Euro 2016: Chris Waddle says academies are still failing English football

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Six years ago this summer, Chris Waddle had some strong words for the Football Association. Following England’s dismal 2010 World Cup in South Africa, he charged the governing body with ‘a lack of ideas’. The phrase ‘sitting on their backsides’ was also mentioned.

In the following years, a commission was formed, a ‘philosophy’ was drawn up, St. George’s Park became operational and – by hook or by crook – a fragile sense of optimism has formed ahead of this summer’s campaign at Euro 2016.

However, one of the few Englishmen to reach the sharp end of international tournament since 1966 sees little improvement – particularly in the field of youth coaching.

“I'm still not a great lover of the academies,” Waddle, who was speaking at The Three Lions pub as part of Carlsberg’s ‘Pubstitutions’ campaign, said.

“I don't think they produce the talent they're supposed to. We're talking about wingers, players who can pick the ball up and do something with it. We don't have them.

“We used to produce them all the time. Every club had clever players, who could dribble and take people on but we've gone away from that. Now it's passing and two-touch football. All the talented players, where do they come from?

They used to come from Waddle’s native north-east. At the 1990 World Cup, he was joined by four others from the region – Bryan Robson, Peter Beardsley, Paul Gascoigne and Trevor Steven. All, of course, were selected by one of County Durham’s favourite sons, Sir Bobby Robson.

By contrast, Jordan Henderson and Fraser Forster, the second-choice goalkeeper, are the only players born north of Scarborough to be included in Roy Hodgson’s 23-man squad. Only two others – Michael Carrick and Stewart Downing – have been capped since the last World Cup. Why?

“The boys' clubs are suffering,” he notes, referring to those youth teams like the famous Wallsend, which forged the careers of both Forster and Carrick.

“The academies take players at five or six-years old and the boys' clubs get them when they're nine, 10, 11, when they've been kicked out and half of them don't want to play anymore. So people don't realise what these academies do. They're a danger.

“You have to say, Newcastle and Sunderland over the last few years have not produced the players. That's why they're not in the England squad, that's why they're not in Newcastle or Sunderland's first team. But years ago, it was a hotbed. How was it a hotbed then and not now?”

No north-east contingent, maybe, but are there other similarities between that iconic 1990 side and this one? “No, nah,” he said.

“There was balance, players on the bench who came on but could easily have started the game and squad-wise, we were very strong.

“Going forward, I can see bits of it in the players we have now but defensively, we aren't going to keep those clean sheets.”

His prediction is a pragmatic one: “I think it's going to be hard to get to the quarters. I think the group's very difficult, I don't think that's a gimme. Everyone thinks we'll win the games quite comfortably, but I wouldn't say that.”

Still, Waddle sees a need for optimism and willed England to abandon the modern habit of treating an international tournament like four weeks of work experience.

“The one thing with our England side… in '86, we said we're going there to win it. In '88, we were going there to win it. We didn't think we'll build for '90, we'll build for '94.

“Now, it seems to be: 'Roy Hodgson's got a young squad, they'll learn in Brazil, they'll learn in France'. Next they'll be learning in Russia, they'll be learning in the next Euros, they'll be learning in Qatar. If you say we're only going to learn, what's the point?

“We need to be positive without being cocky or arrogant. You've got to have that belief. We've qualified well and we're in France for a reason, we're here to take the trophy back across the Channel.

“Judging by form and the squad, I think England will probably get to the quarters. If they get past that, they've done very well and if they go on and win it, they've done unbelievably well, but there's no reason to say they can't win it.”

Chris Waddle met England fans at The Three Lions pub in Bradford as part of Carlsberg’s ‘Pubstitutions' campaign. Carlsberg will be substituting pub names and renaming them ‘The Three Lions’ across England in the build-up to UEFA EURO 2016™. Follow @CarlsbergUK to discover how Carlsberg will be substituting the ordinary for the extraordinary for England fans in the build-up to the tournament