For how long has English football been aware of it’s own weaknesses?
From 1963 to 1983 the technical director of the FA was Allen Wade. He taught Don Howe, Bobby Robson, Dave Sexton, Dario Gradi and Roy Hodgson. In 1967 he committed his ideas to a book, rather predictably titled ‘The FA Guide to Training and Coaching’. From here and through these stalwarts of management most of the ideas we still hold true have their foundations.
One might imagine that it is a dusty and outdated tome. To some degree it is, but there are a number of striking passages that could have been written yesterday. For instance, many believe that the idea of skill being something you can learn is new.
“In the past, coaching was ignored because the reservoirs of so-called natural talent seemed limitless. It was subsequently ridiculed, probably because some players, eminent in their time, had not been taught, so it was assumed that no-one could be taught. Had this belief prevailed in the musical field, the development of great instrumentalists would surely have been under a handicap.”
The insights provided by Matthew Syed, Malcolm Gladwell, Daniell Coyle, Anders Ericcson and others, which seems so modern and revolutionary were understood by someone at the FA as far back as 1967. Perhaps he did not articulate it as well as those mentioned above, or choose to place it at the centre of his book, but the understanding that skills are learned was there.
“One of the most important skills which any player can posses is the ability to take on and beat an opponent with the ball. This skill is just as important to a full back as to a winger, yet it is too often ignored at all levels.”
So the acknowledgment of the problems of English football begins. Most people would accept that in 1967 there were more ‘dribblers’ in the game than there are now. Yet he feels it is a neglected skill. If we know that dribbling is neglected and have done for over 45 years, why is nothing done to correct this? Or, perhaps the problem is not the coaching, but the death of street football? While those players of Allen Wade is talking about may not have been coached to dribble, they would have logged hundreds of hours of practice in the street. Something that does not happen in our modern world.
There are passages that forecast the issues at the heart of development.
“Where it was difficult to find a highly skillful passer of the ball, then both inside forwards were withdrawn into the midfield position. In otherwords the defensive and subsequently the negative aspect of play was emphasized. Size, power and speed assumed a great importance in countering skill.”
He is discussing the evolution of Herbert Chapman’s W-M system, which was first used in the 1920s. The obsession with size and speed that is permeated English scouting can be seen in those sentences. Skill having been sacrificed for over 80 years for an emphasis on the physical battle. It can be no great leap that for a country with major wars in it’s near history would find appeal in the idea of scrapping and clawing to victory. An idea so deep rooted can not be easily extricated, the challenge facing modern coaches is a great one, purely because of the amount of historic ideals that have to be over turned.
“Indeed the great teams are able to produce a series of penetrating passes from deep inside it’s own half and the more effective their tactics the fewer these passes will be.”
Though these words are not quite the long ball blue print of Charles Reep, they do carry echoes of this ideal. Allen Wade’s words are warnings. They ascribe what he fears may happen. There are plenty of positive modern ideas. He talks of triangles, of diagonal runs and of young players learning to play in different positions (Ajax were well on their way to prominence by this point). Yet he seems to know that all around him is not right. He believed in a focus on shape rather than on technique, which has steered England towards a team managed by one of his pupils that is hard to beat but lacking in ideas and control of the game.
“Unthinking coaches and players mean, ultimatley, stagnation in the game. Stagnation produces complacency and this must never again be permitted to occur in this country.”
Links –
Charles Reep – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Reep
Allen Wade – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Football-Association-Guide-Training-Coaching/dp/0434835501/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1342791497&sr=8-3
Don Howe – http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-survivor-with-the-knowhow-simon-ohagan-meets-don-howe-the-enduring-figure-in-englands-coaching-setup-1446574.html