Lauren Rutter @laurenrutter ?

The Liverpool academy set up – overhauled under Rafael Benitez – is finally starting to produce some great results. Under the skilled hands of Rodolfo Borrell and Pep Segura, Liverpool have turned things around and we have started to see more and more promising youngsters burst onto the scene. With so many hot prospects at the [...]

England always go into international tournaments with the hopes of the nation upon their shoulders. The press and the fans inevitably think the team are going to win every tournament they enter, and why shouldn’t they, the England team has always possessed some of the finest talent in the World. Over the past few decades, dreams [...]

England’s youth development has long been seen as lagging behind the rest of the top European countries. It seems as if every nation goes through a rut with their youth set-ups at some point, so what exactly can we learn from those successful nations, who have managed to turn their failing youth set-ups around? There [...]

Harry Redknapp has suggested in the past that the level of abuse players are now receiving in the game is vicious and has begun to step over the line. Players like Emmanuel Adebayor are the constant subject of vile chants and abuse from ‘fans’ and it appears that although supporters should be entitled to express themselves, [...]

There is a long-established myth that to succeed and be influential in the Premier League you need to be physically big and strong. However, the arrival and success of smaller players like Luka Modric, Jack Wilshere and David Silva is quickly dispelling this notion. We often hear about young English players who never made it in [...]

According to some quarters, youth development in England is in crisis. There are certainly problems regarding investment, coaching and facilities, but it appears that the problems with the youth system might actually be further along the line than the grass-roots level. The transition between academy and senior level seems to be stopping a lot of [...]

It is over a decade since Howard Wilkinson’s Charter for Quality reforms changed the youth development system in England, and it appears that the time has come for another revamp of the youth set-up in this country. The Premier League have announced the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP), which if fully approved could come in [...]

With an ever increasing amount of foreign players plying their trade in the Premier League, debate in recent years has often revolved around their impact on English football and in particular the youth development in this country. It is often suggested that clubs increasing willingness to go out and spend on a foreigner, is the [...]

England’s top football clubs have spent millions developing their academies and bringing up a large number of boys from a very young age, yet many have little, or no end product to show for it. Chelsea, for instance, have brought hardly anyone through since John Terry’s progression to the first team, and it has now [...]

Adel Taraabt had an astonishing year in the Championship last season, winning the Championship player of the year and leading QPR to Premier League promotion. Despite his amazing amount of talent, doubts still linger around the player, and so far he seems to be proving the doubters-who thought he would be found out at this [...]

The Carlos Tevez saga is still droning on, as he is currently serving a two week suspension for Tevez-gate (are we calling it that yet?), while Manchester City investigate the matter. This week his agent/lackey/minion Kia Joorabchian has come out and stated that Tevez didn’t refuse to play and that his post-match comments were simply [...]

Rafael Van der Vaart has never been the shy, retiring type, but his constant stinging attacks and public criticism of Harry Redknapp’s decisions have started to cross the line. He is beginning to talk himself out of Tottenham, like he has done at other clubs in the past. Van der Vaart’s latest criticism of Redknapp, [...]

There are so many wonderful aspects to the beautiful game, which we are entertained by week in week out. Whether its a glorious goal, a wonderful passing move, or an exceptional last minute challenge, we are extremely lucky to be able to witness such enjoyable feats every week in the game. However modern day football isn’t [...]

The season is still in its infancy, but we have already learnt plenty and had plenty of controversial points to discuss, as we begin to discover what the new season has in store for us. We have seen loads of great goals, moves, and team performances so far, as well as some pretty shocking play at [...]

After their excellent few months at the end of last season, Liverpool fans could be forgiven for feeling overly optimistic about the new season. Liverpool haven’t made a terrible start to this season, although they are yet to begin playing with the same spark and dynamism that characterised Dalglish’s first few months in the managerial [...]