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English football’s in a mess. The national team’s consistently inconsistent and only a handful of local players in the English Premier League can cut it with internationals.
The problem is not on the pitch. Top-end English football has too much money for its own good. It’s got fat while grassroots English football has become a shadow of its former self.
The problem is the new TV rights. Sold for a record $10 billion for seasons 2016-2019, the announcement was greeted with much media fanfare.
While this makes the Premier League the richest league in the world, it does nothing for clubs such as Rotherham and Gillingham.
English football has neglected the most important teams, without enough funding for its lower leagues English football will without a doubt disintegrate.
In the old days – pre-1993 – English football used to distribute money equally between not only the first division clubs but those in the lower divisions as well. Manchester United would receive the same amount as a lower division cellar-dweller.
But with the EPL’s introduction in 1993 the big clubs began pocketing a higher proportion of the TV rights deal. It were their matches pulling in the most money and so they wanted a greater slice of the TV rights pie.
This meant that lower division clubs lost a large source of their revenue. This hit the game’s grassroots hard. Lower league clubs could no longer invest in youth squads. Without the extra money they used to get it was no longer financially feasible to maintain a youth system. Some clubs could only afford to send a senior team onto the park.
These youth systems are integral to the progression of English football, no talent means no English football.
The impact has been highlighted in recent years with the lack of young English talent coming through the system. For those who make it into the bigtime, the riches are considerable. The likes of Raheem Sterling are being sold for exorbitant prices as the big clubs recognise the lack of English talent being produced.
The reason old fellas like Frank Lampard go beyond their used-by dates is because Manchester City did not have enough English players to fill its quota of English locals in the team. The situation has become so dire, that a team like City, which has an extensive youth system, cannot find eight English players to fit into its Premier League squad.
Hence, young players like Anthony Martial are fetching art-market prices as English clubs scour a failing youth system for hard-to-find talent.
During Round 6 of the 2015-16 Premier League season Manchester City had only two English players in its starting 11 – Sterling and Joe Hart – against West Ham. Manchester United had three English players in its starting line-up against Southampton, while Arsenal could only find space for Theo Walcott in its team to play Chelsea.
In all, the EPL’s four biggest teams had a total of seven English players in their starting line-up. This is an abomination.
The effects have already started showing in the Premier League’s biggest clubs, which is a clear indication of the storm which is to come. A big storm.
On the other side of the ledger, the number of foreign players in the English Premier League has skyrocketed. They may look good on the pitch and put bums-on-seats, but the foreign raiders are ruining English football.
This is best seen in results from the Champions League group stage, where out of Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, and Manchester City, not one is on top of their group after three games. All have struggled to put their mark in Europe this season. Their failure thus far has been a disgrace to English football history in Europe.
The powerhouses of European football no longer include the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United, or Arsene Wenger’s Invincibles. The Champions League no longer includes English teams among its list of favourites, the honour now lies with Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus, and Atletico Madrid.
There have already been calls to strip the Premier league of its four Champions League spots down to three, and give the extra spot to a more deserving league such as La Liga, which is going from strength to strength.
There is a disparity in the number of talented players coming through, one only has to look at Barcelona’s La Masia to see that there are so many talented players emerging.
Nevertheless, England’s lower leagues were where young talented players had the opportunity to develop, relatively unknown players could work their way to the Premier League, players such as Charlie Austin.
Austin played in a semi-pro league not too long ago, and in the 2014-15 season scored 18 Premier League goals for the relegated QPR. This no longer happens in England, and talent is wasted in lower leagues, players with the quality of Austin will go unnoticed until the system changes.
It is clear that top flight greed is having a damaging effect on not only the league but on the English national team. If it continues down this path we may unfortunately see the death of English football in our life time.
Money is slowing killing the English game.
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