Life after David. And David.

Assets; previously Valencian.  Picture courtesy of sportskeeda.com

We knew they were short of cash, but they managed to qualify for the Champions League this coming season. With messrs Villa and Silva finally on their way out of the door, how are things at Valencia? IBWM's Jeff Livingstone reports.

At what point does a player become bigger than his club? Sir Alex Ferguson clearly felt that things were heading in that direction when he decided to let David Beckham move to Real Madrid. Brand Beckham gone, Manchester United remain. No one is bigger than the club. Period.

Of course it’s never really been an issue for Real Madrid or for Barcelona for that matter, because both clubs have several of, if not the, biggest names in their ranks. You don’t really get much more famous than Leo Messi, but Xavi Hernandez and Andreas Iniesta are as synonymous with the name Barcelona as little Leo is. Real have Kaka, Casillas and Ronaldo, just for good measure; prior to that Carlos, Zidane, Figo and the aforementioned Becks.

It’s not so easy for Valencia though. Despite a very real claim to be Spain’s third club (or second if we say Barcelona are Catalonia’s biggest), Valencia can’t really invest in half a dozen ‘galaticos’ every 12 months. It wouldn’t be fair to say that Valencia live in the shadows of the other two, although they finished third in La Liga last season, but they can’t realistically compete on financial terms. Not right now anyway.

So when Valencia have not one, but two of the world’s best players in their ranks, it’s difficult to think that there might be anyone else at the club……and if those players leave; what’s left? Does it just end there? In Valencia’s case it could, but they are fighting to make sure it doesn’t.

Mention Valencia over the last two to three years and two players will immediately spring to mind; David Villa and David Silva. Both Spanish internationals, both hugely talented and both huge names on the world stage. Both have now left Valencia.

It had been coming for a long time. That Los Che had been able to retain the services of their two best David’s over the last twelve months, whilst staring into the abyss of complete financial meltdown, has been something of a miracle.

Villa has become the best striker in the world today, eclipsing his international partner Fernando Torres along the way. A move to Barcelona was completed within weeks of La Liga closing; so by the time South Africa 2010 had commenced, young David was already a Barca player. Valencia managed to hang on to David Silva a little longer, before Manchester City stumped up the necessary readies and took the gifted winger north to Eastlands.

So with €60m+ netted for their star players, shouldn’t that be enough to put Valencia back on an even keel moneywise? Sadly not. It’s not even touched the sides. The transfer fees received for their two superstars- while hefty - hardly make an impression on Valencia’s debts, which I’ll describe as crippling, because it’s the only word that comes close.

Faced with a creditors bill that was more than six times the clubs turnover, President Vincente Soriano resigned in June 2009 after facing up to the inevitable. He had no clue what to do and didn’t want to be known as the man that sold David Villa.

How did things come to this though? Valencia won La Liga and made two Champions league finals in the early noughties.

Just like so many other clubs in Europe, Valencia overstretched in trying to maintain this challenge. That they had already overstretched in qualifying for the Champions League in the first place just added to the mess.

Last summer, Valencia’s debts stood somewhere between £400-£500m, plus there was also the little matter of the new Mestalla stadium. This was originally due to be complete for the start of the 2009-10 season, but work has been suspended indefinitely, short of a few hairy arsed builders employed to ensure the club aren’t accused of abandoning the whole project. And getting another fine. The irony here is that Valencia has a loyal support that includes a massive waiting list for season tickets. Another 25,000 willing to hand over cash. If only there was somewhere to put them.

Disastrous management and the regular hiring and firing of coaches have done Valencia no use at all over the last ten years; the compensation payments that have been made to the departed (in a football management sense you understand) Ranierei, Flores and Koeman accounting for around €40m alone. Nice work if you can get it.

Last summer there really was nowhere left to turn, and it was only after the intervention of new president Manolo Llorente, invited to the helm by major creditor Bancaja, that Valencia were able to survive at all. Having poured all of their eggs into the basket marked ‘selling the land that our ground stands on to property developers’, Valencia were particularly well placed in the front row to observe a global economic downtown. This was felt particularly hard in the Spanish property market. Ouch.

But Llorente has operated shrewdly, not that he had a huge choice, and made a decision to retain the services of Villa, Silva, Juan Mata and several others. He also secured enough funding to keep the club going and ensure its players got paid. Happy days. And it was very happy days as the La Liga season closed in May with Valencia securing third place and much needed Champions League spot.

However Valencia fans have now accepted that as far as their star players are concerned, last season was just a stay of execution. Llorente has delivered another tilt at the Champions League, but with the club letting players and staff leave on a daily basis, they are unlikely to pull up any trees. Unless manager Unai Emery oversees some kind of miracle which clearly isn’t going to happen.

Villa has gone, Silva has gone and it’s just a matter of time before Juan Mata heads out of the door as well. In amongst the rest of the squad, the lofty Nicola Zigic was sold to Birmingham, but Valencia have still looked to recruit. Argentine midfielder Tino Costa has arrived and Valencia are already exploring possibilities in the loan market with Robinho and Manchester United new recruit Javier Hernandez already mentioned.

Facing up to next season is going to be tough for Valencia’s fans and how this season plays out depends entirely on whatever rabbits Llorente and Emery can pull out of their hats. Having managed to turn adversity into triumph already, both will want to repeat the trick again. If Valencia are going to survive, they don’t really have a choice.

 

Rooney scoops World Cup award, Everton's Hetinga urinates in public...metaphorically

IBWM's player of the tournament.  Picture courtesy of the Guardian

No, IBWM doesn't know what to do with itself either.  Best hand out some awards.  Your host for this evening; Jeff Livingstone.

That’s that then.  Another four years till the next one.  All the hype, all the years of build up and now it’s gone, over.

But then, South Africa 2010 was hardly a fantastic World Cup.  There were stand-out moments, certainly, but they were few and far between, and most of the football on offer was low on quality. 

How many memorable games were there?  I’ve got two, maybe three; by and large South Africa 2010 was, in football terms at least, very poor.

That’s no detraction from South Africa though; IBWM wasn’t there so can’t really pass comment, but praise has been heaped on the rainbow nation for the whole shebang, organisation and stadiums etc.  South Africa can’t be blamed if teams and players just never turned up.  We’ve all now been officially told that 4-5-1 is the future, and that two defensive midfielders are key to success in the modern game.  Gulp.  If that’s the way things are heading, then we’re going to have some pretty dull games ahead of us.  Maybe 3 points for a win needs to be looked at again.  Could we consider points awarded to teams for artistic merit perhaps?  Football to learn from figure-skating?

Ultimately the best international team in world football - Spain - won, but not in the style that many had hoped for.  IBWM tipped the Spanish on the grounds that they simply had the best players, and that turned out to be the case.  Spain won not through tantalising attack play, but by keeping the ball and just wearing opponents down, and out, before, bang, delivering that critical blow. 

How do we describe Spain’s’ style? Counter-attacking? Not really; Defensive? No; Containing? Yes, that’s the word.  Spain virtually imprison teams so that they have nowhere to go.  The Spanish players retain their energy by letting the ball do the work, wearing opposition players out.  With all this stored energy, if the ball is lost, there is no team faster or more aggressive in challenging to win it back. This is where the ‘high tempo closing down’ phrase comes in.  It’s never haphazard though; all very zonal and always two players charging down the man in possession.  Watch Spain in any game at South Africa 2010 and you’ll see what I mean; there’s always two them.  It’s very clever.

So well done to Spain, but did anyone else emerge from the tournament with credit? 

For my money, Germany and Uruguay can both be very proud of the way they played.  Holland would have been in this group too had they not resorted to downright thuggery in the final, which was almost obscene for a nation with such a fantastic reputation for beautiful football.  

Try to imagine a beautiful flower bed; a shrine to Cryuff, Neeskens and Rep; lovingly preserved for nigh on forty years.  Then imagine Marc Van Bommel coming in and stamping on all the plants, Nigel de Jong building a concrete block on it and John Hetinga pissing on the walls.  You get the picture.  Hetinga seemed such a nice boy at Everton too.  Bert van Marwijk clearly some sort of bad influence/criminal mastermind.

Before the tournament, many fans and correspondents were concerned about the risk of being attacked in South Africa.  As it turned out, the streets were relatively safe compared with the pitch at Soccer City on World Cup final day.  Ok, Holland needed a tactic, but was it really necessary?

So as we reflect and look back on South Africa 2010, IBWM - just like every other Tom, Dick and Harry website and publication - has some awards:

Player of the tournament - Diego Forlan (Uruguay)

No doubt about this one and I’m pleased to see FIFA agree with IBWM.  Diego Forlan was peerless.  Once mocked in England for a bad case of donkey posterior/banjo syndrome, Forlan was quite simply fantastic at South Africa 2010.  He scored goals, looked dangerous throughout and really stood up to lead his nation.   

Notable mention - Thomas Muller.  A revelation for Germany and a new world star.  His absence in the semi-final against Spain left a real ‘what if’ feeling during the last week of the tournament.

Best match - Uruguay v Ghana

Not a huge selection to choose from and nothing of any real merit before the quarters, but the Ghana v Uruguay game wins for this correspondent.  There may not have been a huge number of goals, but the game was nothing less than exciting throughout with the last 10 minutes as controversial yet enthralling as any you will see.   

Notable mention - Germany v Argentina.  Germany’s complete annihilation of Argentina in the quarters, and that would also get a best performance award should I be offering that one, which I’m not.  Sorry Germany.

Biggest disappointment - Wayne Rooney (England)

Sorry Manchester United fans, but your boy had a ‘mare of biblical proportions.  I'll happily accept that he was injured or just completely worn out, but more than that; the spark was gone, there was no fire in the eyes.  Before the tournament, many pundits were concerned about Rooney's temper and those fifty yard runs and full blooded tackles he makes when the red mist descends.  But most England followers would have given anything to see that passion this time.  There was nothing there.  Rooney looked like a balding, middle aged man on holiday. 

Notable mention: France.  Pampered.  Lose your temper with your boss by all means, but how many World Cups do you get to play in a lifetime.  This one will haunt Evra, Anelka and many for the rest of their lives, they just haven’t realised it yet.

The IBWM team of the tournament

No 4-4-2’s for this pilgrim, it’s a crazy 3-4-3, with an attacking full back in that back three.  Complete and utter Madness.

Iker Casillas (Spain) 

Number one, as he has been for many a year now. Vital to Spain making crucial saves when he needed, his handling was also the best of any goalkeeper in the tournament.

 

Arne Friedrich (Germany) 

Played every minute of every game for Germany at South Africa 2010.  I noted more interventions and more moves started by Friederich than for any other defender in any team.

Carles Puyol (Spain)  

I thought the Barcelona defender was starting to look a little leggy last year, but not a bit of it on show here.  A colossus throughout.

Maicon (Brazil)  

Disappointing campaign ultimately, but has no equal in world football.  Fast and furious whether defending or attacking.

Xavi Hernandez (Spain)  

Passed.  And then passed some more.  Just does all the simple things perfectly.  If there is a central cog in what Spain do, then Xavi is it.

Wesley Sneijder (Holland)  

Nothing short of dominant in every Dutch performance he played in right up to the final when he just vanished.  Very nearly player of the tournament had he not been so well shackled by Spain’s' Busquets in the final.

Thomas Muller (Germany) 

Someone always emerges as a star at these things and Muller certainly did at South Africa.  Clinching the golden boot was an amazing achievement, but what might have happened had he faced Spain in the Semi Final?  We’ll just never know.

Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany) 

Playing deeper for his country than before, Schweinsteiger prompted and dictated Germany's play in every game.  Has developed into one of the best midfielders on the planet.  Take a bow son.

Diego Forlan (Uruguay) 

Fourth place will still be reflected on as an amazing achievement for Uruguay, but this was Forlan's tournament.

Asamoah Gyan (Ghana) 

Not just a poacher, Gyan had defenders on the back foot throughout Ghana's campaign.  Terrified the life out of Serbia's normally resolute back four.  Brave enough to tuck his second penalty away only moments after missing one that would have put Ghana into Semi Finals.

David Villa (Spain) 

The best striker on the planet and was ruthless when he needed to be.  Villa has no weakness and now joins a team in Barcelona where he could become a legend.

IBWM's World Cup 2010 verdict

The tournament is just too long.  I’d watch football all day, every day, but with 32 teams the World Cup is just an endurance event, and it’s really starting to show.  Will FIFA change it?  Not when there are votes to be gleaned by its president.  

The European Championships have always produced good football due to there being fewer teams on show.  But even they have been increased in size now just to put a spanner in the spokes of quality again.

On behalf of IBWM, I feel particularly short changed by South Africa 2010.  We were all told that Rooney, Kaka and Ronaldo would stand out at this World Cup, but when I look back in years to come, all I will recall are Jabulani’s, Vuvuzela’s and Paul the psychic octopus.

Still miss it though.  Roll on 2014.

Real Madrid to sign Chelsea target Khedira

Fresh from picking up his bronze medal at South Africa 2010, word reaches IBWM tonight that German midfielder Sami Khedira has asked his representatives to complete a deal with Real Madrid.

Spanish newspaper Marca have confirmed this evening that Real have made a bid of 8 million euros for the player, and are prepared to offer up to 15m to get their man.

Jose Mourinho had originally identified Liverpool's Steven Gerrard as a a priority signing for his new Real Madrid midfield, but is understood to have agreed to compromise on this with Gerrards age and the financial implications of the transfer -  with a fee upwards of £30m being mooted - proving prohibitive.

Khedira had been identified by the English media as being high on the shopping list of Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti, and with good reason.  

At 23, Khedira has already proved a more than competent replacement for Michael Ballack at international level and with Ancelotti given a brief to reduce the average age of his Chelsea squad, the Stuttgart midfielder certainly fits in with Roman Abramovich's plans.  

Khedira, with just one year left on his contract at Stuttgart has made his intentions clear though and is set to join Real this week.

What next for Twente?

The Eredivisie champions 2010; but what next for Twente?  Picture courtesy of the Daily Telegraph  

Steve McClaren raised their profile and led FC Twente to glory in Holland last season; so what's the story?  IBWM's Jeff Livingstone reports.

How we laughed.  That YouTube video; the one with Steve ‘for sure’ McClaren.  Hilarious.  Here he was, the broken man of English football banished for all eternity to the wastelands of mid table Eredivisie.  He had an England team full of superstars, and yet he couldn’t get them to the European Championships.  Pah!  How could any top coach not get the best out of Gerrard, Rooney et al?  Good job England had Don Fabio eh?

Here we are, two years later, questioning whether England players are actually good enough; while ‘the wally with the brolly’ has recently led provincial Dutch outfit Twente Enschede to their first Eredivisie title.  How things change.  You will have heard that Steve McClaren has recently moved on from Twente, taking the manager’s job at Bundesliga side Wolfsburg and IBWM will be looking at club and manager at a later date.  But what about Twente?

When Steve McClaren took the head coach role at Twente Enschede in the summer of 2008 it certainly raised eyebrows back in England.  Many had expected the former Middlesbrough manager to bide his time and find a job in the UK.  With his family still based in the North East of England, it seemed only a matter of time before a call came from Newcastle, Sunderland or Middlesbrough requesting McClaren’s services.  Or maybe the former England coach could pick things up at Hartlepool, Darlington or Blyth Spartans.  With no disrespect to any of those fantastic clubs, they now looked to be McClaren’s level, so low was his stock following a dismissal by England.

Despite warnings that he was about to fall off the map, McClaren did his research and listened to the ambitions of FC Twente chairman Joop Munsterman.  Clearly impressed with what Munsterman had to say, and with the set up at Twente, McClaren took the job and began a special relationship that has raised the profile of both club and manager.

FC Twente Enschede was founded in 1965 and is based in the town of Enschede in the Twente region of the Netherlands; well east of Amsterdam but close to the Dutch border with Germany.  The locals - referred to as Tukkers - have witnessed their team play a lengthy period in the top flight of Dutch football, with only cursory glances at success.  Proudest moments for the club consisted of a UEFA cup final appearance in 1975 – which Twente lost to Borussia Monchengladbach – and a two Dutch cup wins in 1977 and 2001.  The club moved into its new stadium, De Grolsche Veste in 1998, but very nearly ceased to exist in 2002 when mounting debts almost forced their collapse. 

Dutch media magnate Munsterman took over at the club in 2004 and in the same year Twente were beaten finalists in the KNVB cup, the Dutch equivalent of the FA cup.  Gradually improving their league position each year was largely down to a well run academy and some astute training ground work put in by coach and former player, Fred Rutten.  With Rutten moving on to take the manager’s job at Schalke in 2008, Munsterman turned his attention to the disposed former England coach Steve McClaren.

If Twente had been punching above their weight under Rutten’s stewardship, then the first season under McClaren was nothing short of miraculous.  Commencing the season with a Champions League qualifier against Arsenal, Twente’s young side had lost heavily, but had not been embarrassed.  Their league campaign was impressive too, with a forward line consisting of young Austrian Marko Arnautovic, Swiss veteran Blaise N’Kufo and new Dutch starlet Eljero Elia scoring 37 goals between them as Twente again made the Champions League qualifiers.

McClaren was faced with realities of running a smaller club in the summer of 2009.  Ready to start his second season, the opportunity to move Twente forward was negated by the sale of Elia to Hamburg and the loan of Arnautovic to Inter Milan.  With two of the clubs best players gone, McClaren was forced to look elsewhere, and managed to pick up two youngsters from relatively humble backgrounds that were within months hailed as the players of the season.  In 2010, for the first time in their history, Twente were champions.

Costa Rican Bryan Ruiz Gonzales arrived from Belgian club AA Gent without a hugely prolific record, but fired 24 goals in 34 games to steer Twente to the title.  With N’Kufo containing to score regularly, Elia’s creativity was not missed due to the terrific form of on-loan Chelsea youngster Miroslav Stoch, who also weighed in with 10 strikes.  A 2-0 victory at NAC Breda on the final day of the season held off the advances of a Luis Suarez inspired Ajax and Twente captured their first league title.

But what next for Twente?  Without the need for a Champions League qualifier, the club now has a sizeable budget and scope to increase capacity at its excellent stadium; something that the ambitious club are keen to do.  But for all the positives, Twente will start the 2010-11 season without miracle worker McClaren who has since moved on to Wolfsburg.  Striker N’Kufo, an integral part of the Twente side for many years, has decided to see out his days as a player in the MLS with Seattle Sounders while Stoch returned to Chelsea before being sold on to Fenerbache.  Arnautovic has also now taken up permanent residence in the Bundesliga with Werder Bremen.

In addition to the recent departures, Bryan Ruiz is now attracting the attention of Europe’s top sides, with Liverpool heavily linked in recent days.  Twente will also do well to retain the services of Brazilian defender Douglas, another player with a bright future. 

But that’s what Twente do.  They have to sell to survive, and as long as Twente's management build the club up during the good times, the bad times will not last as long.  The Champions League will raise the profile of FC Twente further and they have already started to reinvest.  Money has been set aside to increase stadium capacity up again from 24,000, highly rated Swedish winger Emir Bajrami has been signed from IF Elfsborg and prolific Austrian striker Mark Janko has arrived from Red Bull Salzburg, presumably to fill the gap that Luiz’s departure will leave.  Former Belgian goalkeeper Michel Preud’homme will lead the side this season and it will be interesting to see how Twente go.  Good luck to them.

World Cup 2010; Psychic squid Paul writes for IBWM!

"ten squid on Spain....I said, ten squid on Spain!"

With a direct link from his erm, pad, at the Sea Life Aquarium at downtown Oberhausen; Paul, the psychic squid, has written for IBWM a not selling out at all piece.....

Hi sports fans!  

It's always tough when your team drops out of the World Cup, and I've already watched England (spent my early years in Weymouth) and my adopted Germany miss out in South Africa, but there's still plenty excitement to come!

Much as I would have loved to see Germany in the final, that feeling just went though my tentacles....I said tentacles...and I just had to plump for Spain.

And do you know what else? I really fancy Spain to 'tank' Holland too.  I've not been wrong so far, so if you fancy a piece of the action, why not get a few 'squid' on Espana for Sunday?  And who better to place your bet with than Bet365 who have joined up with this site.

You can click the (l)ink on the right and they'll help you through the whole process.  Don't miss out and I'll 'sea' you again soon!

Cesc now set for Arsenal stay

Barcelona President Sandro Rosell; managing Catalan expectations

Positive developments for Arsenal today with the news that Barcelona have hit problems in their proposed move for Gooner’s captain Cesc Fabregas.  IBWM's Jeff Livingstone reports.

Last week, IBWM reported on the seemingly inevitable nature of Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas’ move to Barcelona.  To my mind, it looked more a case of when than if; however developments in Catalonia earlier today have cast doubt over Barca’s chances of securing a deal for the player.

Despite reports last week claiming that increased revenues had made Barca ‘the biggest sports team in world’  – the club recorded turnover of over €445m for the last financial year – emergency moves have been made to secure a €150m loan to pay staff and player wages.

This news follows rumors in Spanish financial circles that Barca’s main Television partner, MediaPro, was on the verge of collapse and Barcelona FC was effectively insolvent.  The Catalan club entered into a 7-year €1 billion contract with MediaPro in 2006, but there have been suspicions that the firm had been in difficulties for some time and today it applied for bankruptcy protection.

Speaking via the club’s own website; newly installed president Sandro Rosell, who succeeded Joan Laporta in the role, attempted to reassure socios - the clubs membership - that the Barcelona club itself was not bankrupt, but stated that it would ‘have to finance’.  Rosell admitted that there were cash flow problems at the Camp Nou and confirmed that Barca would be adopting an austerity policy, with restrictions placed on ‘unnecessary’ spending.  Rosell also confirmed that Barcelona had received verbal assurances from MediaPro about payments, but pointed out that the deal was not underwritten by one of Spain’s banks, unlike Real Madrid’s own TV tie up.

With the Catalan region facing severe hardship due to Spain’s own financial problems, it’s difficult to see the situation improving quickly for Barca.  With Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta cemented into their midfield positions; it could be that a move for Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas - unable to displace any of the Barca trio from the current Spanish side - would also fall into the unnecessary spending category.

Having just spent €40m on Valencia’s David Villa, and bidding for €20m for Juan Mata from the same club, Barca are unlikely to be awash with transfer cash.  The potential sales of Yaya Toure - to Manchester City - and possibly Zlatan Ibrahimovic will generate income for Barca, but it remains to be seen whether further cash is reinvested into the first team squad.  It’s worth considering that Dmitry Chygrynskiy was returned to Shakhtar Donetsk this week at a €5m loss to Barca.

 

With Fabregas under contract until 2014, the only chance that Barcelona appear to have in signing the Arsenal captain will rest on whether he is prepared to instigate the transfer himself.  Rosell did add the line that “everyone knows he wants to come here” when referring to Fabregas, but “denied adamantly” that Barca would be prepared to pay €50-60m for the player, with Arsenal unlikely to sell for less.

With the move now looking more of an obsession for Joan Laporta, the more pragmatic Rosell appeared to offer encouragement to Arsenal by managing the expectations of Barca fans, describing publicity for the potential deal for Fabregas as; “the worst thing that could have happened”.

Good news for Arsenal fans, and it could be good news for England if the FA learn from Germany.  Read IBWM's take on this to find out more.

The legacy of France 1998; How German football got it right

 The end of the line for England's golden generation.  Picture courtesy of the Daily Mail


The German national team has gained admiration for the quality of its young players this year, but at the turn of the millennium, things weren't quite so rosy.  How did Germany get it right, and what can England learn from them? IBWM’s Jeff Livingstone reports.

After Germany beat England in their 4-1 win at South Africa 2010, the English media asked ‘why don’t we play like that?’  And with good reason; Germany simply outclassed England, with every player in white demonstrating his ability to retain possession and pass the ball.  What was all the more remarkable about this, and what really got up the noses of the tabloids, was that this was a young Germany side, with no apparent big name stars, against England’s golden generation; a side consisting of Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard.

This result was no fluke and the writing had been on the wall for a long time.  While England continued to rely heavily on a group of players that had shone so brightly in the 5-1 demolition of Germany at Munich in 2001, German football had gone through something of a revolution. 

Was it that 5-1 defeat nine years ago that had been the catalyst?  While that result would have stung the German nation, the original seeds of change were sown in 1998.  After coaching his country to become World Cup winners at Italia 90, German legend Franz Beckenbauer stated that Germany would be ‘unbeatable for years to come’.  With a strong national side set to be bolstered by a generation of skilled East German players, Beckenbauers statement did not look unreasonable.

By the summer of 1996, a unified Germany had collected its first major title, beating the Czech Republic to become European Champions for a third time.  At the same time, German’s top flight, the Bundesliga, awash with television money, was drafting in foreign players by the score to supplement the squads of its biggest clubs.

Fast forward to the World Cup at France in 1998 and a German defeat to Croatia and an exit from the tournament.  Time for a change; a new generation of stars ready to pull on the white shirts…….only problem was there weren’t any. 

The influx of TV cash in the 1990’s saw the number of foreign players in the Bundesliga rise from an average of 1-2 per side at the start of the decade, to 6 or 7 per team by the end of it.  The national team was suffering and the defeat to Croatia led the German FA to take action. 

A delegation led by Beckenbauer proposed a radical overhaul of youth football across the country.  Having looked to France as role models, with the French already enjoying the fruits of its 12 élite academies, Beckenbauer and his team proposed the introduction of more than a hundred regional talent centres but more crucially, they wanted the Bundesliga’s top clubs on board. 

The Deutsche FA requested that all clubs participating in Bundesliga’s 1 and 2 set up their own youth academies, stating that each yearly intake must consist of 12 players that were either born in Germany, or could be accepted to play for Germany.

While many of the clubs baulked at the idea, preferring to furnish the bank accounts of top overseas players, the German FA added the all important, and ultimately crucial, catch; failure to comply will see your acceptance into the Bundesliga revoked.  In a nutshell, put up or shut up.

While Bundesliga clubs grudgingly accepted the German association’s requirements, it became clear in 2002 that they had been granted a huge favour.

At the start of the noughties, German football was rocked by the collapse of corporate media giant, the Kirch group.  Bankrolling sport on TV, including the Bundesliga; Kirch media had mirrored the work done by Sky with the English Premier League, to a similar level of success.  However Kirch had overstretched itself considerably and its three main media companies became insolvent in a period from April to June 2002.  With the Bundesliga feeling the full financial effect of Kirch’s collapse, there was no money left for transfers and wages would have to be slashed to stop clubs following the same fate.

From 2002 onwards, German clubs were left with little choice but to field their own home grown players.  While many critics warned against throwing kids in too early, dozens of youngsters thrived.  Mistakes were made and goals were conceded, but with clubs having no-one else to turn to, many youngsters, like Kevin Kuranyi at VfB Stuttgart, learnt from their mistakes and blossomed.

The German national side was clearly in transition for much of the decade, but still managed to reach a World Cup final in 2002.  In 2006, Germany hosted the World Cup, and with the national squad still taking shape, former World Cup winner Jurgen Klinsmann was asked to help.  With Stuttgart’s Joachim Low drafted in to support the inexperienced Klinsmann, the Germans excelled on home soil and finished third in the tournament, well ahead of national expectation. 

During the World Cup in 2006, the first glimpses of Germany’s future appeared. Luka Podolski, Per Mertesacker, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Phillip Lahm all excelled; Podolski named young player of the tournament.

Klinsmann was ultimately succeeded by Low whose side were beaten finalists in the 2008 European Championships, losing to Fernando Torres single strike for Spain in the final.

The last two years have been the period that German football has really hit top gear.  With the fallout of the Kirch collapse still very evident among many of the top clubs, and a world-wide recession still biting in Germany, there has been little choice for clubs but to continue to blood young talent. 

With first team experience for their clubs in the ranks, the German under 17’s became European champions in 2008; the under 19’s and under 21’s repeating the feat in 2009.  By the time 2010 has rolled around, several players have stepped up to the full national side and you’ll have already seen the evidence of what investment has done for German football. Podolski, Mertesacker, Lahm and Schweinsteiger are still only in their mid 20’s, and this year we have already seen Werder Bremen’s Mesut Ozil, Bayern Munich’s Thomas Muller, Stuttgart’s Sami Khedira and Manchester City new boy Jerome Boateng excel.  But there are other potential stars in the current squad waiting to make their mark.  Bayer Leverkusen’s Toni Kroos, Hamburg’s Dennis Aogo, Stuttgart’s Serdar Tasci, Bayern Munich’s Holger Badstuber and Werder Bremen’s Marko Marin are all waiting for their chance.

The production line doesn’t stop there either with several other young players very close to making a step up to the full national side. In Germany, great things are expected of defender Mats Hummels from Dortmund and Borussia’s flying winger Marco Reus - Joachim Low deciding to hold both back until after South Africa - and there is a raft of further talent set to make its mark over the coming years.

In contrast to their German counterparts, the English FA really have no more time to think this one over; action needs to be taken to build those centres of excellence and reel those clubs in immediately. 

England have recently won the under 17 European Championships and with most of the Premier League heavily in debt, English clubs may also have no choice but to play academy players…..but they need to be English. 

Despite a semi-final defeat this time, Germany are set for along spell at the top of international football; if England does host the 2018 World Cup let’s hope that the FA have more to admire than the arch at Wembley stadium.

Do you agree?  Should England look to the German example, or is everything ok?  Please feel free to leave your thoughts and comments.