence davstar. After Euro 2000, when Germany finished last in their group with only 1 point (and a loss to England) they decided they needed to concerntate more on youth development. 10 years later against Australia, 10 of their players last night were 25 years of younger, Mesut Ozil is just 21, as is Badstuber, Muller is just 20. How can the A-league produce talent in just 5 years. Jedinak only started playing at CC Mariners when he was 22 years old and now he is playing at a World Cup. To say that we are not producing any quality players is just crazy. The 2006 was a golden generation of players. The old clubs like Melbourne Knights, South Melbourne did produce great players, but it takes time. Not 5 years, 10+ years. The 10 year olds now may produce for us in 2022 in a World Cup in Australia with Han Berger's technical direction, only time with tell. But for now, we are reaping the rewards of the time before the FFA was established. And don't forget, Rukavytsya only moved to Australia when he was 14 years old and played for Inglewood Untited, Lionel Messi went to Barcelona when he was 13 years old. You do the maths?

The $6 million for a great and experienced Socceroos coach is essentially a marketing decision. A good coach will keep the Socceroos in the World Cup and keep soccer in the media. A poor coach will mean the Socceroos perfom badly and public interest drops off. It is a very well spent $6 million from a soccer point of view.