England Senior National Team General Discussion Thread

What totally?

 

Yes players are going to duck when they have a clear header on goal

 

There's a massive difference in heading balls from the 60s and 70s compared to today's balls.

 

Footballs in the 50s 60s 70s weighed a ton

 

Yeah can you imagine playing in the Champions League or on the International front, we would be like, please don’t cross the ball into the box because we aren’t allowed to head the ball meanwhile the Continentals are laughing their socks off scoring at will.

 

Yes. Touching the ball with your head will be seen as like handball

 

Unfortunately that’s a myth. Experts think the current balls are probably just as dangerous.

 

Ok, you do realise you need a blanket ban across all of football to pull this off right, not just in England and I highly ( very highly ) doubt your going to get this agreed across the board currently.

 

Fireburn's predications become more and more outlandish

 

Maybe it won’t apply to current professionals but the Under 11 ban will certainly make it all the way up to U21 level of academy football. And then after that new professional won’t want to hear the ball as they won’t have learned how to.

 

Not sure if this has been mentioned but Hayden Hackney has signed for Everton. Hopefully makes a case for getting in the England squad.

 

Yeah that’s not a possibility unless it’s a blanket ban across the board. No English players will know how to head the ball in that case, it’s not something you can suddenly master after U21 football if you’ve not practiced it.

 

Yep, footballs weigh the same as they always did, but in the past they were porous and became heavier when wet. That said, it would be more difficult to cross a heavy ball to get height on it.
Geoff Hurst said that when he played, most of the heading actually went on in training sessions rather than in the match.

 

i don't disagree entirely with Fireburn regarding heading rules/regulations changing. maybe "evolving" is a better word. it is, however, unlikely there will be a blanket ban in the adult, and certainly professional, game.

one thing is certain - both adult and professional leagues will face heavier pressure to enforce strict weekly quotas on training headers, capping deliberate repetitions during sessions.

this is all due to pediatric neurology, for children, and all the CTE headlines you hear in the professional game. for example: "Broad epidemiological studies have revealed that former professional soccer players face a 3.5 times higher risk of dying from neurodegenerative conditions like Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), dementia, and ALS."

current guidelines below. it hasn't taken that long for them to become far more stringent.

United States

• Ages 10 and under (U11 and younger): Heading is completely banned in both practices and games. If a player intentionally heads the ball, the referee stops play and awards an indirect free kick to the opposing team.
• Ages 11 to 13 (U12 and U13): Heading is allowed during games, but restricted in practice to a maximum of 30 minutes per week, with a limit of 15 to 20 headers per player.
• Ages 14 and older: There are no restrictions on heading.

United Kingdom

• Ages 11 and under (U12 and below): Heading is completely banned in matches (games).
• Ages 12 to 16: There is a graduated approach to heading in training, with deliberate heading in training sessions limited to one session per week, and a maximum of 5 to 10 headers in that session. Matches have no heading restrictions.
• Ages 18 and older: No limits on heading.

 

Basically there is no justification to only ban it for 11 year olds. Yes it would have put English trained players at a disadvantage if they did not learn it until the senior game but not having dementia is better than that and new skills would likely remove a lot of the disadvantages (Better ball control for example). Football should really only be played with the foot.

 

Playing style constantly change. Short corners for example and the ability to defend a corner with feet would both negate those problems. It would be less disruptive than you would expect. Other counties would follow as well and the FA is always a trend setter.

 

Newcastle United’s hopes of landing England goalkeeper James Trafford, 23, from Manchester City have been increased with Aston Villa - a potential rival for his signature - keen to keep hold of their number one, 33-year-old Argentine Emiliano Martinez. However, Chelsea are also interested. (Chronicle)

 

Wtf would he join Newcastle

 

What level are you expecting him to go to? He's only ever had one season as a number one in the Premier League and it didn't go well.

I think he has world-class potential as a goalkeeper but he still needs to take the steps.

 

Why not? You would rather he warmed the bench at City? Also where do you think he should go to, from the Clubs that are interested.

 

🚨 Curtis Jones | Italian sources which have been covering Inter Milan interest now say Nottingham Forest have reached an agreement https://t.co/wNPXUkgSCv #nffc

— Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) July 11, 2026

Curtis Jones to Forest? That would be a bit of a shame, nothing against Forest but think he would have been a hit for Inter in Italy.

 

Unbelievable coup for Forest but yeah, he's well above that level. He's a Champions League midfielder and given he seems to be available for about £35m he's one of the best value deals on the market.

I remember Barry saying on here he thinks he's misunderstood as a player and I think that's quite true. It's probably what works against him with England too. He has to be up there with the most underrated players in the league.

It's also funny that Forest are essentially seeing him as the Anderson replacement, which is exactly what we should've done for this World Cup.

 

Last season was a let down for Forest. Marinakis is clearly looking make a statement this year, and likely explains the appeal to Glasner (along with his reported salary).

 

He posted a confused emoji under a post about this which suggests it’s not accurate.

 

Inter are considering a new bid for Curtis Jones despite seeing a €25m approach instantly rejected.

Liverpool prepared to keep Jones if their €40m+ valuation isn’t met. Still waiting for new formal talks.

Inter’s last verbal approach had led Liverpool to conclude a deal… pic.twitter.com/aD4dpeIhoO

— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) July 12, 2026

Liverpool fans can’t have another hissy fit when Jones ultimately doesn’t sign a new contract and leaves on a free transfer.