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Macca's Coaching Corner » Is Uk behind the times compared to other countries with GK Coaching, or are inflated transfer fees to blame?

Is Uk behind the times compared to other countries with GK Coaching, or are inflated transfer fees to blame?

Welcome to my 1st post guys, hope it is an intresting read. Instead of posting some drills this week, im posting my views on the current state of UK goalkeepers and how they are coached.

This has bugged me for a while, the EPL seems to have the highest rate of forgien 1st choice GK's out of all of the major leagues in Europe. Are the guys on the continent mainland that far ahead of us as far as 'grassroots' goalkeeper coaching is concerned, or are the inflated prices of our british youngsters to much of risk when a cheaper, more experienced alternative are just across the channel?

Scandinavia always produce very 'British style' goalkeepers, and usually very cheap on the transfer market, so if you have a budget, i cant really blame mangers for choosing this option (e.g. Schmeichel, Myhre, Niemi, Jaaskelainen, Sorensen, ....the lists goes on).

Also in Germany, Italy and Spain, nearly all the 'Big Clubs' in these leagues have a 1st choice goalkeeper from that country. For example, the Spanish and European Champions Barcelona have Spanish 1st choice keeper, who couldn't get into the Spanish squad for last summers World Cup!

So are the 3 above countries and Scandinavia better coached or do they just give their young goalkeepers a chance in the 1st team?

I recentley read and interview with Jussi Jaaskelainen (Which inspired me to write this article), on his comments on why, in a country so small, have their been 3 Finnish Goalkeepers (Himself, Niemi, Enckelman) who have been regular 1st choices at their premier league clubs in the past 4-5 years? Was it that the coaching was better in his country, and the UK is behind the times?...No.

His simple answer-

'I played in the 1st team for my club in Finland from the age of 17'

So the answer is experience.

But how do the UK's young Goalkeepers get premier league experience, without playing in the premier league?....They don't. Its a vicious circle. Mangers want a experienced keeper, but how to young keepers get experience without playing?

It will be a brave premier league boss who plays a 17 year in the 1st team, but as the saying goes 'If your good enough your old enough'. Dont expect to see it soon though.

As for our GK coaching being behind the times i dont feel this is true, I feel the UK has some of the Best GK Coaches in the world (David Coles, Simon Smith and Fred Barber spring to mind), i just think that managers in this country dont give our young keepers a chance.

Please post your views on this article/subject.

All the best,

Mac

Posted Oct 17 2006, 01:51 AM by MactheCatNo1

Comments

admin wrote re: Is Uk behind the times compared to other countries with GK Coaching, or are inflated transfer fees to blame?
on 10-17-2006 5:53 AM
Its an interesting one and I guess one of the main reasons why the loan system exists. The problem is now that managers are under increasing pressure because of the amount of money there is in football to get results at any cost. One way to do this is go for a more reliable, older keeper. Yes he won't make the awesome saves an agile young keeper might make, but he will also make less mistakes and therefore save you points.

Do you have a link to the Jussi Jaaskelainen interview? or was it offline?
MactheCatNo1 wrote re: Is Uk behind the times compared to other countries with GK Coaching, or are inflated transfer fees to blame?
on 10-17-2006 9:39 AM
The interview is on the guest interviews on www.icons.com, just type icons jaaskelainen interview, but you have to join the icons site, which is free. This site is also good as it has a few goalkeepers personel websites including Dean Kiely
Wilk wrote re: Is Uk behind the times compared to other countries with GK Coaching, or are inflated transfer fees to blame?
on 10-17-2006 5:22 PM
Peter Shilton writes about this very subject in his autobiography.  Interesting views, Typically the foreign keepers are a lower-cost option then developing a UK keeper. The managers don't want to chance putting a young keeper in goal as every game is important with all the champions league & UEFA cup positions to play for and relegation to avoid at the other end of table.  

Keepers like Shilton, Clemence and Jennings were all playing 1st team football when they were 17 & 18.  
Jimmy wrote re: Is Uk behind the times compared to other countries with GK Coaching, or are inflated transfer fees to blame?
on 10-17-2006 6:38 PM
This is an interesting one. I think it could be a combination of a coupe of things ... the success of Peter Schmeichel and the pressures (mainly financial) for managers to succeed.

Before Schmeichel (a bargain at £500,000!), the English goalkeeping scene was dominated by English goalkeepers and they had the (deserved) reputation of producing the best in the world ... Banks, Shilton, Clemence, Rimmer, Corrigan, Parkes .... the list goes on and on. I think with the success  Schmeichel had at United, managers then started to look abroad for similar bargains, hence the "discovery" of Jaaskelainen, Niemi, Sorenson etc etc.

To me the test of English goalkeeping "stock" will be in the next few years. To me Ben Foster (on loan at Watford) looks very promising and will be interesting to see if United see him at the successor to Van Dar Sar, or they will look abroad again.

I would be very intersted to hear the opinions of Simon Smith on this.
Paulee wrote re: Is Uk behind the times compared to other countries with GK Coaching, or are inflated transfer fees to blame?
on 10-18-2006 8:37 AM
I remember reading an interview with Bob Wilson right after he retired, when Lehman was brought in and Stuart was let go.  His quote was "Arsene has a tremendous knowledge of world football, but he doesn't have the fiath in Stuart that I do."
SLiberec1DM wrote re: Is Uk behind the times compared to other countries with GK Coaching, or are inflated transfer fees to blame?
on 10-21-2006 7:57 AM

I just find it interesting because I can't think of one English goalkeeper who's played outside of England...I wonder why nobody's ever signed an English keeper, especially when they were on the top of the world with the likes of Clemence and Shilton, they never seemed to be lured away from England.

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