March 29, 2024, 02:36:36 AM

Author Topic: Big Sam slams 'Fat, lazy nation'  (Read 1048 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Tallman

  • Administrator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 25253
    • View Profile
Big Sam slams 'Fat, lazy nation'
« on: February 11, 2007, 07:20:53 AM »
Big Sam slams 'Fat, lazy nation'
By Lewis Rutledge (Sky Sports)


Sam Allardyce fears England could struggle in the coming years because the nation is becoming 'fat and lazy'.

The Bolton boss believes the government must act quickly to provide children with better physical education if world class sporting champions are to be unearthed.

He believes all sports will suffer for a couple of generations, and feels the signs are already evident with the dearth of young English talent in the Premiership.

"This is not a football problem - it's a massive problem for the country, caused by not getting the school curriculum right," he warned.

"We are becoming a fat, lazy nation and our kids are the same. We simply don't grow top sportsmen and women from a young age.

"It's about identifying high quality young men and women and developing their talent before they are passed on to whatever sport they are going to be professionals in.

"The current England football team is fine but there are very few England Under 21 players playing regularly in the Premiership.

"Before we can get it right there will be two or three generations of English footballers that will not be good enough.

"If we don't change now it will get worse before it gets better."
The Conquering Lion of Judah shall break every chain.

Offline JayTheWrecker

  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 712
    • View Profile
Re: Big Sam slams 'Fat, lazy nation'
« Reply #1 on: February 11, 2007, 07:58:37 AM »
Big Sam isn't wrong, but it wouldn't hurt if he himself lost a few pounds  :rotfl:
Son, there's only two things that matter in this life. Family and Football. Everything else is bullshit

Offline black chinee

  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 753
    • View Profile
Re: Big Sam slams 'Fat, lazy nation'
« Reply #2 on: February 11, 2007, 08:54:23 AM »
Big Sam isn't wrong, but it wouldn't hurt if he himself lost a few pounds  :rotfl:

Oh Gadddoooooooo allyuh aint easy nah.. :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Offline grimm01

  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 1160
    • View Profile
Re: Big Sam slams 'Fat, lazy nation'
« Reply #3 on: February 11, 2007, 12:59:01 PM »
Look the man comments about the future of England football.


http://observer.guardian.co.uk/sport/story/0,,2010689,00.html

   
Fat, lazy and fading fast - Big Sam's blast at English football


Paul Wilson
Sunday February 11, 2007
The Observer

Sam Allardyce has stepped into the row over whether the proportion of foreign players in the Premiership is blighting England's chances by insisting government action is needed to arrest the decline of sport in this country.

The Middlesbrough chairman, Steve Gibson, claimed after England's latest flop on Wednesday, against Spain, that clubs such as Arsenal and Liverpool were partly to blame for hiring so many overseas players. But Allardyce, whose Bolton side has consistently punched above its weight as a result of successfully scouring Europe for bargains, believes the current malaise has much deeper roots.

Article continues
'This is not a football problem, this is a country problem and a massive one,' Allardyce said. 'We cannot get the curriculum right to develop young sportsmen and women, so we are becoming a fat, lazy nation.

'Our kids are the same, we don't grow top sportsmen from a young age. Football cannot be expected to develop players from six years old, as it is, without the government intervening to set up proper quality identification programmes and ways of schooling young people of promise through the early ages to develop their talent. Until we get those basics in place our chances of breeding a World Cup-winning side are as remote as our chances of breeding a Wimbledon champion.'

Allardyce, who made no secret of wanting the England job a year ago and could almost certainly be persuaded to succeed Steve McClaren if the need arose, has a long-standing interest in youth development and a CV that suggests he knows what he is talking about.

'I've been youth-team coach at Preston and academy director at Sunderland,' he said. 'That was 15 years ago or more, and the writing was on the wall then. The numbers aren't there. If there were 10,000 kids playing 10 years ago, now there will only be 5,000.

'Steve Gibson makes a valid point, but I've just signed on four young players for the future. None of them is English and it has cost us no more than a million euros. If you look at the price Gareth Bale at Southampton is being touted around at, somewhere in the region of £10m, it just shows the lack of young players being developed in this country.'

Allardyce's comments came the day after Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said: 'We have invested a lot of money in our youth academy but it is not necessarily for young English players. That is down to quality. If England want to beat Brazil then an English player who comes to Arsenal has to be stronger than the Brazilian.'

Allardyce continued: 'We all have academies, and at Bolton we spend £1.6m a year trying to develop young players, but if the footballers are not there to begin with we can't develop our own. Kids from six to 16 are not getting the grounding to be a top sports professional.


'When I was at school I played sport pretty much every day, because I had been identified as good at it. Very often these days you'll find even an academy kid who gets released at 18, instead of going down the leagues and coming back, actually packs in football. Doesn't bother. Just forgets it. When that happens it suggests there is a major problem extending beyond football.'

Allardyce suggests future England managers are likely to have it much worse than McClaren, and even mentions Scotland and Northern Ireland as close-at-hand models of decline. 'If we don't see what's happened to our neighbours - if we think it's not going to happen to us - then we are fools,' he warned.

'It's happening to Scotland, it's happening to Northern Ireland, in many ways you could say it's even happening to Eire, though they have still got some very good players.

'Compare those countries with Australia, where football is only a minority sport but their development systems ensure good players keep coming through. Look how many Australians are playing in the Premiership. And Americans. Look where aspiring young tennis champions go to play and train, they don't stay here.

'The top level of English football is OK, but underneath it's not. Before we get it right there will be two or three generations when English football is not good.

'This problem is huge and it is going to get worse before it gets better, because you can't just whistle up a sports development culture. It takes years.
When I was in the running for the England job I always said this would be the best time for me, not just because of my age but because of the group of players we've got. Behind the present group there are very few under-21 players playing regularly in the Premiership. You don't have to be an expert in professional football like me to see that. That job brings enough criticism anyway, even with a good side.'

Thank goodness for Bolton then, who have what Allardyce describes as a massive week coming up. 'We've got three games in seven days and we've got to be looking for three victories,' he said. 'If we can achieve that we will go a long way to securing fifth place and European football for next season, and we will be in the last eight of the FA Cup.'

Arsenal in a fourth-round replay on Wednesday might beg to differ, though Arsenal do not scare Bolton and Allardyce believes Arsene Wenger knows it. 'My players were more dejected than me after drawing at the Emirates and I thought that was a good sign,' Allardyce said.

'We wouldn't want to throw all that away. I have the greatest respect for what Wenger has achieved, in the last 10 years he has been second only to Sir Alex Ferguson, but Bolton know how to compete against his teams now and I think Arsenal are aware of it.'
« Last Edit: February 11, 2007, 01:01:41 PM by grimm01 »

 

1]; } ?>