Stan Collymore, former EPL striker, was interviewed on SBS.

He said England had considered sending coaches to Brazil, and Australia, to evaluate and adopt some of our new football curriculum. Some stakeholders in Engalnd have noted an improvement in football in Australia since we repudiated English coaching methodology in 2007, changing to a Dutch approach, with input from Spain, Germany, France and Brazil.

Frustratingly he said nothing has happened in England to act on this.

Collymore also elucidated that Australian players played in the under 17 national teams, under 20s , under 23s up to seniors, getting sequential exposure to international football. He said in England that Stuart Pierce, recent under 21 England coach, said players were keen to play under 17s, then after that they weren't interested in playing for other England underage teams as they aged. Interesting.:-k

Subsequently and consequently, he thought players then struggled with international tournaments.

Collymore also said the structure of English football needs to change from the top down to grass roots.

He also expressed his frustration at the lack of interest in football at national team level in England from fans and players compared to club football. Collymore said losing to Costa Rica with a population of 5 million, and Uruguay with 3 million, with England having 92 professional clubs, is unacceptable, for a population of 53 million Poms.

He also elucidated the lack of English coaches with Advanced training - C Licence upwards, compared to the continental big five, who have so many semi-pro/pro trained coaches. He also noted the improvement in German and Belgian football since borrowing from the Dutch KNVB. The other issue for them, highlighted by Melbourne Terrace, is the lack of quality of English Football Association courses.

Collymore, very articulate, by any standards, but particularly so for an English footballer, sounds like a frustrated Craig Foster about 8 years ago.

At least it proves my point "population has nothing to do with development"
](*,)

Collymore is right in many respects, also used to be active on coaching forums a few years back.

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/video/285962307847/Collymore-on-Englands-exit

Pretty much sums it up. Greg Dyke and co at the FA are a bunch of nobs and like to make big grand gestures to appease the public like targeting to win the 2022 cup or saying St George's Park is the answer to our woes but nothing ever changes because as usual, England is too proud to admit we are wrong. It's even worse to admit the foreigners are right.

There is a whole culture of Football in England that needs to be destroyed and rebuilt. Kids there in serious competition by u12,u13 can be incredible dribblers or be able to put a ball onto the strikers foot with ease from anywhere on the park but a lot of the time they already are fucking selfish and have no idea how to actually hold onto the ball as a team compared to their equivalents on the continent.

The KNVB and DFB must be consulted or even begged on how to implement nation wide grassroots change. The FA's instructors themselves be revied as they are not doing the job, again bring in the Europeans if need be. Coaches all the way to schools and junior clubs must be forced to acquire UEFA badges as a job requirement (Subsidised by clubs and the FA if need be) and instructed by the FA on the importance of educating and training players in consistency with a National Curriculum like we have in Australia.

Stan Collymore reminds of what Craig Foster was trying to harness change in youth development in Australia 8 years ago.

Best of luck to Stan it seems in England their lack of priority to the national team is hurting all levels of the game. He's passion for English Football is fantastic.

I listen to Stan Collymore on talkSPORT radio from the UK.

He has been pushing this topic a lot on the station great to listen too.

Also much better than listening to Melbournes shock jocks and SEN radio.

Decided to dig out my copy of Future Game (pro coaches edition), not a scratch on NC 2.0.

+1 great to listen to