You’re 6ft tall, head the f**cking ball.

I’m not so sure how often you will hear a line like this nowadays but this was a regular line shouted at me from the touchline when I was playing junior football. Nothing deterred me from heading the ball and enjoying football more than this particular line. Rather than coaching us to head the ball the coaches proceeded to shout unhelpful comments and create a negative awareness to the fact that I hated heading a football on a freezing cold Sunday morning.

By the age of sixteen I’d decided it was easier to fake an injury rather than being shouted at and lost the motivation to play. Once I’d learned how to drive I played in more five and six a side matches, games that I prefer due to the intensity, style of play and not having to head the ball! From my understanding there are still problems at grassroots level and I’d like to look at youth football development in England. As most of you will be aware, the World Cup was pretty much a shambles and no one really knew where to place the blame. I’ve heard all the theories but I don’t buy into many of them except the fact that the players are not good enough at that level.

Within the most powerful Premier League clubs there are excellent English players, in my opinion the problem is that they are just a cog in a bigger machine. Lampard needs Essien supporting him, Rooney needs the crosses from Valencia and Gerrard relies on an almost telepathic bond with Torres (when on form). English players don’t bond well in my opinion because in most England games I’ve watched, the first pass is either a massive hoof forward (Gerrard seems to do this a lot) or a negative pass backwards. Now I’m not saying that passing backwards is a bad idea, but when it’s one of what appears to be only two options then yes, I do wonder. There is a clear lack of the technical ability that a player like Ronaldo, Nani or Torres has, which unlocks the game for the English players. I view English players as the wide receivers of American football, they do an excellent job at what they do but without their creative quarterbacks the threat is nullified.

I firmly believe that grassroots are key, too many times you hear the follow; ‘Get it to the big lad’, ‘get rid of it’ or ‘take him out’. All of these are very negative things to adhere to. I believe that junior players have too much pressure on them to win between the ages of five-thirteen when all that should really be happening is a structured learning curve for kids to enjoy the game and pick up techniques naturally and develop their skills. Given the chance to work with Trevor Brooking on the grassroots of English football I would concentrate on a few key points.

Firstly I would remove league tables and any form of public results records up to the age of ten years old. What I’ve found from working with kids are that they are naturally competitive, they don’t really need money, bonuses or a league table to want to win. I would promote the philosophy that managers are able to suggest that  negative parents watch from the car or try and keep their mouths closed (It is embarrassing hearing a parent swear and slightly ridiculous when a dad comes out with a line like ‘he’s rolled his ankle, because in all honesty the kid hasn’t rolled his ankle!).

Another point that I believe is key to development at any age is being given the correct resources to improve, how absurd is it that a 3ft child is expected to save a goal in a full sized goal when the ball is kicked above them? No chance. I also find it quite funny that some coaches give a size five ball to a five year old. Surely that is like giving a professional footballer a medicine ball to play with? Also it is important to think about the size of the pitches. If you have two, eleven a side teams aged ten playing on a normal adult pitches then the amount of distance they are covering will have a negative effect on their technical improvement, less time on the ball, more time chasing space and a stretched game where it becomes hard to put two passes together. In relative terms putting a ten year old on a full side pitch is similar to putting a professional footballer on two, three or maybe even four pitches.

Given total control of junior football in England, I would like to see a technique focused approach to playing, the focus on passing and control, rather than on who can kick the ball furthest or get stuck in first. In simple terms, if you keep the ball, the other team cannot score unless you have a player like Chris Brass

To me it seems that many English people can get obsessed with foreign things, how many times do you hear the line ‘He is the Ecuadorian Messi or the Latvian Michael Owen? Just because it is from another country does not always mean it is going to be any better. We have the skills in this country, enough potential coaches and the facilities to be a major footballing force on the international scene once again. To me it is clear that the strategy isn’t right, when I have my first boy, I will encourage him to pass the ball, dribble with the ball and most importantly to enjoy the game. Ideally I’d like to keep junior football on five or six a side pitches, with small goals and small footballs similar to futsal. Sport is a wonderful thing, it can save people from a life time of misery, just imagine where Joey Barton would be without football.

It is lazy coaching to think that a full size pitch will be adequate or a size five football will be sufficient because it is just not appropriate. Junior football will always be frustrating to watch but given the correct equipment and encouragement I’ve seen some under twelve’s do some magical skills on a pitch. It is a shame that the most impressive junior footballer was in America and although he wore an Arsenal shirt it had Fabregas on the back, the lad supports Arsenal and watches Fabregas frequently on Youtube, believe me this showed in his play. We can learn a lot from our global counterparts, we need our own stamp on it but it is time to accept that the kick and rush approach does not work. As a football purist I can only hope that we achieve a better standard of football and lift the World Cup again in my lifetime.