I want to make one thing clear before we proceed. I believe that, at some point, the England men's team will win a World Cup. I reason that the law of averages suggests it will happen at some point. Denzel Washington once reflected on his failures during the early part of his acting career, "You hang around a barbershop long enough鈥攕ooner or later you will get a haircut". England getting to the latter stages time and time again means that at some point, surely they will get their break.
But to turn one victory into a long-term, sustained success takes some deeper thought about the way we develop players. It is the same for a club trying to develop a successful academy, the same for a parent or guardian trying to help their son or daughter develop; it requires deeper thinking. I'm using this blog to explain one aspect of this.
Opening eyes to reality
I work with young players and their families often. My job, in short, is to open their eyes to the reality that will confront them. I also work with clubs, and my job is the same: to open people's eyes to the realities of the process. This is about bringing light to dark spaces and being open to deeper thinking on the topic. One of the challenges in this space is our own wilful ignorance. As the saying goes, "it is impossible for a man [sic] to learn what he thinks he already knows", and many of us have grown up with football, some have worked in football, and most of us have spent some time in love with football. The result of this can lead us to believe we know what football is.
Second, we romanticise about its qualities and, again, can wilfully ignore the darker side. As one example, over the past thirty years or so, the game has become increasingly commercialised and commodified. And when I say the game, I mean the game! Grassroots development around the world is big business, and young players are commodified. Capitalism is here to stay, and the fuel driving the machine is the romantic view of football. Advertisements are dripping with nostalgia and belonging, but this romantic view is not the reality we will be asking young players to thrive in when they become professional players at 18, when they, as commodities, are loaned, bought and sold.
What does this have to do with player development?
I hear a lot about resilience, psychological strength, mental toughness and so on. But I always answer this with one pertinent question. How can a young person develop mental toughness for a future they aren't being told the truth about? If I were to ask you to prepare for a career but withheld truths about that career, how prepared would you be when that career arrived? Being mentally ready for a career is not just a psychological issue; it is a multifaceted process, requiring a long-term commitment to the development of the self.
I sit in parent induction meetings a lot and always think that parents and guardians should not really be listening to what the clubs do offer; they should focus on what the clubs can't offer. Because the reality is, this is the career of your child, and you are going to have to play a central role in the development of who that child truly is when they grow up. If a young person bends to the desires of a club, then what happens when the club no longer needs them?
So let me return to the start of this blog and ask a few questions. How well are we helping our young people on their journey of discovering themselves - who they truly are? How much time are we spending with young players where they seek to understand themselves in the world and orient themselves in this game we call professional football? Are we leaving them to muddle through? And worse, are we leaving them to muddle through while we withhold information they need in order to make sense of who they are?
This is the deep thinking required to produce world-class players.
