KVetch
Key Player
How about a Nation's League or World Cup squad? Look no further than France. I haven't watched that documentary yet but it sounds good.Been watching a fascinating documentary Football Dreams: The Academy. Anyone else been following this? It's about the academy at Crystal Palace and tracks the progress of various would-be footballers at the different age groups. First thing I noticed was the preponderance of young Black and Asian lads compared to white ones. It was almost a case of spot the white face at times - and I mean no disrespect to the ethnic minorities who appear well in the majority here. I'm just stating a fact.
The sacrifice in time and money made by the parents, so their sons can hopefully gain a contract at each age stage, is astounding. Of course they are all chasing the dream of eventually netting the 'pot of gold' contract for the first team. There are some excellent clips of these young lads in action showing off their respective skills and it produced smiles of pleasure from me when their efforts earned a new contract. Of course, it's cut-throat competition for places and I felt really disappointed for the lads that didn't make it. Dreams torn asunder and you can only hope that they'll succeed at another club.
Some of these boys are really talented and it would be nice if they could all go on to achieve their dreams. It won't happen unfortunately but I wish every one of them the best. The programme begs another question. There are so many Black players coming through the system that I have to wonder when the first time will be when an all Black team runs onto the pitch in an English league game. It's a far cry from the days of the seventies when it was rare for teams to field even one black player. Nowadays they grace our game in numbers which is all the better for it.