By John Cartwright
Rinus Michels, saw the problem developing in Holland back in the 1970’s; the streets were no longer the training grounds for future football talent! The close proximity for playing the game for young kids – the street – was becoming filled with cars and the historical method of player development was under threat. Something had to be done. The Dutch FA were notified of the serious problem that was occurring to practice time as less street space became available for youngsters to play in. What did The Dutch FA do? They saw the problem and they listened to coaches like Michels and, in conjunction with the professional game in Holland, they set about creating a development system that has produced an abundance of talented individuals as well as exciting club and international squads over the past 40 years.
The Dutch realized the importance of individual skill in the playing of the game. Before a team can be constructed it requires an intense amount of programmed work to produce the individual playing qualities for the team ‘engine to fire’. Michels, in his famous book – TEAM BUILDING The Road To Success – comments on how Leonard Bernstein, the famous conductor, listens to each individual musician play before bringing them together to form an orchestra. He then makes the important point that should resonate through every team situation whether it be sporting or any other group situation, “ individually you are all very accomplished, but as an orchestra you will have to travel a long and difficult road”. That difficult road can only be negotiated successfully if each of the musicians (footballers) has the individual ability to make the journey.
We have seen over many years how football in many parts of the world has recognized the importance of producing top quality individuals able to connect easily into team requirements, Like the perfection of sound made by individuals moulded together to form an orchestra, the harmony of a football team must consist of both individual and collective ingredients if a team is to create a seemingly effortless flow and style to their game.
The football hierarchy here have made the mistake of failing to understand the importance of developing high quality individualism. Yes, there have been numerous attempts to improve the problem of skill deficiencies in our game, but without success; the overriding problem is, without a shadow of doubt, COACHING METHODS and DEVELOPMENT INFRASTRUCTURE. The same loss of street-manufactured skills for the game occurred here but the significance of street football with skill acquisition was overlooked as a more structured, academic approach to player production was introduced. A combination of unrealistic and shortened practice time combined with an increase in competitive match-play has provided a ‘cocktail’ of disaster for our game – resulting in our ‘orchestras’ being deficient in individual ability and playing ‘music’ that is terrible!
The London 2012 Olympics, have been described as a huge success; facilities, organization and presentation have been praised by competing nations as well as spectators etc. I withhold my judgement as to the success of the Games until I see the importance of sport fully realized by this and any future Governments. We have collected a large quantity of medals of various colours and some of our sports’ seem to have made tremendous improvements over the past few years; Football is, unsurprisingly, not one of those sports. How those involved at the top of the various sports’ decide to take their particular brand forward will be interesting to watch.
The GB football team, full of players regular participating in our ‘over-hyped’ Premier League, failed to produce any kind of football quality in the games in which they were involved. Teams’ such as Senegal, UAE and South Korea had several better players in their squads and produced more skilful and tactical performances than us. The malaise of poor leadership and poor development methods that blights our football is obvious for all to see. The connection of effort and artistry in our game is still not accepted nor appreciated as essential for success. Perhaps the FA should appoint conductor, Leonard Bernstein, to head football development here, we might then see football played with the passion of Beethoven; the nationalism of Elgar; the continuity of Vivaldi and the waltzing harmony of Strauss. The World’s greatest game certainly deserves more than the ‘Punk Rock’ version we subscribe to it!
KEEP THE BALL 
Team GB Men in the Olympic Football Tournament produced very little cohesion or fluid play mainly, according to the critics, because they had not played together before but had been thrown together with little preparation and therefore not much could be expected from them.
I feel that this is an excuse for the malaise in our game which sees very little real skill or aritistry from our players. Good players should always be able to play together. An old friend , considerably older than me and now deceased, told me some years ago that in 1950 he saw a match between England and a Rest of the World Eleven played to commemorate the Festival of Britain. The score was 4-4 but the World Eleven played England off the park and should have inflicted England’s first Wembley defeat against foreign opposition before Hungary did so three years later. None of the World team had even met each other until the day of the match, let alone played together, but their game intelligence and understanding enabled them to conjoin and produce a memorable exhibition. My friend told me that the World team played virtually ‘walking football’, mesmerising the younger, fitter, more physically powerful England team but who just could not compete with their game intelligence.
Of course, the pace of the game then was pedestrian, in any case, compared to what is played today, but it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Team GB in the Olympics had been instructed to slow the pace right down and to what extent this benefitted a team of ‘strangers’. If it had improved the performance then this could have set an exanple for the rest of the English football to follow and perhaps reduce the frantic pace at which most games are played in our various leagues.
Hi Steve. I remember the game well that you have mentioned. The players flew in from all around the world and virtually played ‘on arrival’. They produced a magnificent display of quality football that combined individual skills and team play that was ‘off the cuff’. True greatness can overcome the difficulties that mediocrity finds overwhelming, that’s why we have so much trouble producing memorable peformances…………. our so-called ‘greats’ are merely mediocre misfits!
John’s emphatic words ‘the Dutch did something’ reflects that the FA – aka Nero – fiddled while___burned.
Michels was a case of being a ‘prophet in his own country.’
The only prophet the FA is interesetd in is ‘profit.’
Hi Brazil94. Whatever the reason for our lack of playing quality……… we are a still a long. long way from finding an answer.
“Of course, the pace of the game then was pedestrian, in any case, compared to what is played today, but it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Team GB in the Olympics had been instructed to slow the pace right down and to what extent this benefitted a team of ‘strangers’. If it had improved the performance then this could have set an exanple for the rest of the English football to follow and perhaps reduce the frantic pace at which most games are played in our various leagues.”
the thing is that you can slow the game down relatively easily if you really want to. The English game is stuck in a mind set. I have just got back to pre season training and have taken on another set of lads on a wed night as well as my own boys on a thur. The contrast is something I now find amusing. The characteristics of the English game are impatience and panic. Impatience in possession and panic when losing the ball coupled with “pass the buck” and blame everyone else around you attitudes. Our Olympic success confirms that there is no shortage of raw materiel. How can a Heavyweight boxer go from not having been in a ring to Olympic gold in 4 years yet we cannot solve our football issues.
Slowing the game down is bread and butter. But this is Stuart Pearce ..the man who famously said ” if we had had as much possession as Spain we would have scored 5 goals”….there should be a new award …the Stuart Pearce award for inane comment of the year.
Have to agree with the comments above about quality players being able to play together no matter how much time they get prior to the match. I’ve mentioned on previous posts about the dutch philosophy regarding youth player development. If our neighbours can get it right (including Spain, Italy, Germany…….) why can’t we? I think a lot of it boils done to the island mentality of us versus the rest of the world. It’s true that we’re pioneers across many different areas such as manufacturing, science and literature but we never seem to realise that you have to continue to improve and progress. You can’t just stand back and admire you work for the rest of you’re life. Historically across all walks of life our European neighbours have discussed and shared ideas and this has seen them over take us or improve where we have stagnated.
Football is no different
It’s this lack of sharing that has contributed to our current failings. John mentions above that the Dutch would talk and discuss ideas amongst themselves. There was no selfishness as they wanted to build a football philosophy that would be the basis on how their teams will play. Our island mentality has now got smaller where coaches won’t share ideas as they want to have the “winning edge” over rivals.
I’m lucky enough to see a lot of youth football at academy level and the way our current crop of players are being trained and taught is very encouraging. A lot of the old cliche’s are being weeded out. Not many kids are now picked on physical presence or size (unless they have great feet!!). Coaches seem more patient and emphasis is placed on being able to think your way out of trouble and not to resort to hoof ball. Of course it’s not perfect yet but I thinks it’s definitely a step in the right direction. I also think the emergence of soccer schools is a great thing. Mainly because these schools don’t always play in a league system so the lads can learn to play the right way in a non pressure environment. And guess what -they probably enjoy it more because they’re not being berated if they make a mistake and the opposition score
I’m now very keen to see how the F.A. will utilise the new St George’s Park facility to train the new crop of football coaches, as this is where our problem lies. But unfortunately we don’t have a new football philosophy for them to follow
Apologies for the long post but I’ve just finished reading Brilliant Orange – the neurotic genius of dutch football (by David winner) and have been inspired by how our European friends view the beautiful game.
Matt wrote “But unfortunately we don’t have a new football philosophy for them to follow” – that’s not true; we do.
Read the FA document The Future Game and tell me there isn’t a reasoned philosophy on coach and player development.
Read it thoroughly and tell me there isn’t close attention paid to the demands of the evolving game and thet there aren’t clear references as to the types of player and traits and attributes required of those players to reach the top levels.
Now, you may or may not agree with the philospohy and you may or may not feel the practices that accompany the philosophy are useful, but I think you will find it difficult to argue that there isn’t a philosophy.
And it doesn’t JUST refer to players aspiring to achieve the top levels. This is aimed at ALL players who play the game at ANY level.
If we raise the level of the base opf the pyramid then, surely, it will also benefit the apex.
If ALL players understand the game better, can play it better, then surely they will enjoy it more. That being the case, they will hopefully stay in the game longer thus redressing the balance where we currently have the highest drop out from football in Europe in the 14/15 – 18 age groups.
Hi Steve. I have read the FA’s ‘The Future Game’ and as you say it does contain a PHILOSOPHY ( the dictionary states Pilosophy as; a set of beliefs)
of playing requirements even though they have forgotten to include Heading and Crossing. However, the problem as you point out is, they have not produced a satisfactory practical method nor a radical change in development infrastructure to achieve their philosophy. It would have been far better for the FA to have had a playing VISION (Dictionary states Vision as; a mental picture of how things might be different) and then provided a progressive practical program along with an improved develoment ‘ladder’ for all to follow in order to achieve it. The FA do not have a clear picture of how we should play the game of Association Football.
The Dutch FA and other leading national associations, have come together with their clubs to discuss the problem of development and have colluded to produce the plans to achieve their vision of the game for their countries.This national and domestic cohesion has allowed them to produce players and play game-styles that blend easily together. Our situation is different; clubs do not have confidence in our National Association’s ability to provide a satisfactory development methodology, thus each go their seperate ways.
Our game needs visionary and positive leadership; leadership that can inspire and combine all sections of the game here. Only then will we be able to produce qualitiy and consistency in our game and success on the world’s football stage
Hello Steve the Seagull
I’ve only scanned the future game snippets that appear online, where there’s reference to a philosophy but no real detail.
This is because I’m not too keen to pay out £30 to purchase the full document to understand this philosophy. I don’t understand why, if the FA want to help change the game for the better they ask the grass roots community to pay for it. Surely it would have a much greater impact if it was available at zero cost. After all they’re happy to pay a huge salary to Roy Hodgson so there must be significant funds in the coffers.
Also does the national team coach (whoever it is at the time) have to adopt a style of play that incorporates this new philosophy?
I’m honestly not being difficult or nit-picking but a true philosophy has to be driven from the top to act as an example. As our German, Dutch and Spanish friends have done
I also hope that the recommendations that FA made regarding the grass roots game are implemented. But my big concern is that the FA are conducting a PR campaign where they’re making all the right noises but there will be no-one driving it through to completion, especially now Gareth Southgate has resigned (does anyone now why he left?)
For me the real barometer of the Future Games impact will be how St Georges Park will be utilised. Hopefully it will be to improve coaching and increase the number of full time coaches in the UK. I love the idea of a national centre of excellence but the FA missed a huge opportunity when they spent hundreds of millions of pounds re-building Wembley when they could’ve built 10 regional centres of excellence and provided grass roots funding across all of England.
In a nutshell what I’m trying to say is I don’t have confidence in the FA anymore.
Hi Matt. St. George’s will only be profitable in football terms if the work that takes place there is suitably directed towards success in the future. Unless the teaching of the game is based on sound principles and taught by inspirational teachers, the magnificence of facilities involved is of little importance.
Hi Fletch.
I am very interested to read about the work which you are doing in your club to develop a slower paced game which enables the players to play with more thought and intelligence.
This was one of the first things which impressed me with the Premier Skills methodology. In the initial exercise in Level 1 when you have area with the seven gates for the players to run through as they make their way around the area, avoiding other players whilst learning various technical skills, the emphasis is on accelerating through the gates, when there is free space, and slowing down after coming out of it until another free gate, or gap between two players, becomes available and then the pace is quickened again. So right from the start, with young children, you are introducing the concept of a slow pace, (patience), and then a change up to a quicker pace, which effectively sets the scene for a game in which the pace of play changes all the time, depending on the situation. I feel that this concept has never been projected by any FA Coaching Course which I have been on and so no wonder in England we have played a helter-skelter form of ‘fightball’ for so long.
It is vital that this element is introduced to young players right at the beginning of their football-playing experience. All managers/coaches of junior teams up and down the country should have it at the forefront of their minds, but if the FA are not getting the message over then it is Premier Skills which must fill the void.
Steve
I did the Lev 1 Prem Skills back in 2004 with Roger. It was absolutely brilliant….I was doing my FA Lev 3 at the same time and I can honestly say that the Lev 1 actually taught me something.
I wish you could have been at my training session last Thur Steve. We played a practice match against one of the other teams in the club and I had the possession times at 72% to us and almost entirely down to teaching players to slow down.
I heard John Barnes recently critique Brooking on this issue and Barnes was spot on. Brooking was saying that keep ball is not enough and that players need to play between the lines….ok fair enough; we would all agree with that view but Barnes was saying that penetration is made possible by skilful patient possession and not enough work was being done to bed this idea down
eg we have a simple pattern of play that involves the gk playing the ball wide to the centre back who always (95% of the time because there are always exceptions to the rule) plays back to the gk’s back foot for him to turn out. The result is that we are able to suck in the 2 front men and then come out comfortably. I kid you not when I say that I NEVER see this done in the Prem…EVER!!
of course the so called experts will say that this is not possible against top strikers …the game is too fast blah blah blah….but what is possible for low league grass roots players on pitches that our superstars would refuse to play on…..must be possible for senior internationals? Barca do this ….I saw Maccabi Haifa do it against Celtic a few years ago and they totally embarrassed them. I remember a Croatian team coming to Middlesbourgh a few years ago and playing them off the park with these types of patterns. all it requires is a gk who likes the ball!!!
As you rightly say controlling the tempo is the skill that we are completely lacking in at International level. But we have despised artistry and exalted physicality. That is why we are always shocked in International football. It is why Hanson and Shearer got it wrong when they tipped Germany in 2010 and then made exactly the same prediction 2 years later. They keep going back around in circles.
“A combination of unrealistic and shortened practice time combined with an increase in competitive match-play has provided a ‘cocktail’ of disaster for our game – resulting in our ‘orchestras’ being deficient in individual ability and playing ‘music’ that is terrible! ”
Have to disagree here.
Regardless of philosophies, styles and methodology the answer is not 4 hours training to 1 game as prescribed by the FA academies, as this in no way reflects the essence of street football and creativity. Coaching is killing the creativity and all i seem to hear is English coaches wanting more contact time to train.
What is needed is more game time get rid of the 32 game restriction, get rid of the one game per day nonsense., get rid of the 4 to 1 ratio.
Hi Dirk. I must disagree with your comments. A match should be an examination of practice. How can one pass any test without having practised prior to being examined? The problem with practice here is that it has failed to be a realistic version of playing the game. Street football had a close resemblance to the actual game and so was the breeding ground for players in the past. Once street football ‘expired’ the teaching of the game that has followed has failed to create the same realism and skill levels.At premier Skills we have made our practices relate directly to the playing of the game for each age group.
We have been asking generation after generation to play a game they know little or nothing about whilst demanding they win! I suggest you look at development in a more sympathetic manner and help young players, boys and girls, to learn to play the game in a sensible and progressive fashion. Without understanding of the game it can only generate into a physical contest ……… this is what our game has become…………….when thinking is exhusted, fighting is exhibited. ‘Fightball ‘ not football has become the byeword for our game . Our children deserve a better learning experience.
I suggest you look at development in a more sympathetic manner and help young players, boys and girls, to learn to play the game in a sensible and progressive fashion
Here in Australia we have the dutch mafia running running football, have yet to hear a dutchie mention rinus.
We have a national philosophy and a national curriculum to follow. We have the added bonus of not being restricted with English FA directives on playing time.
Football is ultimately about playing game and excessive training to match ratios must bore and eventually stfile the creativity of young players.
In my experience most junior clubs in grass roots football have a coaching schedule built around drills. Many of these drills have good technical detail within them. Unfortunately there is no transference into the actual playing of the game. The players become good at performing a particular drill, which is often quite complex, but having mastered it there seems the belief that the various core elements will automatcially come out in a game. But, more often than not, they do not.
I recently observed a demonstration of football coaching drills given by an experienced coach from the professional game.The work was well presented, the description and explanation were clear and concise, and when the young players had difficulty in mastering a particular drill with its various components, the coach patiently worked them until the passing/running sequence was embedded and they could execute the drill with the same fluency that they might recite a poem at school which they have learnt off by heart. But when game-type practices were introduced it was directly following from the drill, without the steady progression of opposition and SSthen directional playS, which is the methodology of Premier Skills coaching.
In my experience, this is the coaching procedure given to the majority of young players in this country outside the professional ranks, and I that, from the coaching presentation which I attended, it is prevalent at the top level as well. Without the coaching structure as laid down by Premier Skills being adopted nationwide at all levels, then I do not expect to see our playing standards improve any time soon.
It would be interesting from an historical perspective to fly over groups of young players playing street football in London/Rome/Madrid/Amsterdam/Paris/Buenos Aires/Montevedio/Santiago/Rio etc over a lengthy time period – essentially time travel – and see the different nuances employed by the young players 70 years ago, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20 years ago… to also make a comparison… and as sure as we can be sure that the Pope’s a catholic there would be gaping differences and I suspect that the English kids would still have been at the bottom rung of the ‘technique/skill and game understanding’ food chain of our game because of their deficiencies and their in-bred mentality… And in more recent times this time-travel would be more stark a negative reality of the English game …what Premier Skills promotes is the game-within-a-game style of individual expression and the collective seen in the bygone years of Rome/Rio and the like…Football may be an international language…but the ENGLISH VERSION OF FOOTBALL IS GOBBLEDYGOOK.
Emulating street football can only be achieved by more game time
Spanish academies play more matches (different formats) than their English counterparts and their game isnt fightball..
Hi Dirk. Street football was usually small-sided and played in small areas…. playing in large spaces made it a game of endurance and not of skill. Yes it was a game, but it also provided practice opportunities for players to develop realistic playing decisions, skills, def/att tactics, goalkeeping as well as improve fitness and agility. Players’ were practising whilst playing in concentrated situations.
Match-play, is more structured and tends to restrict players in terms of movement and innovation plus the over importance of winning … no matter how!
The present Spanish style of play was introduced from a Dutch influence and the playing quality one now sees has been created over many years through the continuance of correct practice methods allied to game-related methods suitably progressed for each age level………………. this is how Premier Skills development programs have been created. ………..Remember, a match should be an examination of practice completed or being undertaken at the time. Too much playing without understanding is what ‘s been happening here resulting in simplistic play from players with only mediocre playing standards……… they are trying to play a game with neither the understanding nor the skills to play it.
Hi Brazil94….
You refer to the ” deficiencies and in-bred mentality” of English kids with regard to the playing of football, even going back 70 years.
I don’t think that there is anything “in-bred” with regard to our approach to the game.We may have an in-bred aggression and will-to-win, but those are strengths, envied by many other football nations around the world. Our lack of craft and game understanding comes from the wrong form of teaching which has followed the demise of street football, a point underlined so many times on this blog by John Cartwright.
The English Premier League is over-hyped, although the speed and physicality make it popular to many fans around the world, especialyy in Asia, Austral-Asia and America where their football is of an inferior grade.
Below the Premier League the football is often depressingly poor and many games totally devoid of the arts and crafts of the game. But occasionally you see a piece of play which stands out like a beacon, and shows that even below the rich pastures of our Premier League it is quite possible to coach and encourage good technical skill and imagination. I thought that last Friday’s televised Championship fixture, Cardiff City-Huddersfield Town, provided a good example. About half way inside the Cardiff half, Huddersfield’s Sean Scannell was hemmed into the left hand touch line by a Cardiff defender and he was also facing away from the Cardiff goal. But Scannell got himself between the ball and defender and, using his left arm as an antenna to maintain his distance from the marker, Scannell created the time for his left back to make an overlapping run around his outside. As the left back was going past him, Scannell slid his right foot over the top of the ball and placed it perfectly into the path of his left back who was now clear of the right hand side of the Cardiff defence.
This was not a piece of play that required ‘out of this world’ talent, but technical ability and awareness from Scannell which once came from street football in this country, (long defenct), or the dusty waste areas of Buenos Airies or Rio de Janeiro. Since Scannell does not fall into either of these categories then, clearly, he has received coaching to enable him to recognise the situation and the technical ability to carry it out. The other point was that he was actually standing still in the execution of this piece of play. So much of our coaching revolves around getting players to do everything at 100 miles per hour, without considering that often we can reduce the pace to less than walking speed, or stationery, to outwit the opposition.
The point i am making is that this was a piece of skill performed by an English player outside the Premier League, so the raw material is there if, as coaches, we know how to make the best use of it.
The in-bred mentality is hurling around like you say Steve at 100 mph…the physical aggression stuff that is there in abundance…the subtlety and cleverness are more likely now to be found elsewhere…unless encouraged by coaching or the odd natural ‘spark’. And you state the raw material is there; ever was thus – and because of the decline in street football the TEACHING MUST BE GOOD. Here’s the deal.. take all the world’s babies born today, they all start at the same point ‘football wise!’.. BUT where will they end up if developed/coached in London? Rome? Madrid? Amsterdam? Rio? or Buenos Aires?
I do think that people are starting to ask questions .. The tree needs shaking… The cage needs rattling… Are the FA’s development and methodology put together by the best coaches and football brains like the Dutch did ? Who are these people… We’re people like Glenn hoddle , terry venables, john Barnes , Eric Harrison , John Cartwright involved in designing the newer youth modules…. Do they fit together seamlessly with the FA level 1 and 2 programme … Why do we have a skills scheme thats separate from the level 1,2,3 and youth modules that so few children can access so does the coach for the skills scheme need different training… If so why … Has anyone reading this blog lived or coached or studied player development in brazil, holland, argentina or Spain… Why do they have and continually develop more imaginative, skilful players than we do… What have the Germans done to there system… They are playing a far more attractive brand of football nowadays ? In the top 4 teams how many of the most creative players are English, British
These are the questions I ask myself… Yes the raw materiel is out there but are we polishing precious stones or rocks?
Hi Robbiewizz. You ask important questions; questions that have been ignored for many decades in this country. We continually see ‘tinkerings’ with development that make little or no influence on the playing quality of those partaking in the work that is provided for up and coming young talent. The latest and most expensive ‘project’, St George’s at Burton, is a ‘roof’ without supports. Where is the carefully constructed infrastructure for develoment throughout the country that can deliver elite quality?
The problem we have is poor coaching methods that have been introduced without sufficient thought or practical experience. The game in most other parts of the world is expected to display artistic craft, whilst here effort overrides in importance all other playing qualities.
Hi Robbiewizz….I fully agree with you that more and more people are starting to ask questions; the growth of Premier Skills is proof of that. I have always thought that the strength of Premier skills is the immediate impact of Level 1. There is so much technical content but presented in such a way as to promote a gradual introduction to your players, whatever their level of ability. The corresponding Level 1 of the FA Coaching Scheme, in my experience, is merely a collection of games. It does not educate the newly-interested/volunteer/parent coaches. It’s as if the FA are saying – “here you are, here’s a collection of games to use with your children which will help them to develop skills required in the playing of football”.
The result is that the junior team coaches who become properly interested and want to progress further, then so often turn to the profusion of coaching books which describe numerous drills and as a result we get so many young players progressing through junior football who have been brought up exclusively on drills. Hence the mediocre playing standards which we are suffering, resulting from this simplistic approach to the game which has been developed.
I recently attended a coaching clinic presented by a prominent coach from the professional game. He presented a whole selection of drill-type practices for the assembled coaches, who were all from local junior clubs. His coaching approach was concise and clear and he displayed patience and consideration with the children who had been provided for the event. But it was a collection of drills. He did show some small sided game coaching but this was not a transference from the drills, but something that stood alone from the rest of the work. There was a stark difference with the steady progression of the Premier Skills approach, from Small Group Practice, Small Area Practice to Game Practice.
Sometimes the young players had difficulty getting the passing sequence right in a particular drill, but the coach persevered patiently until they had mastered it. But I thought, are they getting better at playing the game, or are they getting better at performing that particular
drill? I think that it was the latter.
I believe that this situation has arisen because we do not have a recognised coaching approach in this country. Various people spring up from time to time with their own online, DVD or book version of a particular coaching methodology. The FA provide the qualifications which you need if you are looking for a coaching job in the local school/youth club or at a Premier League club, but there is no truly ognised coaching approach.
But now there is Premier Skills and I see it as the only hope for football in this country.