Inside Performance with Louise Deeley

The Street Football Myth is one of the most irritating in circulation. Who were these ‘great players’ who were plucked off the streets and in to World Cup winning teams?

Brazil and Argentina have long built their success on formal small-sided game such as Futbol de Salao and playing a vast number of structured games from childhood through to maturity. Brazil in particular has always had one of the most professional and far-reaching youth development systems in the world, where almost every ‘player’ has been through a structured curriculum and played in hundreds of organised matches from the age of seven or eight.

Yes playing games is far more beneficial than static drills for player development, but Trevor Brooking, George Best and Bobby Moore honed their abilities playing games in organised environments not in the street as the myth (and even perhaps Sir Trevor in a moment of romanticism) might suggest.

In every aspect the countries we lag behind in technical ability, player creativity and team cohesion have a more formal and all-encompassing youth development system than we do here – whether that’s Spain, Holland, France, Germany, Brazil, Argentina or Italy (and who else besides these nations have won the World Cup since 1966?).

I see many benefits in a more relaxed attitude to coaching and in letting the game be the teacher. Indeed it informs my whole philosophy. But to suggest that removing expert knowledge from the equation would be anything other than disastrous is, frankly, barmy.

It’s vital to balance different aspects of development because a purely physical or purely technical focus neglects the psychological and social development which will help us develop better players and better people. I don’t want to play any part in creating more of the dysfunctional cretins who sully the professional game at the moment.