Manchester City and Chelsea continue to produce and stockpile English players, but neither club seems keen to see the job through and select them
When Ron Greenwood remarked, while responding to criticism for dropping the young Glenn Hoddle from his England team in 1979, that “disappointment is part of football”, he was widely derided for appearing to stifle the expression of creativity. But Greenwood knew what he was talking about, even if he chose the wrong words at the wrong time. Beneath them lay a truth that comes closer to the surface as the rewards for success in English football grow ever more outrageous.
It’s a sad fact that young footballers sometimes have to gamble with their lives if they want to make the breakthrough of which they have dreamed since childhood. This is a very big summer for two young English players who faced each other in an FA Youth Cup final three years ago and have answered the challenge of negotiating a career path through disappointment, actual and potential, in different ways.
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