Me and My Big Mouth by Graham Denton

Author:Graham Denton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pitch Publishing
Published: 2019-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

20–26 April 1974

The league season draws to a climax, and by the time clubs start operating again each will be coaching a new intake of apprentices: young hopefuls who may one day be thrilling the big crowds. But Brian Clough says our system isn’t good enough. We must start treating our junior players like heroes instead of idiots who boot footballs because they can’t do anything else …

LET’S HAVE A SOCCER UNIVERSITY

IF this country is ever going to regain its place at the top of international football, we must put all our emphasis on building up the skills and qualities of our youngest players – an investment for the future.

What I’d like to see is a University of Soccer.

There, the best of our young players could study their sport to the full and the greatest soccer brains in the country could share their expertise with the next generation. A lad who passed his BF exam would be a Bachelor of Football.

Far-fetched? I don’t think so, because sooner or later we are going to have to get a grip on our methods of finding, training, and encouraging young boys who want to play football for a living.

The Americans and Russians have the right idea. As soon as a young American shows promise in sport, whether it’s swimming, athletics or football, they can win places at well-equipped universities where the gifts they have can be brought out and perfected, ready for the next Olympics or a prominent local team. The sporting student is respected on a par with the academically minded. In Russia, they make sure ability is encouraged by sticking useful-looking athletes into the Red Army. People like Olympic sprinter Valeriy Borzov are made colonels and spend most of their time on the running track instead of the parade ground.

What is the difference between a man who uses his considerable brainpower to churn out formulae in the field of nuclear science, and a man who uses his brain and his body on the football field to give people immense pleasure?

They are both essential to the community, but we sell the young footballer tragically short in terms of facilities, opportunities and status.

The situation now is that scouts all over the country are looking for promising lads aged about 13 and 14. At 14 a boy can join a club as an ‘associated schoolboy’, which means he can train at the club and play for their junior sides. At 16, when he can leave school, the club has first choice of signing him as an apprentice professional. League clubs are allowed to employ only 30 apprentices at any one time, and frankly I think those lads would be lucky if even one eventually made it into the first team. My assistant Peter Taylor and I make that absolutely clear to any boy who joins us at Brighton.

That is why I always insist my lads continue to study for another job while they are with us. At Derby, Steve Powell, one of the few

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