We used to be streets ahead before cones
A square, a triangle or a diamond.
Right there you have it, football systems made simple.
Why are we trying to recreate the wheel here in Scotland where the talk all week has been about the national team’s back three, or four or whatever.
Systems have never lost me a game, but mistakes from plenty of players have.
It never used to be so complicated but everyone is an expert these days. I’ll let you into a secret – most of it is nonsense.
Grassroots football resumed this weekend after the lockdown and that is a huge relief for everyone.
We want to see as many people as possible participating and playing games.
The days when I played 15-a-side up at the local park it was a case of the two best players picking the sides and let’s get on with it.
There were no systems but everyone naturally knew the position that they needed to play.
There were also no age restrictions, if was a free-for-all for young and old. A story of sink or swim in hail, rain or shine. That was how a generation of truly great players learned the game.
It now begs the question over whether we are rearing a similar type of footballing beast in our academies that we once did?
Kenny Dalglish, Gordon Strachan, Denis Law and Archie Gemmill were all superstars but they were products of the street. These days all I hear is bibs, cones, complaints about the weather.
It’s all indoor arenas and the best of facilities.
When I think back I don’t believe I ever played a game of football inside. It would have been laughed at.
Even playing indoor five-a-side games was a real novelty.
I’m not saying we are developing wimps, but the improvements in playing conditions don’t seem to have impacted positively on the level of the players.
Many of the young boys today are really robotic in their approach to the game.
Where are the kids who have the ability to change games? I certainly don’t see many of them.
I try to explain to my own kids what football was like in my day.
If we had proper goals we’d have been lucky, it was usually between two garage doors and played on ash or concrete.
Nobody gave it a second thought. There were also no bibs, you had to use your brain to remember exactly who you were playing with.
You watch superstars like Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, they played with their heads on a swivel. That comes from playing with your mates and older men who would kick you.
That’s how you learn. Teams were picked and we were just allowed to play and use our own minds, it was all about freedom of expression.
It was about lifting your head to recognise a team-mate, not by a bib but by his face and the colour of his jumper.
I keep hearing coaches talk about getting 10,000 hours of working with the ball and the need for that time to become an elite athlete.
But it’s not getting any better.
Where are the kids playing football on the street? Give me a shout if you see one.