Euro 2012 (Football)

[MD_Titus]

Originally Posted by Osprey

Firstly, it was aimed at glory hunters, and you were talking like one. I don't include Man City in that group, most real fans don't, because all of the armchair plastic fans choose clubs with more recent titles.

If a player is not an athlete first then he won't make it wherever he is, no matter how good he is with his feet. Of course some will be missed but that happens anywhere. I assume you know that Messi was rejected early in his career? That said I already cited the failure of the FA and their old boys club in coaching from that very early age. Foreign players, who are better, make sure that a lot of young talent doesn't get first team football and the new EPPP will make that even worse - this has nothing to do with what idiotic tabloids write. I haven't time to complain about it now, I want to go home, and frankly there are better places than here to talk about it anyway. Go post your opinion of the EPL @ www.cpfc.org They aren't morons there like most football sites, well mostly, so you get a sensible debate.

And no, we weren't rubbish before the EPL. In fact, just before it in 1990 we were damn unlucky not to have won the World Cup, it was a very strong England team which came off the back of English domination of the European competitions up until Heysel got us banned.

already seen a large influx of fans of the plastic ilk, since 2008 tbh. quite how i was talking like a glory hunter i do not know. there's a difference between being a plastic and revelling in success.

england have been quarter and semi-final fodder for ages, which isn't that bad really and makes out 8th place in the global rankings rather accurate, but we failed to even qualify for the '94 world cup. that the young talent doesn't get first team football is a bit of a fallacy, they just don't get it easily with the top premier league clubs. the emphasis of athleticism over ability is exactly part of the problem imo, the entire way the game is coached from 5 and up means we get athletes rather than players. you're right, they do need to have that athleticism, but if it is at the expense of nurturing skill then it's not being done with the right balance.