The right way to go

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In a move which will have ramifications across the youth level of English football, and will probably start showing results in a few years, the English Premier League officially announced the start of the Barclays under-21 Premier League, which will commence on August 17.

This new competition, which will replace the former region-based Reserve Leagues, is part of the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) that was proposed and agreed in 2011 and will be in place by the start of the 2012-13 season.

The move is a step forward after the realisation that young talent from England was massively inferior to their European counterparts, attributed in part to a competitive structure in the European leagues which allow their ‘B’ teams to play in a proper division of their own, with appropriate incentives.

Previously, all that the English system had was the insipid Reserve League — where teams were relegated or promoted based on how the senior teams performed.

The EPPP now allows a grants system to enhance the youth coaching set-up and under-21 League placings, separating it from the senior team achievements, which provides a particularly enticing fillip to teams to nurture genuine talent.

An undercooked youth set-up had only produced the odd Danny Welbeck or Chris Smalling, but the rarity of such an occurrence resulted in an exorbitant price tag, which in turn discouraged teams from going for young English players.

An influx of mediocre foreign players who were available at a realistic price followed, which burdened the Reserve League, as these players found the going tough in the first team.

It might take some time for the under-21 league to be a truly competitive, and it would be interesting to note if the actual issue at hand, the quality of coaching at the youth level is dealt with in the process.

English football needs to bid adieu to the generation of English coaches built in the staid, depressing moulds of Stuart Pearce or George Graham, barking at defenders to hoof it out, and shouting at midfielders to lump it forward to their ‘target man’ while their granite faces became increasingly splotchy with blood vessels bursting like ketchup on a frying pan.

The English FA has to come up with modern ways to nurture the talent. Maybe then, England can truly claim to be one amongst the top five footballing nations in the world.