Home grown...

The difference between what GH is doing and the Chelsea/Rangers-style this guy is describing is that we're (mostly) buying players young - not when they've already made a name for themselves. It allows them to play together in the reserves and learn the Liverpool Way rather than the Fantasy League-style management practiced by the likes of those underachievers.

Dave

 

Hmmm. Bit of a weak article, if you ask me. Bear in mind that football365.com picked this up from ShanklyGates, repackaged it with the rather more provocative title about Scousers and then slapped it up on their globally read football site by way of comment. I mean, what is perfectly reasonable discussion as fanzine filler loses a lot of it's point and value when it reaches the tabloid/national press level, which 365, through extensive syndication, are essentially a part of. THis whole "foreigners in our teams" debate is one of the all-time favourite navel-gazers amongst the chattering classes of the sports media. All around the world.

What he says is banal enough to be inarguable. Of course it makes you think when you see the annual cull of Academy youngsters in June, intermingled with the annual recruitment of established (and, increasingly, potential) talent from elsewhere. Of course you think twice when a Stephen Wright heads out of the door whilst an Abel Xavier heads for the first team.

But as I say, the whole thing is rather blandly argued. Sure, some homegrown talent has moved on. But should we mourn the passing of Dominic Matteo or exhalt in the emergency of Steven Gerrard, the two events happening more or less concurrently?

Should we lament the sale of Fowler and Thompson or finally give Micheal Owen and Danny Murphy the dues they are worth?

Should we look at this current crop of young, English first teamers and honestly try and kid ourselves that the influx of foreigners into the squad is any more profound in nature or fact than it was when McManaman, Fowler and Redknapp were still the focal point of the (desperately underachieving) side of the mid-to-late Nineties? So sure, when we sign a foreigner now, they might turn into a Diomede or a Biscan, but at least they're not turning into a Koztma or a Pietnich. And what's with lumping Berger in there. Injuries aside, he has always been an effective, faithful servant, even during those times when he was being so haplessly misused by Roy Evans in the very side the authors looks back to with such rosy nostalgia.

Fine, so youngsters like Welsh, Mellor and Partridge have to contend with a vast array of foreign talent. Some may never make it, but then the people perceived to be blocking their way may not do either? Will it be Igor Biscan's fault if, when he moves on after failing to break into the team, he is joined on the way out by John Welsh?

As it happens, John Welsh stands every chance of eventually making it, regardless of whether Biscan and Diao, his main rivals for central midfield, stay or go, make it or no. It's down to whether he is good enough. That's the problem I have always had with this "these foreigners get in the way of our local boys and they're not even that good" - if they're not that good, how are they impeding the progress of the English lads? Unless the argument is that Houllier will willfully pick a Biscan over a Welsh for some reason other than their respective abilities, then none of that makes any sense.

Also, the piece relies to heavily on conjecture and false summation - Houllier is "reported to be" dissatisfied with the latest batch of youngsters. The 1999 side "were hailed as final proof" that the Academy was working (by whom? All of us? Some of us?). Houllier's oft-quoted remark about "an English heart" equates to our club's the mission being the building of "an English fortress".

Sorry, but in the same way as football365.com's initial promotion of this stuff from a local fanzine to a globall football site is the lazy side of content syndication, the manner in which this chap constructs his argument is also rather haphazard. He builds his destination first and then worries about the roads leading up to it later. Which is invariably a weak way of going about these things.

 

Not having ever step foot within the city limits of Liverpool, my opinion on this matter would seem to be worthless. However, I have to agree with everything Matt says regarding local guys having to be good enough to make it.

In this day and age, there is a limit to how much English talent can be developed by a single club, because there is only so much top talent out there. To compete at the highest level, the Reds, like any other club need to raise the level of talent in the youth system and that needs to include youth internationals.