After successfully qualifying for the world cup in Brazil next year Roy Hodgson, now has the opportunity to experiment with his squad in friendlies against Chile and Germany this month. With the pressure now seemingly off, many pundits speculated about which different players they would like to see be given a chance. The list included Saido Berahino of West Bromwich Albion and Fabien Delph of Aston Villa. Whilst these names were overlooked, Hogdson did pick high-flying Southampton trio Adam Lallana and Jay Rodriguez and Rickie Lambert.
After the start to the season enjoyed by Southampton there can be no doubting that on current form all three are well worth their place in the squad and have earned the opportunity to stake a claim to a place on the plane to Rio. Yet as usual the English media has gone overboard. Heralding Southampton as the brave defenders of English football, flying the flag for English players when the rest of the Premier League is buying from abroad.
‘In an era when Barclays Premier League clubs seem obsessed with foreign imports, Southampton are supplying ready-made talent for the England team,’ writes Neil Ashton in the Daily Mail, quoting Rickie Lambert saying that “a lot of chairmen bring in foreign players and that is a shame”.
Southampton spent £26m this summer on a Croatian, a Kenyan and an Italian. They sent Englishmen Billy Sharp and Jason Puncheon out on loan and released Englishmen Tommy Forecast, Sam Hoskins, Ben Reeves, Richard Chaplow, Danny Seaborne, Ryan Dickson, Frazer Richardson, Danny Butterfield and Dean Hammond.
They do not have an unswerving commitment to English football; they have a commitment to good English footballers who they can augment with expensive foreign imports. LIKE EVERY OTHER CLUB.
This really highlights just how important FootieBugs is to the development of young players in England and the UK. No club even one with an academy as prolific as Southampton’s will sign players purely because they are English. They sign players based on ability. Therefore it is the job of FootieBugs to improve the ability of as many children in the UK as possible giving the national sides a much better chance, and making home grown talent preferable to bringing players in from abroad.
At FootieBugs your child is experiencing high level coaching and working constantly with the ball. They are gaining confidence and being encouraged to use their imagination. No other programme provides this type of coaching. As the national team’s results prove time and time again, the traditional methods have not yielded the results we would have hoped for. FootieBugs with its ground breaking approach to coaching and developing children could be why in fifteen years times, clubs will be committed to home grown talent… because it is better.
