It's good that Wednesday's U-23s are well under. I wasn't getting at Wednesday, but our football in general.
If it were up to me I'd scrap U-23 competition worldwide. It is an idiot feather-bedding dividing line that prevents, rather than encourages, development IMO.
People develop physically, mentally and in terms of skill and game-playing at different rates. Clubs and countries should be aware of that, but not to the extent of creating protective age-groups that encompass almost half a player's career.
AND it defies our experience of growing-up. The old days of playing in the back field ...... wasn't it great when the bigger lads let you play? Didn't you develop faster, didn't you learn new stuff, didn't you improve? I did!
When you are 18 you should be playing with men and against men. Pro's should be able to see who is developing and whose game is showing no signs of coming through to professional levels. They should be seeing who needs more time and who is ready now. At the moment they try to judge players of about 17 on how they look against only 17 year olds. The result is they cut players who go on to immediately thrive in non-league football against some very tough men and persist with others who look good in every friendly but almost never translate it to a properly competitive game.
Why do so many players grow up so injury-prone these days? Is it because they play too much, or is it because they train too much and play competitive games too rarely?
There's nothing wrong with Wednesday (apart from being Wednesday of course), but there's quite a lot wrong with football.
If it were up to me I'd scrap U-23 competition worldwide. It is an idiot feather-bedding dividing line that prevents, rather than encourages, development IMO.
People develop physically, mentally and in terms of skill and game-playing at different rates. Clubs and countries should be aware of that, but not to the extent of creating protective age-groups that encompass almost half a player's career.
AND it defies our experience of growing-up. The old days of playing in the back field ...... wasn't it great when the bigger lads let you play? Didn't you develop faster, didn't you learn new stuff, didn't you improve? I did!
When you are 18 you should be playing with men and against men. Pro's should be able to see who is developing and whose game is showing no signs of coming through to professional levels. They should be seeing who needs more time and who is ready now. At the moment they try to judge players of about 17 on how they look against only 17 year olds. The result is they cut players who go on to immediately thrive in non-league football against some very tough men and persist with others who look good in every friendly but almost never translate it to a properly competitive game.
Why do so many players grow up so injury-prone these days? Is it because they play too much, or is it because they train too much and play competitive games too rarely?
There's nothing wrong with Wednesday (apart from being Wednesday of course), but there's quite a lot wrong with football.