FA teaching Southgate, Boothroyd etc how to understand and communicate with the new breed of young footballer
GARETH SOUTHGATE and his England coaches are getting lessons in how to deal with Generation Z.
With so many youngsters bursting onto the international scene, including teenage full cap Jadon Sancho, the FA are making sure their coaches can get down with the kids.
Borussia Dortmund star Sancho is the first senior cap born this century and others including Manchester City’s Phil Foden will follow suit.
That has prompted the FA to ensure their team managers, from Southgate to U-21 boss Aidy Boothroyd, understand the culture and ways of their youngsters - far removed from when they were players.
The FA lectured key staff on Generation Z on Monday. It’s the latest generation after the Millennials or Generation Y and includes youngsters born around the turn of the century. Generation Z have a shorter attention span than millennials but can work with multiple distractions.
They also want to achieve quickly, are entrepreneurial and have a global outlook.
The talk was part of the FA’s drive to improve their coaching work and better understand the new breed of footballer.
Boothroyd explained: “Our ‘Peoples and Team’ lady, Rebecca Symes did a study on generational gaps. When people were born, baby boomers, Generation X and these (kids) are Generation Z. Us middle-agers! It was fascinating to see it. A lot of the lads wouldn’t have even been born when Sol Campbell (helping coach U-21s) started. Gareth came and gave a talk once about 1996, a couple of years ago.
“We suddenly realised that when he walked out of the room, none of them were old enough to understand what he was going on about because they were so young!
“The whole point of the talk was to have an understanding of how we communicate and what we expect, and what they actually are, and do.”
Boothroyd is backing one of Gen Z Reiss Nelson - to make a big impact on his England U-21 squad.
Nelson, on loan from Arsenal, has netted six goals in seven league games for Hoffenheim this season. The 18-year-old is now in contention for England’s U-21 Euro campaign in Italy this summer, and is likely to figure in the friendly against the hosts tomorrow.
On Nelson’s heroics, Boothroyd said: “He is doing really well scoring, playing well. His German is coming on a bundle too. I have spoken to him earlier and I didn’t know what he was talking about! “He is enjoying his football. He loves coming here. We had a chat. I will probably go to the Borussia Monchengladbach versus Hoffenheim game in December. Sample it myself, and spend some time with him.”
Boothroyd has a huge pool of talent to choose from for next summer. He said: “We have a long list of 33 players who we track and keep an eye on. Because of the quality we have we are going to have to go bigger than that to make sure we see everyone. There are one or two in younger age groups who could come into it. I know the core of the team - seven, eight or nine players. Then around that it will be exceptional players.”