General Football 2013

[Frenchie]

Maybe its just my area then. My kids in a private school and all the local leagues are organized by the private schools. It's very rare for any of the coaches to have any kind of footballing qualification and their is no development plan for the kids, no pathway for them to take.

What about your point regarding pitch sizes? Do they gradually increase the size of pitch in Guadalajara as you say, and I agree, should be done? Or is it like here, half size pitch ages 6 to 11 and then a full size pitch after that?

No it's 6- 11 small fussbal pitches then half size then full size at 14-16, actually it's the same for tennis. It's a throwback to the Pan-American games last year, there was a 5 year build-up and overhaul here..

[Arn]

Champions League: Sami Hyypia questions Premier League 'passion'





Bayer Leverkusen coach Sami Hyypia believes that some of the 'passion' has gone from the Premier League as he prepares to face Manchester United.

The former Liverpool defender, whose final start for the Merseyside club came in their 4-1 success at Old Trafford in March 2009, is back in England for Tuesday night's UEFA Champions League Group A opener against the Red Devils.

And the rookie boss, who moved to Leverkusen as a player at the end of his Anfield career before being recently fast-tracked into the hot-seat, claims the focus of some players in England may not always be on football.

"I saw a few games recently and I wondered if they were trying hard enough," he told the Daily Telegraph. "Somehow the passion was not there.

"This was always the trademark of the English game - the tempo was high and there were tackles. But this time I was thinking: 'What's happening?'

"Maybe it has developed in the wrong direction, that when a player goes somewhere and he is earning £200,000 a week, he is happy just to get the money.

"Maybe the focus of playing football is the second most important thing. Maybe players are not working hard, not putting their heart into the game."

Hyypia admits that there is a huge transition in making the step from player to manager, but it one he is relishing at the age of just 39.

"As a player, it was much easier," he admitted. "You came to training half an hour before, somebody told you what to do, and after training you headed to the shower and went home.

"Now you have to plan, instruct, think constantly about the next day, the next week, the next game. It's wonderful that I was given this case. I didn't expect it, and everything happened very quickly."

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/8924925/

[Norbs]

Has it really been 4 and a half years

[Arn]

I don't think that I ever will respect a player as much as I respect Sami.

Great to see that Leverkusen started the season very good, four wins and one defeat.

[Darkon]

One of my favorite players ever - hope to see him manage us one day in the future.

[lickedlollipop]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrBnTlesjHk"]rb leipzig - vfb stuttgart II september 2013 1:0 frahn - YouTube[/ame]

[Fivex]

There's an article up on the BBC site about the World Cup being moved to winter. Loads of comments as you'd expect and the moderators are removing every post that mentions the word 'Conspiracy'.

[RedAndWhite]

There's an article up on the BBC site about the World Cup being moved to winter. Loads of comments as you'd expect and the moderators are removing every post that mentions the word 'Conspiracy'.

I see Platini is now in favour of the winter world cup.

But the FIFA vice-President has said it could be moved to another country due to "political" pressure, based upon economic interests, during the decision process. Or as me and you call it - being bought off.

[Chazza]

FA debate on English football to look at lower league 'feeder clubs'
• Dearth of English players in top-flight worries Greg Dyke
• Continental B-team concept to be controversial in England

The feasibility of Premier League sides having a formal relationship with "feeder clubs" lower down the league pyramid is likely to be part of the debate about English football's future instigated by the Football Association.

The new FA chairman, Greg Dyke, this month announced a commission to look at ways of arresting the alarming decline in English players playing top-flight football. As part of that review, it is expected the merits of feeder clubs – and even the concept of formal "B teams" that has long been commonplace on the continent – will be examined.

Senior figures responsible for youth development at Premier League clubs are pushing for more formal relationships between Premier League sides and lower league clubs. They believe it could help alleviate the financial difficulties of many lower league clubs and at the same time provide a useful outlet for promising 17- to 21-year-olds schooled in new upgraded Premier League academies to play more competitive football.

The advantage over the existing and often chaotic loan system would be that the flow of players could be more tightly monitored and a feeder club could share a playing style and culture with its top-flight brethren.

Any such proposal would be controversial with Football League clubs and even the most enthusiastic proponents accepting that introducing B teams named after their parent clubs, as is commonplace in Spain, Germany and France, is likely to be a non-starter in England.

But a system modelled on the Dutch league, where Ajax have a formal link with Almere City that allows several players to go on loan every season to assist their development, is considered perhaps more viable.

In Spain, La Liga clubs are allowed to have B sides in the professional pyramid up to Liga B, while in France they can play up to the third tier.

The debate is likely to be framed as part of a wider look at the loan system and whether it best serves the development of young players for the national side. An increasing number of Premier League clubs loan out young players to Football League clubs and abroad in a bid to give them more competitive action, with mixed results.

Chelsea currently have 25 players out on loan, while Manchester City have 14 and Spurs 10. Proponents of the idea are likely to ask the commission whether those players would be better served by being grouped at a single club rather than spread across several.

But the concept could have severe ramifications and would pose some difficult questions for the Football League. Nevertheless, there is believed to be enough support for the concept across various Premier League clubs for the proposal to be among those debated by Dyke's commission, which has promised to report its finding in the New Year.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/sep/19/fa-english-football-feeder-clubs

[Arn]

Should have happened years ago when Rafa suggested it.

[Chazza]

[Chazza]

[Vermilion]

brilliant. In the Wenger/Bould one, the bloke behind them in the middle looks like his face has been swapped too, but with who ?

[Liverpel]

[Arn]

PSG vs Monaco 1-0

Zlatan scored the goal