My manager of my team said he thought I could go a further in the game but that is beside the point..The point being there was and is still (maybe not as many as there used to be)thousands of kids, ****agers and even later playing this great game of football in local amateur leagues across the UK and the world, all to varying standards depending on age, ability, physique, determination, fitness and enthusiasm. And not a coach or coaching manual in sight. We were Championship, L1 and now L2 where Chester beat us easily pre season...OK one off maybe but people say the standard of the National League is not much different to L2...I don't know but the players in the PL and elsewhere across the world are not there because of coaching because IF it were, then everyone would be a similar standard and so its obvious what makes the difference. I'm not telling whom I played for because I have great affection still for the two or three teams I played for...and don't want them denigrated by people who were not around or even if they were!
Of course anyone under 50 say, will have no idea of what standard of football was around in the 'old days' and are brought up thinking that 'coaching' is the answer and the ones who are employed in that business won't disagree will they but I just say look at the evidence we have now in the UK with the England team and the PL and how much is being spent on academies in the UK nowadays...5 million per PL team? 2 million CC, over 1 million the ones like us and so that is way over a hundred million pounds PER year and so maybe when some really talented kids come through it may seem worthwhile but it won't be because of 'coaching' its because they had natural ability..It why we may have many lean years and some good ones because that was true then as it is now...
Its why the Category of academy has NO bearing on who comes through...and why its pointless spending millions on kids that won't make it? We can see that even now here..