English Football and the Dreams of Millions

The English Premier League is without doubt the most physically demanding game in the world. With fans spread across the globe the appeal and the power of the sport is reflected in the huge salaries that the players earn.

Now I'm not going to drone on about footballer salaries but something else entirely.

England's Word Cup Ambitions.

When Spain were crowned World and European champions it was of no surprise to me. I would estimate that 60% of the core Spanish squad play for two main teams in Spain, notably Real Madrid and Barcelona. Logically if you put a squad together that form the core of their league squad, the keepers, defenders and midfielders together in one national team of course they are going to dominate. Why? Because they have chemistry already, they are intuitive, Xavi knows where Iniesta is going to be before he even passes it onto Pedro. This creates a nightmare for the opposition because I doubt the Spanish squad shout 'pass' alerting the opposition of their intent...no...they just do it and silently! Intuition can't be taught.

It's only after recent years with the power of money in the UK game that English clubs like Chelsea and Man City have been able to lure top talent away from Spain with huge salaries with Spaniards like Mata, Navas and Silva have started to arrive on the scene, this still has not managed to dampen their efforts - in fact I would say it has improved their chances enormously as playing the Premier league they have become attuned to how the Brits play and in turn when the national squad is called up and they face England they become instrumental in our destruction.

So how do we get England to win a World Cup?

Copy Spain.

In fact can anyone name an English Squad player in another top division that has lasted - and no Barton doesn't count.

The truth of the matter is until we get some of our chaps playing abroad we will never win anything of any importance. 

I cannot foresee the Sheiks or the Abramovich's investing in a team that is entirely British or whereby the British talent is a dominant force in the squad and not a spent one. Chelsea literally has the old guard, Terry, Cole, Lampard, Cahill and few others but they aren't playing regular first team football. Liverpool has Gerrard, Man City has Milner, Richards and Hart, Hart has done well to keep his first team place but everyone is getting old - we can't keep putting out the old guard and hope for success - perhaps Wenger is into something with Jenkinson, Gibbs, Wilshire, Walcott and Chamberlain but even then injuries play a part.

In an ideal world I would like to see everyone over the age of 29 get sold and young British talent pushed through the squad - get Ince's from Blackpool, Lansbury from Nottingham Forest, Ched Evans from Sheffield Utd, Snodgass from Leeds, Zaha is in already with Man Utd, Lallana from Southampton how many more should I list?! 

Unfortunately talent is one thing but money is something else entirely too. Are English players too boring for the top flight? The highlight reel of goals from the Championship always seem to be more amazing that the Premier league. Are big money investors drawn in by big names - ironically those names have got big because of their international credentials -will ticket numbers dwindle if an Englishman is playing instead of a highly rated striker from Brazil?

I am not naive. Sponsorship rules the game. It used to be player talent - I guess sometimes it still is but when the chaps in the Championship are bought by premier clubs they will be just warming the subs bench and not actually playing.