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| Greg Dyke points to Harry Kane but top clubs will resist changes over homegrown talent | |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Whatever English football’s problem, all of a sudden Harry Kane seems to have become the answer. Which in itself is part of the problem. | Whatever English football’s problem, all of a sudden Harry Kane seems to have become the answer. Which in itself is part of the problem. |
| Even before his first England cap the prolific Spurs striker has been invoked by the FA chairman, Greg Dyke, as a challenge to other clubs to promote homegrown talent from within rather than spending their broadcasting bounty on ever more overseas players. | Even before his first England cap the prolific Spurs striker has been invoked by the FA chairman, Greg Dyke, as a challenge to other clubs to promote homegrown talent from within rather than spending their broadcasting bounty on ever more overseas players. |
| The numbers he quoted were striking if not surprising. In the Champions League group stages only 23 English players featured compared to 78 Spaniards, 55 Germans and 51 Brazilians. The fact all four Premier League clubs exited before the quarter-finals has in any case not gone unnoticed. | The numbers he quoted were striking if not surprising. In the Champions League group stages only 23 English players featured compared to 78 Spaniards, 55 Germans and 51 Brazilians. The fact all four Premier League clubs exited before the quarter-finals has in any case not gone unnoticed. |
| The blockage at top clubs for young English players between the ages of 18 and 21 remains stubbornly in place. Dyke’s proposed solution is to revisit the debate around quotas. It has become English football’s equivalent of Godwin’s Law. Whenever discussion alights upon homegrown talent (or the conspicuous lack of it) in the English game it will eventually turn to quotas. | The blockage at top clubs for young English players between the ages of 18 and 21 remains stubbornly in place. Dyke’s proposed solution is to revisit the debate around quotas. It has become English football’s equivalent of Godwin’s Law. Whenever discussion alights upon homegrown talent (or the conspicuous lack of it) in the English game it will eventually turn to quotas. |
| The finer points of European employment law will be debated, the name of Cesc Fàbregas invoked and those present will divide into two camps: those who believe top-down regulation is necessary to tackle a crisis in the number of young players gaining requisite first-team experience and those who don’t. With the top clubs almost certain to be opposed to his plan to increase the number of homegrown players in each 25-man squad from eight to 12, the lines are drawn. | The finer points of European employment law will be debated, the name of Cesc Fàbregas invoked and those present will divide into two camps: those who believe top-down regulation is necessary to tackle a crisis in the number of young players gaining requisite first-team experience and those who don’t. With the top clubs almost certain to be opposed to his plan to increase the number of homegrown players in each 25-man squad from eight to 12, the lines are drawn. |
| And so it went with Dyke on Monday as he presented an update to the grandly titled Chairman’s Commission review that he set in train in his first weeks in the job and which has variously acted as roadmap and millstone ever since. | And so it went with Dyke on Monday as he presented an update to the grandly titled Chairman’s Commission review that he set in train in his first weeks in the job and which has variously acted as roadmap and millstone ever since. |
| The difference now is that Dyke has put his cards on the table. While his predecessors have blundered into conflict with the Premier League only to be outflanked or outgunned by the moneyed ranks of the top-flight clubs, Dyke clearly feels this is a battle he can win. | The difference now is that Dyke has put his cards on the table. While his predecessors have blundered into conflict with the Premier League only to be outflanked or outgunned by the moneyed ranks of the top-flight clubs, Dyke clearly feels this is a battle he can win. |
| That certainty will be tested when he attends Thursday’s meeting of all 20 Premier League clubs, the first since the chief executive, Richard Scudamore, unveiled a jaw-dropping £5.1bn domestic TV deal. Dyke seems invigorated of late, determined his four-year tenure as the FA chairman will be remembered for more than a throat-slitting gesture at the World Cup draw that proved to be depressingly prescient given England’s dismal showing in Brazil. | That certainty will be tested when he attends Thursday’s meeting of all 20 Premier League clubs, the first since the chief executive, Richard Scudamore, unveiled a jaw-dropping £5.1bn domestic TV deal. Dyke seems invigorated of late, determined his four-year tenure as the FA chairman will be remembered for more than a throat-slitting gesture at the World Cup draw that proved to be depressingly prescient given England’s dismal showing in Brazil. |
| But having invested £340m through the much-vaunted Elite Player Performance Programme, the clubs regard the idea of more restrictive regulations – particularly ones that will make it harder for them to recruit the best talent from overseas for those expensive academies – as anathema. They feel existing Premier League and Uefa regulations go far enough. | But having invested £340m through the much-vaunted Elite Player Performance Programme, the clubs regard the idea of more restrictive regulations – particularly ones that will make it harder for them to recruit the best talent from overseas for those expensive academies – as anathema. They feel existing Premier League and Uefa regulations go far enough. |
| Dyke is generous in his praise for the progress made by Scudamore and the director of youth development, Ged Roddy, in advancing the EPPP scheme that has overhauled top-flight academies. But he feels that while they are now producing the players, the intractable issue around first-team opportunities remains. | Dyke is generous in his praise for the progress made by Scudamore and the director of youth development, Ged Roddy, in advancing the EPPP scheme that has overhauled top-flight academies. But he feels that while they are now producing the players, the intractable issue around first-team opportunities remains. |
| Anyone who has spent time with the impressive Roddy or witnessed the facilities at Chelsea or Manchester City will know there is a seriousness of purpose about the desire to bring through young talent. But little of it is yet being reflected in their first-team squads. Squaring long-term promises with English football’s demand for instant gratification is a difficult puzzle to solve. Dyke rightly warned the £5bn windfall is likely to exacerbate the issue rather than help solve it. | Anyone who has spent time with the impressive Roddy or witnessed the facilities at Chelsea or Manchester City will know there is a seriousness of purpose about the desire to bring through young talent. But little of it is yet being reflected in their first-team squads. Squaring long-term promises with English football’s demand for instant gratification is a difficult puzzle to solve. Dyke rightly warned the £5bn windfall is likely to exacerbate the issue rather than help solve it. |
| He can only deal in the art of the possible and must work within the structures of English football as they are rather than as many would like them to be. The test will come over the next two to three years. If more clubs empower managers to make youth development part of their long-term thinking then there is some hope. Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool point the way to various degrees. | He can only deal in the art of the possible and must work within the structures of English football as they are rather than as many would like them to be. The test will come over the next two to three years. If more clubs empower managers to make youth development part of their long-term thinking then there is some hope. Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool point the way to various degrees. |
| Although options are limited at international level, not all is doom and gloom. It is less than a week since Roy Hodgson proclaimed the crop of strikers he has at his disposal for this Friday’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Lithuania as the most exciting in years. | Although options are limited at international level, not all is doom and gloom. It is less than a week since Roy Hodgson proclaimed the crop of strikers he has at his disposal for this Friday’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Lithuania as the most exciting in years. |
| Yet it is at the very top that the problem seems most acute. At Stamford Bridge, José Mourinho has said he will have failed if he can’t bring through the best players in a youth side that has swept all before it. Last week he was talking up Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s prospects. | Yet it is at the very top that the problem seems most acute. At Stamford Bridge, José Mourinho has said he will have failed if he can’t bring through the best players in a youth side that has swept all before it. Last week he was talking up Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s prospects. |
| But Mourinho can’t keep promising jam tomorrow and eventually will have to deliver on his vow to rid Chelsea of the embarrassment of John Terry being their last homegrown player to become a first-team regular. | But Mourinho can’t keep promising jam tomorrow and eventually will have to deliver on his vow to rid Chelsea of the embarrassment of John Terry being their last homegrown player to become a first-team regular. |
| At City, even as they talk up their undoubtedly impressive Etihad Campus, there is competing noise about the future of senior executives, their manager and the majority of the first-team squad. | At City, even as they talk up their undoubtedly impressive Etihad Campus, there is competing noise about the future of senior executives, their manager and the majority of the first-team squad. |
| So while the money tap continues to flow, it remains too easy to look overseas for short-term solutions. It is a little remarked-upon factor in the rebirth of the German game that it coincided with a crash in TV income that prompted clubs to promote from within. | So while the money tap continues to flow, it remains too easy to look overseas for short-term solutions. It is a little remarked-upon factor in the rebirth of the German game that it coincided with a crash in TV income that prompted clubs to promote from within. |
| Dyke is clearly aiming for his legacy to be both a long-overdue shot in the arm for the embarrassingly threadbare grassroots facilities in this country as well as some progress on the intractable basket of issues stymieing the development of young English players. | Dyke is clearly aiming for his legacy to be both a long-overdue shot in the arm for the embarrassingly threadbare grassroots facilities in this country as well as some progress on the intractable basket of issues stymieing the development of young English players. |
| His problem is that to complete the first he will almost certainly need the Premier League’s cash and on the second he will need their goodwill. His tenure is likely to be defined by how persuasive he can be in delivering both. | His problem is that to complete the first he will almost certainly need the Premier League’s cash and on the second he will need their goodwill. His tenure is likely to be defined by how persuasive he can be in delivering both. |