Originally Posted by gazzae

Money could and probably is part of the problem but I think a lot of it stems from the fact that coaches put more emphases on fitness than actually playing the sport. When I was at school football training was a lot of running and then maybe, if we were lucky, the balls would come out towards the end. As a result the UK produces a lot of players who can run 10 miles but have poor ball control.

Plus with the youth player rules in UK football where under 12's have to live within an hour of the club and under 16's having to live within 90 minutes of the club means that if a manager can't find a young player who lives within these ranges then hes more likely to look abroad where these restrictions don't apply.

Anyway this is for another thread.