Poll: World Cup!

[Marjo]

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Note: the poll below is now closed! Thanks for everyone who participated. Check out the results here, and keep an eye out for a new poll soon!

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Hi guys, I hope you're enjoying your day!

As the World Cup is upon us, our second Off Topic poll is related to that. 

If you'd like to participate in the poll, please find it below and pick the option that you identify with the most. You'll have until Wednesday 20th June evening to participate, and I will post the results in this topic after the poll has closed.

If you haven't registered to the community but would like to vote in the poll, you can do so! However you'll need to register first in order to to participate in the discussion below.

Thanks all in advance! I can't wait to see the results of this one. 

Also, feel free to let me know if you have any cool ideas for future polls!

[Cleoriff]

After a bit of reading it appears Jordan Henderson is now captain of your least favourite team @jonsie

Liverpool FC...

[sheepdog]

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@jonsie wrote:

Most promising youngsters are sent out on loan to toughen them up and to get 1st team experience. At an early age a lot of them can then challenge the highly paid overseas stars brought in to appease shareholders and fans. Sadly, many of them languish in the lower leagues, although doing something they love, at a fraction of the rewards were they given a chance in the top league. David Beckham was loaned out to Preston but it inspired him to greater things. So that system does work but it's mainly down to the players determination.

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Might find this article about Bradley Wright-Philips interesting. Link to the BBC article here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43879501.

[jonsie]

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@Cleoriff wrote:

After a bit of reading it appears Jordan Henderson is now captain of your least favourite team @jonsie

Liverpool FC...

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Amnesty in place....just for the World Cup you understand.....

[Cleoriff]

I understand completely ...just for the sake of togetherness. United we stand and all that jazz @jonsie 

[Anonymous]

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@sheepdog wrote:

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@jonsie wrote:

Most promising youngsters are sent out on loan to toughen them up and to get 1st team experience. At an early age a lot of them can then challenge the highly paid overseas stars brought in to appease shareholders and fans. Sadly, many of them languish in the lower leagues, although doing something they love, at a fraction of the rewards were they given a chance in the top league. David Beckham was loaned out to Preston but it inspired him to greater things. So that system does work but it's mainly down to the players determination.

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Might find this article about Bradley Wright-Philips interesting. Link to the BBC article here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43879501.

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The career path of Bradley Wright-Phillips is an interesting one, because he was given an opportunity at one of the biggest clubs, but perhaps it came too early for him. I remember a young Gareth Bale making his mark at Southampton, and not surprisingly, attracting a lot of interest from some of the bigger clubs. Manchester United were keen to sign him, but he was persuaded that Tottenham would offer him more chance of regular first team football. He may be one of the richest footballers today, but it wasn’t always about the money. 

[Cleoriff]

The problem is with the lower tier clubs like Coventry, they have some excellent players who come through the academy and because our finances are poor, they never stay. Top clubs snap them up and away they go.

It's a Catch 22 situation

[Anonymous]

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@Cleoriff wrote:

The problem is with the lower tier clubs like Coventry, they have some excellent players who come through the academy and because our finances are poor, they never stay. Top clubs snap them up and away they go.

It's a Catch 22 situation

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Unfortunately, that’s the way of the world, and old-fashioned values like loyalty are very quickly forgotten  

Wayne Rooney once famously said “once a blue, always a blue”, and I’m sure he believed it until Manchester United got their cheque book out 

[Cleoriff]

I agree about the Wayne Rooney scenario @Anonymous the difference is he was taken from one top team to go to another. The teams who struggle and find a gifted player, know they will soon lose them to premiership clubs.

Scott Dann, Danny Fox and Leon Best from Coventry to name a few...Gary McSheffery was another.

It's soul destroying when that happens..... just as you are trying hard to get back to the 'top'

[Anonymous]

@Cleoriff Yes, it must be frustrating to see young players improve over the years, when ultimately, big spending clubs get to benefit from that early development. 

I’ve just been listening to an interesting interview on 5 Live, where it was revealed that England will be playing in white for the game against Croatia. If I heard it correctly, England have been unbeaten for the last eight games that they’ve played whilst wearing red. Apparently, it’s more than just superstition, and there is statistical evidence to suggest that teams playing in red are perceived to be more dominant, and are therefore generally more successful. Furthermore, there is enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that goalkeepers don’t like facing teams playing in red. 

I would say, why change things now? But perhaps the decision was made for them.

[sheepdog]

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@Cleoriff wrote:

The problem is with the lower tier clubs like Coventry, they have some excellent players who come through the academy and because our finances are poor, they never stay. Top clubs snap them up and away they go.

It's a Catch 22 situation

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The darker side of this - and it was something Rangers & Celtic did in Scotland - was buy any promising young player, give them the odd game then effectively keep them in the reserves for the rest of their contract purely to prevent other teams developing players and guaranteeing their European place and filling their trophy cabinets. 

There's no way the originating team could say no to the big money thrown at them and the players themselves took the opportunity to "play" for their dream clubs. You can see the effect thats had for the national side. Though the other side of the argument is that the clubs never wanted to change their ways and you just need to point to Iceland, Croatia, Uruguay and Panama to see how stupid the short-term outlook has been in not developing an infrastructure. 

On the even more darker side, the players get released as easily as being bought and a lot will end up leaving the profession as the number of jobs are limited in Football so players will take the money and run.