English football in danger of losing its soul
telegraph
Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor says game is 'in danger of losing its soul'
English football is in danger of losing its soul because of selfish players, avaricious owners and managers obsessed with the short term, according to one of the games leading power brokers, Gordon Taylor, of the Professional Footballers Association.
The summer has seen player power writ large again in the behaviour of Luis Suárez, Wayne Rooney, Gareth Bale and Papiss Cissé. Clubs tour the world, chasing the baht, yen and dollar.
Assorted troubles continue to bedevil the game from racism to the fleecing of fans to Englands latest stumble. No wonder Taylors mood on the eve of the new season strayed into the dark and mournful.
In a broad critique of modern football, the chief executive of the players union turned his disapproving gaze first on his own members.
The players dont know how lucky they are nowadays, said Taylor. I went the other day to see one of our former players, Gary Parkinson, who played for Bolton, Preston, Burnley, Blackpool, Middlesbrough. He was working with youngsters at Blackpool all hours and had a stroke [in 2010]. Terrible.
He has locked-in syndrome. A speech therapist, whos really good, has been working with him, using ice lollies to work his mouth open.
Gary can now move his tongue. The difference in him is brilliant. I went to see him the other day and drove away, thinking of some of the cases Ive got [with awkward players].
It would just be good if I could say, Just come with me this morning and youd really appreciate what youve got. You owe the game a bit. You dont need all this, prospective moves, refusal to wear a shirt, different problems with lads twittering because they are not in the team. Try to be a bit more professional.
Taylor paused. He knows the national game still has plenty of positives.
Football hasnt completely lost its soul when you see football helping Gary Parkinson. The support from all his clubs has been fantastic.
"The way the sport rallied around Fabrice Muamba showed the soul is still there. But we need a few more fairytales like Kevin Phillips, a lad still going strong at 40, scoring in the [Championship] play-off final.
We dont have a divine right to be that major participant sport. The biggest problem is youngsters. Rather than being couch potatoes, and getting a buzz from drugs, they should be shown how to get involved in sport, particularly football, to see the benefits of team spirit and making a living at it.
He said it was unbelievable how English football had retained its popularity, but we need to encourage a lot of youngsters to aspire to be Kenny Davenport. Who Davenport was the Bolton Wanderers inside forward now credited with scoring the first ever league goal in 1888 when the Football League began. This was a particular delight for Taylor, himself a Wanderer of old.
Yet Taylor knows that Davenport, a modest Bolton boy, would struggle to recognise the millionaire modern footballer. Its hard enough for the likes of Tom Finney and Jimmy Armfield to recognise the modern footballer, sighed the PFA chief executive.
Its my job to protect players but when you think what some players earn, I do feel we need to get them to embrace a lot more responsibility for leaving the game in a better place than when they joined it, being more like Kenny Davenport.
"Tom Finney, an icon, earned less in his career than some of the modern players do in a week and that it is really [wrong] with the contribution they make.
Next year we will be remembering 100 years since the First World War when a lot of footballers died. Our Donald Bell, the first player to sign up, won the Victoria Cross [for subduing a German machine-gun nest at the Somme].
"Its a time of trying to remember that football is a sport, an entertainment. Football has a real social responsibility for bringing people together in a world where there are a lot of tensions, whether economic, racist, religious, political.
"We have to show the best possible example as the Olympics did and a lot of other sports do. Football has to work really hard to put a smile on peoples faces and not just be so focused on money.
Taylor had a warning for the money-driven Premier League.
Everything is in danger of losing its soul if youre always going to sell out to the highest bidder. The Church of England is diving in now [over Wonga].
"Football has got its biggest job to keep the soul of the game. To have the highest aggregate attendances in the world for a small island is phenomenal but we dont have a divine right to be that major spectator sport.
Fans deserved better treatment. Supporters really are the lifeblood of the game. We need to make sure we dont alienate supporters.
He said Greg Dyke, the new FA chairman, has to work hard with the Premier League and Football League to make sure supporters are properly represented and when travelling away they get concessions rather than being asked to pay more.
Like fans, England are not being helped enough by clubs, according to Taylor.
When you see the turnover in managers and owners wanting success yesterday, wanting ready-made players, with no time and no patience to develop youngsters, Im quite fearful for the future.
"Sunderland have suddenly got a whole new squad, with a network of agents. Not too many youngsters are given a chance.
You see Germany with the way theyve looked at their balance sheets and the way theyve developed youngsters. Financial Fair Play is a move in the right direction.
"I hope we can evolve. I dont see why the Premier League cant do some tweaking and making sure clubs play a certain number of those who have been in a youth-development programme, irrespective of nationality, 16 to 21. Not just in the squad thats not the cutting edge but actually starting a game.
We need managers to stay and youth-team coaches to stay. You see the benefits of security of tenure. Alex Ferguson was a shining example. Ive lost count of how many managers and chief execs Blackburn have had.
"How anybody can expect to achieve success with constant instability is beyond me.
English football is in danger of losing its soul because of selfish players, avaricious owners and managers obsessed with the short term, according to one of the games leading power brokers, Gordon Taylor, of the Professional Footballers Association.
The summer has seen player power writ large again in the behaviour of Luis Suárez, Wayne Rooney, Gareth Bale and Papiss Cissé. Clubs tour the world, chasing the baht, yen and dollar.
Assorted troubles continue to bedevil the game from racism to the fleecing of fans to Englands latest stumble. No wonder Taylors mood on the eve of the new season strayed into the dark and mournful.
In a broad critique of modern football, the chief executive of the players union turned his disapproving gaze first on his own members.
The players dont know how lucky they are nowadays, said Taylor. I went the other day to see one of our former players, Gary Parkinson, who played for Bolton, Preston, Burnley, Blackpool, Middlesbrough. He was working with youngsters at Blackpool all hours and had a stroke [in 2010]. Terrible.
He has locked-in syndrome. A speech therapist, whos really good, has been working with him, using ice lollies to work his mouth open.
Gary can now move his tongue. The difference in him is brilliant. I went to see him the other day and drove away, thinking of some of the cases Ive got [with awkward players].
It would just be good if I could say, Just come with me this morning and youd really appreciate what youve got. You owe the game a bit. You dont need all this, prospective moves, refusal to wear a shirt, different problems with lads twittering because they are not in the team. Try to be a bit more professional.
Taylor paused. He knows the national game still has plenty of positives.
Football hasnt completely lost its soul when you see football helping Gary Parkinson. The support from all his clubs has been fantastic.
"The way the sport rallied around Fabrice Muamba showed the soul is still there. But we need a few more fairytales like Kevin Phillips, a lad still going strong at 40, scoring in the [Championship] play-off final.
We dont have a divine right to be that major participant sport. The biggest problem is youngsters. Rather than being couch potatoes, and getting a buzz from drugs, they should be shown how to get involved in sport, particularly football, to see the benefits of team spirit and making a living at it.
He said it was unbelievable how English football had retained its popularity, but we need to encourage a lot of youngsters to aspire to be Kenny Davenport. Who Davenport was the Bolton Wanderers inside forward now credited with scoring the first ever league goal in 1888 when the Football League began. This was a particular delight for Taylor, himself a Wanderer of old.
Yet Taylor knows that Davenport, a modest Bolton boy, would struggle to recognise the millionaire modern footballer. Its hard enough for the likes of Tom Finney and Jimmy Armfield to recognise the modern footballer, sighed the PFA chief executive.
Its my job to protect players but when you think what some players earn, I do feel we need to get them to embrace a lot more responsibility for leaving the game in a better place than when they joined it, being more like Kenny Davenport.
"Tom Finney, an icon, earned less in his career than some of the modern players do in a week and that it is really [wrong] with the contribution they make.
Next year we will be remembering 100 years since the First World War when a lot of footballers died. Our Donald Bell, the first player to sign up, won the Victoria Cross [for subduing a German machine-gun nest at the Somme].
"Its a time of trying to remember that football is a sport, an entertainment. Football has a real social responsibility for bringing people together in a world where there are a lot of tensions, whether economic, racist, religious, political.
"We have to show the best possible example as the Olympics did and a lot of other sports do. Football has to work really hard to put a smile on peoples faces and not just be so focused on money.
Taylor had a warning for the money-driven Premier League.
Everything is in danger of losing its soul if youre always going to sell out to the highest bidder. The Church of England is diving in now [over Wonga].
"Football has got its biggest job to keep the soul of the game. To have the highest aggregate attendances in the world for a small island is phenomenal but we dont have a divine right to be that major spectator sport.
Fans deserved better treatment. Supporters really are the lifeblood of the game. We need to make sure we dont alienate supporters.
He said Greg Dyke, the new FA chairman, has to work hard with the Premier League and Football League to make sure supporters are properly represented and when travelling away they get concessions rather than being asked to pay more.
Like fans, England are not being helped enough by clubs, according to Taylor.
When you see the turnover in managers and owners wanting success yesterday, wanting ready-made players, with no time and no patience to develop youngsters, Im quite fearful for the future.
"Sunderland have suddenly got a whole new squad, with a network of agents. Not too many youngsters are given a chance.
You see Germany with the way theyve looked at their balance sheets and the way theyve developed youngsters. Financial Fair Play is a move in the right direction.
"I hope we can evolve. I dont see why the Premier League cant do some tweaking and making sure clubs play a certain number of those who have been in a youth-development programme, irrespective of nationality, 16 to 21. Not just in the squad thats not the cutting edge but actually starting a game.
We need managers to stay and youth-team coaches to stay. You see the benefits of security of tenure. Alex Ferguson was a shining example. Ive lost count of how many managers and chief execs Blackburn have had.
"How anybody can expect to achieve success with constant instability is beyond me.
