Football fans, an uninformed opinion for you

[Platypus]

You lot should read the book "Why England Lose" by Simon Kuper et. al.
It does say that one of the reasons for the poor showing of the footy team over the years is that it is traditionally a working class game and has been run by thickos.

Why read it? Your eloquent synopsis seems to tell us all we need to know!

[sasguru]

Why read it? Your eloquent synopsis seems to tell us all we need to know!

Well you need to know the other reasons. Its actually the best analysis I've seen that relies on data rather opinion.
And it has some surprising conclusions.

[Mich the Tester]

Maybe if English parents got off their backsides and instead of watching the sport on the flatscreen actually went out and did it with their kids then there wouldn't be this dearth of good English sportspeople (not everyone in the UK is like that I'll admit but many are.)

You're right that kids sports are managed by the clubs in Germany, as in Holland, and not by the schools, but they are there and well organised and provided for. There also seems to be a voluntary work ethic here in Holland which means parents get involved in running and financing their local sports clubs.

However, there isn't a dearth of sporting talent in England; rugby, rowing, cricket, athletics and track cycling prove that.

There's plenty of talent; it just doesn't play football.

[Paddy]

My penny’s worth is:

Not just football but it goes for most of UK talent, people to not want to work hard in order to be successful and overpaying them gives them even less incentive to be successful. People want to become stars overnight but without the hard work. I think the England players spend too much time at nightclubs and not enough time pushing themselves training. The Ghana team are totally opposite and are fantastic athletes

[Mich the Tester]

My penny’s worth is:

Not just football but it goes for most of UK talent, people to not want to work hard in order to be successful and overpaying them gives them even less incentive to be successful. People want to become stars overnight but without the hard work. I think the England players spend too much time at nightclubs and not enough time pushing themselves training. The Ghana team are totally opposite and are fantastic athletes

Have you ever seen rowers in training? They might disagree. But then, they can’t really be doing it for the money. Go and see how senior club (all the top 5 national divisions) rugby players train; blood, sweat and effort, then some more blood, sweat and effort. Been there and done it and have the scars to prove it, but never became a ‘star’; it wasn’t about becoming a ‘star’ or earning lots of money, but about being as good as you can be and helping the team win. Rowers, athletes, speed skaters and track cyclists regularly row, run or ride until they collapse in a heap. Watch the old programmes of Steve Redgrave on a rowing machine or Kelly Holmes doing yet another gutbusting 500 metre sprint on the training track after she’d heaved her guts out and you’ll see that at a high level of sport, a hard training session means you only open your mouth to breathe, to quickly gulp some water, or to puke, and you need to be physically helped to get yourself to the changing room. I spent a summer training at my local athletics club with this guy, who lives nearby me; Erben Wennemars - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia That man is a beast in training. Once we had a session of running 400 metres at a time as fast as we could, pulling a car tyre loaded with two shot put shots. After two runs with a short break and a number of shorter sprints, both of us were vomiting next to the athletics track. Someone came along and told us we were completely mad and needed our heads examining. I said I was feeling a bit knackered but would be OK. Erben said ‘right, now we’ve got rid of breakfast let’s do another two runs’. And we did, and we vomited again. The next year, I got my one and only rugby cap for Holland, and he did rather better, winning bronze in the world sprint championships. Training sessions like that weren’t intended to train the body, but to train the mind to overcome pain. No amount of money will motivate a person to go through that kind of pain; just a desire to be the best that you possibly can be.

But yes, maybe this is part of the trouble with English football. To have a squad of 20-odd sportspeople who can win a world championship in any sport, you need thousands more who will sweat and suffer pain week in, week out, for years, just providing competition for the most talented, while accepting they won't make it themselves.

[Churchill]

You lot should read the book "Why England Lose" by Simon Kuper et. al.
It does say that one of the reasons for the poor showing of the footy team over the years is that it is traditionally a working class game and has been run by thickos.

Why do you say "et. al."?

There are only two authors, why not attribute the book to both by name?

If you were really "heducated" then you'd be aware that "et al" is appropriate to three or more authors.

Also, drop the "." after "et", it just makes you look like a moron.

[suityou01]

Why do you say "et. al."?

There are only two authors, why not attribute the book to both by name?

If you were really "heducated" then you'd be aware that "et al" is appropriate to three or more authors.

Also, drop the "." after "et", it just makes you look like a moron.

It appears the dog is correct.

Looky here

The abbreviation etc. (from the full form et cetera) came into English from the Latin expression et cetera ("and the rest"). Do not use etc. as a substitute for the adverb et al., which came into English from another Latin expression, et alii ("and others"). Use etc. when you list some, or a few, of many items, as in We will discuss the Plymouth Colony, the Puritans, the witchcraft trials, etc., in our early American literature seminar. (Never write "and etc." or "& etc.", as these are redundant.) Use et al. when you mention one person or a few people out of several or many, as in bibliographies, footnotes, or textual references: In the October issue of the medical journal, Smith, Jones, Roe, Doe, et al., [not etc.] discuss correct insertion of artificial airways.
Encarta ® World English Dictionary

answers.yahoo.com IS the law.

[ratewhore]

What about putting into every professional player’s contract a requirement to put a certain number of hours each month into coaching young local kids on the club’s pitches?

Don't footballers do that as part of their community service they regularly seem to get these days?

[Mich the Tester]

Don't footballers do that as part of their community service they regularly seem to get these days?

good one

[sasguru]

Why do you say "et. al."?

There are only two authors, why not attribute the book to both by name?

If you were really "heducated" then you'd be aware that "et al" is appropriate to three or more authors.

Also, drop the "." after "et", it just makes you look like a moron.

Forgot if there was one or more co-author(s) and who they were.
And your post makes you sound like the sort of uneducated pedant who nit picks because the 2 gigantic chips on his shoulders have been unbalanced (again).