Bruce sees the future more clearly than Dyke and his blurred vision
Commissions will not solve the youth crisis in English football. managers will, owners will, coaches will. on February 21, Hull City appointed Tony Pennock, a former journeyman goalkeeper from the lower leagues, most famous for a horrible mistake in goal for Yeovil Town, much beloved by compilers of blooper reels.
Hull poached Pennock from swansea City but as he wasn’t a player the news garnered no headlines nationally. Felix magath was the new manager of Fulham, and Wayne Rooney was on the point of signing his new contract that day. Pennock’s title is academy and community manager. Put the word community into any job title in football and eyes glaze over. The national media passed over the announcement and the local newspaper rated it worthy of no more than six paragraphs.
Yet even in a season when Hull have reached Europe and, on saturday, make their first appearance in an FA Cup final, Pennock’s arrival may be the most significant development at the club in decades. The role of the new man is to arrest a barren period stretching back to march 25, 2000.
on that day, occupying 18th place in the fourth tier of English football, Hull lost 1-0 at home to Darlington. A teenage central midfield player called Adam Bolder was in the side. He was sold to Derby County two days later. And this remains the last time a local player rising through the youth ranks reached 20 appearances for Hull City; 14 years ago.
it is not as if Hull have been charting a wholly stellar path since, either. Fortunes have greatly improved of late — as the Wembley fixture with Arsenal indicates — but the time since Bolder’s last game still includes four full seasons in the fourth tier, one in tier three and another six in what is now called the Championship. And still no local heroes.
This is what Pennock has been charged to address, by manager steve Bruce. A former manchester United captain, who saw first-hand the impact a vibrant youth policy can have on a club, Bruce’s take on Hull’s homegrown void is straightforward. ‘Where are all the young players from Hull?’ he asked. ‘There are too many chimney pots here for there not to be any footballers.’
And he is right, of course. Hull City has a huge catchment area in East Yorkshire, rising north to middlesbrough and west to Leeds. A local penchant for rugby league offers no explanation, either. The whole north West has to put up with competition from the oval ball, and it is not as if those clubs are bereft. Bruce has now ordered what has been termed a root-and-branch review of how Hull scout for players in the under-eight to under-16 age groups.
The aim is to create a category two standard academy, which is what Pennock did at swansea. At the moment, Hull are the only category three club in the Premier League, and pitch their young players in with scunthorpe United and Burton Albion, not the top tier. obviously, that has an effect. The focus from here will be on local areas, too, such as the workingclass constituency of East Hull and Holderness, north of the city, rather than familiar hunting grounds in ireland.
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has begun by sounding out leading youth-team coaches in the Hull Boys’ sunday League, feeding new names into junior structures that Bruce has been determinedly overhauling. Hull now have the beginnings of a youth development squad in the under 21 age group, under the guidance of stephen Clemence.
seriously, though, what took them so long? The most mystifying element of this is how a club like Hull — and there will be many others that are similar — became so detached from football’s essence that they have gone 14 years without producing a player worthy of their shirt?
Greg Dyke (right), the Football Association chairman, said he found the thought of manchester City winning the league depressing, because only two of their first- team regulars, Joe Hart and James milner, are English. Yet at least clubs pursuing a place among the elite have mitigation for the number of expensive imports in their team. They are looking to compete with Real madrid or manchester United and that is not going to happen in the current climate without substantial cost.
Yet why were no players coming through at Hull when the club were in the fourth tier? That is the question Bruce has been asking. ‘We’re going to have to improve the whole youth structure,’ he said. ‘We need to push it along and start producing our own.’
This is why the hasty response of Dyke’s commission, with its talk of B-team leagues and feeder clubs, is so misjudged. Correction is coming, naturally, because a combination of homegrown player rules and financial fair play make the old ways unworkable. Abolish the loan system to prevent stockpiling and we would almost be home. Change will happen because Hull will start next season’s Europa League campaign with a squad of 21, not 25, as UEFA insist four players must have been developed by the club. nobody fits the bill beside fourth-choice goalkeeper mark oxley, who is now ineligible having spent last season on loan at oldham Athletic.
Clearly, this cannot go on, but a B league or an arrangement with Lincoln City would not solve it. Getting the numbers of young English players up is about individual will: a manager who realises resource-sapping use of the transfer market is inefficient, an owner who is willing to back a long-term plan with the necessary investment. on
July 1, Hull City’s academy will relocate to Bishop Burton, a further education college specialising in agricultural and equine matters and possessing outstanding sports facilities. a way forward is emerging.
Howard Wilkinson, one of the commission members, joined dyke in his gloomy presumption that english participation will continue on a downward trend. Yet that is not the present mood. it is precisely because young players are beginning to come through that roy Hodgson has been able to name england’s youngest World Cup squad since 1958. any club who are not, right now, ploughing resources into youth development are out of step with current trends.
dyke, too, picked the wrong target in Manchester City last weekend. He should not be depressed by them. no club in the Premier League have shown greater long-term commitment to youth than the current champions. Cynics may regard the etihad Campus as little more than a Pr exercise, but there is tangible impact and progress which suggests, whatever the motives, the results will be hugely beneficial to the english game.
There are two projects at Manchester City. The short-term throwing of money at world-class players to get inside the gates of the Champions League castle before the elite clubs and UeFa upped the drawbridge; and the long-term establishment of an academy providing future generations of players, without the need for huge spending.
on sunday, after dyke had singled out City for criticism, the club made a firm counterpoint by having their Premier League trophy carried out by three english representatives — two of them captains and with the club since primary school age — of their very successful under- 11, under-14 and under-18 teams, who are all national champions. in addition, Manchester City’s under-16 team now holds the record for the most england junior internationals from one club in a season: seven.
so while City may not be the finest standard-bearers for english football right now, the hope is for change and the club are investing in making that change. Like Hull, they may only be on the ground floor, but concepts such as the elite player performance plan and the changes to pitch and goal sizes at junior levels are in their infancy, too.
only 24 per cent of the starting players in the Premier League were english this year. ‘do we wait until that becomes 20 per cent, or 18 per cent?’ asked dyke. no, because it won’t. The tide is turning. english football does not need another big idea. a few hundred little ones will work just as well.