Craig Johnston on Sky news

[Jennings]

Did anyone see it?

He was discussing the problems with English football from the international team down to junior football.

It was a very passionate speech.

He totally slated the FA and its seft-reglatory position. He said he has a database of footballing skillsets between youngsters of different nationalities in which England came out so poorly he was asked not to publish the data.

He was clearly passionate and angry about the state of our game. Which was great to see. A great line was when he called the FA 'idiots', he said the government needs to take action and sort the whole FA thing out - he even offered to do it for free.

Well done Craig!

[Colemere]

Spot on - Legened

[Darth Marty]

I love Craig Johnston....he seems to be a very clever man with passionate, sensible ideas. Rafa.....or The F.A.....snap him up!

[johnp]

Did anyone see it?

He was discussing the problems with English football from the international team down to junior football.

It was a very passionate speech.

He totally slated the FA and its seft-reglatory position. He said he has a database of footballing skillsets between youngsters of different nationalities in which England came out so poorly he was asked not to publish the data.

He was clearly passionate and angry about the state of our game. Which was great to see. A great line was when he called the FA 'idiots', he said the government needs to take action and sort the whole FA thing out - he even offered to do it for free.

Well done Craig!

He did an interview on Irish radio about a week ago. Doesn't like the FA. He came up with a skills program for kids and brought it to the FA (or Premier League or someone). They turned it down, but later came up with "their own" program.
Also, he's got another football boot idea, but isn't prepared to deal with Adidas. When he came up with the Predator all Adidas talked about was the bottom line and how much they'd sell it for. All he was interested in was kids playing football.
Also, the fecker came up with that idea for mini bars in hotels, where are soon as you take the drink out of the bar, you're charged
He said he came up with the idea when going away for Liverpool games. The lads used to run into other players rooms and nick the drinks

He talked about his time with Boro and Liverpool. Very interesting with Boro. He went there as a kid and Jack Charlton told him he'd never make it.

"You - kangaroo - you are the worst footballer I have ever seen in my life. You can hop it back home to Australia immediately."

He couldn't tell his parents he failed coz they sold their house to finance him going to England. So he spent months in the carpark practicing. He paid his way by cleaning boots and cars. Eventually he got his chance when Jack left.

Here's an interview with him

http://www.dangerhere.com/gufflog/more.php?id=690_0_1_0_C

Crackin read.

[ronan]

seem to recall his training method to improve his touch was hitting a tennis ball off a wall.
he invested all his money in his new skills school and then lost it all when it was turned down.
think hes been bankrupt a number of times despite all his success but he keeps coming back.

[Joe King]

He got it absolutely spot on. Its all about winning at all costs mentality which is costing the national side. The players are piss poor technically compared to the Italians, Brazilians, Argentinians. I heard Harry Frogface saying that English players are some of the best technical players in the world. Did he watch the game?! FFS.

[Shaggy]

‘We are being conned’


Former Liverpool midfielder Craig Johnston has launched a scathing attack on the FA, insisting they are "conning" the English public.

Australian Johnston, who is heavily involved in coaching young players at grass-roots level, is furious that the FA are conducting their own inquiry into the national game after their failures at the 2006 World Cup and in Euro 2008 qualifying.

Johnston insists an independent body should conduct the inquiry and claims officials and players are taking too much money out of the game.

In a passionate interview on Sky Sports News, he said: "Why am I the only angry person? Everybody's talking, but nobody is putting in a process in place with checks and balances.

"The FA say they want a root and branch inquiry, but they are conducting it. Are you kidding? I haven't forgiven those guys for what they did in Germany with the 'golden generation'.

"They conned us then. They conned us the other night. And now they are going to inquire about themselves? Who is kidding who here?

"In what other industry in the world can you under-achieve so much, but still get paid so much? They are paying off Steve McClaren with a £2.5million bonus for not getting us there and then they will pay themselves for doing an inquiry. We are all being conned.

"I am really angry and somebody independent needs to tell these guys what they are doing. I'm not looking for a job and I don't need a job, but I will do it for nothing.

"Would any of the players ever play for nothing?"

Grass-roots problems

Johnston insists there are major problems at the top of the sport, but it is even worse at grass-roots level where English youngsters are not working hard enough and are being outnumbered in academies by foreign talent.

He added: "It's been going wrong for 30-40 years. When Kevin Keegan was the England manager he made an amazing statement, saying English kids are lazy.

"And the reason the clubs are buying so many foreigners is because they are technically proficient. Just like the Croats the other night. They played better football and that's why they are in the European Championships and England are not.

"They can change the pace of the play because they can hold onto the ball, but English kids give the ball away.

"There is a problem at national level and that is very clear for all to see in terms of touch and feel, but more importantly there is a heart issue.

"We know English teams are best when they come from behind. Look at the rugby players, look at the cricketers when they won the Ashes. But that fighting spirit wasn't there the other night - it was only there for 10 minutes just after David Beckham came on. That was disgraceful.

"I don't know why I'm upset by this because I'm not even English, but I've lived here for 25 years and the country has given me a marvellous living.

"I'm angry, so why aren't English people more angry about what is happening at the national level and at grass roots?

Suicide

"At grass roots there is a much, much bigger problem because the foreign kids are outnumbering the English kids in the academies. That is suicide. You may as well jump off a cliff now because that is wrong.

"Managers aren't stupid. They are bringing foreign players he because they are better than their English counterparts. The kids aren't good enough and that shows you how badly things have been mismanaged by the FA for many, many years.

"The solution is hard work. It's what the Italian kids do, what the Brazilian kids do and what the Argentinean kids do. These kids have no money, no toys and no future. They spend hours and hours with a football until the sun goes down and after.

"Do the English kids do that? No they don't. It hasn't happened since the days of Stanley Matthews. Bobby Charlton will tell kids to draw a cross on a brick wall and hit it with their left foot and with their right foot and keep going until their feet start to bleed."

[Jennings]

Cheers Shaggy, that captures the spirit and the main content of the interview.

Pity it didn't have the bit where he said he would do it for free.

[Jennings]

Here's the link for the video.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,30000-1294032,.html

Dunno how long it will be up for.

[PTP]

Cheers Shaggy, that captures the spirit and the main content of the interview.

Pity it didn't have the bit where he said he would do it for free.

it does

"I am really angry and somebody independent needs to tell these guys what they are doing. I'm not looking for a job and I don't need a job, but I will do it for nothing.

"Would any of the players ever play for nothing?"

[Jennings]

it does

Ahh...so it does. Sorry. :Embarassed:

[PTP]

He did an interview on Irish radio about a week ago. Doesn't like the FA. He came up with a skills program for kids and brought it to the FA (or Premier League or someone). They turned it down, but later came up with "their own" program.
Also, he's got another football boot idea, but isn't prepared to deal with Adidas. When he came up with the Predator all Adidas talked about was the bottom line and how much they'd sell it for. All he was interested in was kids playing football.
Also, the fecker came up with that idea for mini bars in hotels, where are soon as you take the drink out of the bar, you're charged
He said he came up with the idea when going away for Liverpool games. The lads used to run into other players rooms and nick the drinks

He talked about his time with Boro and Liverpool. Very interesting with Boro. He went there as a kid and Jack Charlton told him he'd never make it.
He couldn't tell his parents he failed coz they sold their house to finance him going to England. So he spent months in the carpark practicing. He paid his way by cleaning boots and cars. Eventually he got his chance when Jack left.

Here's an interview with him

http://www.dangerhere.com/gufflog/more.php?id=690_0_1_0_C

Crackin read.

with ref his new boot - yeah i have heard about it, he has developed it and been trying to get it into production/selling for a while - it is called "the pig" cause apparantly when it rains the leather/rubber used 'squels' like a pig when u quick a ball

[FT9]

I dunno why he gives a **** - think he made a cock out of himself there

[ronan]

with ref his new boot - yeah i have heard about it, he has developed it and been trying to get it into production/selling for a while - it is called "the pig" cause apparantly when it rains the leather/rubber used 'squels' like a pig when u quick a ball

modeled on kevin pressman perhaps?

[Darth Marty]

I dunno why he gives a **** - think he made a cock out of himself there

why? for caring? and wanting actions instead of words?
He was ****ing spot on.
Its just a ****ing tragedy that it takes a decent Australian man to show us our ****ing piss poor setup. Im telling you the whole setup is proper ****ed and needs people like Wenger, Houllier, Johnson, Shearer, Beckham, Charlton et al to become involved as "the next FA" as it were and start things off from scratch. There would be more passion and knowledge in that 6 than the whole of the current FA put together.
****wits.