Glenn Hoddle was the most gifted footballer of his generation. Blessed with sublime technique and a phenomenal range of passing, he was revered at all the clubs he played for in his 20 year career as a player.
As a manager he has led teams at all levels of the game. From guiding Swindon Town into the Premier League to becoming player-manager at Chelsea and then on to his spiritual home at Spurs, Hoddle accumulated vast management experience during his career as a manager.
Even becoming England manager in 1996 and steering them to the World Cup '98 before an ill-thought-out interview would cause him to resign.
So it's fair to say that when it comes to professional football Glenn Hoddle has seen it all. Still a young man at 51, Hoddle has so much to offer the game we love. But instead of managing a team in the Premier League he has chosen to walk away from the professional set-up he knows so well and move to Spain.
What could convince Hoddle to move everything he knows and loves to foreign shores? Especially as he has no intentions of managing a Primera league team.
Glenn Hoddle has set up an Academy for young footballers. Players who have tasted rejection at a young age, where the Premier League team that had signed the player as a child have now decided that as a teenager they don't require their services any more.
This is the one of the toughest parts of the football world. Managers do it everyday, call the player to his office give them the bad news and send the player on their way. That most of these players have no education or had given their education up as they chased a dream has no bearing on the manager's decision.
They're not needed at the club. They're on their own.
Over the last five years through a consultancy company, Glenn Hoddle has been analysing English talent within the Premier League. And last season the findings were alarming.
Only one in three players starting matches in the Premier League is English. And young English players account for the majority of trainees being released before they can realise their ambitions.
Glenn Hoddle has decided to curtail these figures himself, by setting up the world's first independent football academy. He has chosen 40 players, who were deemed unwanted and were disregarded by their clubs, and has offered them a route back into professional football.
Hoddle is convinced that these youngsters are released too early and that had they been given another year or two of professional coaching, they could have attained the level needed to make a career as a professional footballer.
This season he has selected 40 players who have been released. Each youngster came to Hoddle's attention through a scouting network that he has assembled over the last few years. He now has contacts in almost every club in England as he searches for a "diamond in the rough".
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The training facility in Montecastillo in the vicinity of Jerez was financed, designed, and built by Hoddle as he pumped millions of pounds of his own money into the venture. He stresses that this isn't a "Big-Brother" type contest to win a contract, but is his own genuine attempt at giving a player the skills needed to reach the highest level.
After playing in Monaco for five seasons under Arsene Wenger, Hoddle is convinced that players in England start off on the back foot when compared to their European counterparts. In England it is common for only the top Premier League sides to have the best facilities.
Whereas in Europe and especially France, where Hoddle has most experience, players are brought up to expect excellent facilities with almost every club. The talent conveyor belt in France of recent years is testament to this.
With that in mind, Hoddle has developed his facility to match those of the best European clubs. The Montecastillo resort was already established as one of Spain's best tourist haunts, and Hoddle has added his superb football facilities to the enclosed resort.
The facilities boast indoor and outdoor pitches, golf courses, swimming pools, gyms, and class-rooms for in-depth tactical training.
Hoddle is justifiably proud of his achievement but stresses that they will only receive true success when a player is signed by a team.
He said: "Our success comes from how many players we get back into football. The opportunity to change someone's life is quite exciting and that's what we're trying to achieve. This is (purely) about developing players, it is not about academies or reserve team football where we have to win matches to be successful
"We have played Sevilla and Betis and a lot of our players have said that they aspire to playing in Europe, a lot are quite small but are very technical. We have got three or four very technical players who would suit Spanish, Italian, or Dutch football and it's opening their minds towards playing abroad."
And although no player has successfully graduated from Glenn Hoddle's Academy, it is generally felt within the footballing community that it's only a matter of time before this happens.
So much so that Hoddle has recently sold 30 percent of the facility in Jerez to the Emirates National Bank of Dubai for £2.7M. This injection of money has allowed Hoddle to finance a second Academy in Portugal where he hopes to take not only 18 to 20-year-olds from England, but youngsters from around Europe as well.
When asked why he set the Academy up in Spain, Hoddle replied: "This is a stepping stone for them in a different culture and climate and we are setting them up to have that option, they are also learning languages (here) and putting things in place.
"They are improving astonishingly and they continue to improve. Slowly but surely we will get some players back into the game"
Hoddle believes that all the youngsters who have come through his door have been subjected to the fundamental failings within the English game. And during the course of his Academy training he has noticed the basic lack of technical skills in his players.
"I don't think we work on technique in training as much as we should do (in England). I've seen that as a player, I was naturally gifted, but I worked hard on it, it doesn't come easy. If you're good at something you practice more, and you get better".
In British football and certainly English football there is a preference for big, strong players over technical players. These powerful youngsters are then thrust into action against other players of a similar nature. Here they learn the skills that English football is famous for; desire, never giving up, fighting for every ball. But the technical skills so evident in Continental Europe and South America are distinctly lacking.
Millions of pounds has been spent on state of the art facilities and the FA are currently trying to get a training facility to rival Clairefontaine off the ground as more money is pumped into facilities. But Hoddle feels differently.
"Building a fantastic facility for youngsters is something which is good but I think the majority of the money would have been better spent on coaching. I think it goes down to eight, nine, and ten-year-olds. I don't think players in England play with their heads up as they are coached abroad.
"Continental players see a picture quicker than English players and if you have that and you have better technique then you have an advantage. At young ages they are like sponges and can take things in. I don't think we coach enough.
"My experience of coaching in England is that in many cases the thought is how tall and how strong they are and whether they can get box to box. If that is the priority the smaller players with better technique can get left aside"
To address this situation the FA have recently launched a new coaching agenda where experienced coaches will train selected 11 to 13-year-olds around the country. At the moment the norm is for inexperienced coaches to train kids before they move on to adults. With this in mind England is decades behind when it comes to modern football.
And even though Hoddle is training 18 to 20-year-olds he believes it's never too late to start coaching technique properly, and even at this late stage of development coaching can go a long way.
Hopefully for the sake of Hoddle's Academy and for young players everywhere he's right.
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about 1 month ago
Great article Willie. Sounds like Hoddle is trying to "give a little back" like you said. Nice idea. Hopefully he'll succeed.
from about 1 month ago
Thanks Gerry,
It's an exceptional idea and it seems that Hoddle has approached this in the most altruistic way possible. Hopefully there will be one or two successes from the GHA.
about 1 month ago
Nice to see someone trying to putting a little back into the game. Kudos to Hoddle.
from about 1 month ago
It is nice to see. Generous offer by Hoddle, with luck some kid might progress enough to play professionally.
about 1 month ago
Read about this in the BBC website a few days ago.. nice thing to do - he's finally stepped away from punditry to do something worthwhile, has he?
Nice article Willie.
from about 1 month ago
Thanks Shyam,
I read about him a few months ago on the Spurs website and he seemed very optimistic of this new direction he was taking.
I seem to remember Kevin Keegan setting up a similar enterprise with his "Soccer Circus" in Glasgow.
It would be nice if it benefited someone who had been disregarded, wouldn't it?
about 1 month ago
I never heard about this at all.
This is a great idea by Hoddle, gives the young guys another chance.
from about 1 month ago
I heard him on NewsTalk last Summer talking about how he wanted to change English football. And like you said it's a great idea.
about 1 month ago
Like I said to you earlier Willie, seems to me like Hoddle will be great at this. Teaching kids how to play football the European way is certainly going to be good for the British game. I hope it works out for him.
Hasn't Beckham got some sort of soccer school/academy too?
from about 1 month ago
I hope that Hoddle can get past his own narcissistic personality, if he can the rewards for "his" kids will be great, for him and the kids.
I think he's better suited to coaching rather than managing and with someone of his ability and credentials you get the feeling that someone will make it.
I've heard of Beckham's training school and of Keegan's Soccer Circus but to the best of my knowledge they're only set up to train "any" kid on a short term basis.
Hoddle's academy goes a step further and trains them full time as professionals. I'm pretty sure that there were YTS schemes of a similar nature in the 80s and 90s.
I graduated from a similar course in Ireland, but injuries and just not being good enough for that standard took their toll. Had a very good amateur career though.
about 1 month ago
Great writing Willie, one of the best things I've read on here in weeks. Good to see that Hoddle seems to care about the development of these players who are cast aside. I would not be surprised to see a couple of genuine stars come out of this academy before to long, if any of Hoddle's technical ability rubs off on any of them they will be in good shape for the future.
from about 1 month ago
Thanks a lot Illya, and for the POTD.
It's great to see players getting involved with the development of the game, they're almost like missionairies or aid workers to use a better term.
Hopefully something will rub off and we'll see a graduate.
8 days ago
Hello Sir,
My name is akinbo ashavin. I am from nigeria. I wish to join your academy.i will work hard to improve your academy. My talent is described below in my introduction. Please read till the last and I am sure you will be impress with me. Thank you for reading .
THESE ARE MY CV
NAME: AKINBO ASHAVIN DAYO
EMAIL: AKINBO_BABA@YAHOO.COM,AKINBOBABA@GMAIL.COM
TEL:+2347070048802
MOB: +2348028086446
ADDRESS:10B OKOH STREET,OFF AKINDELE ROAD,AKERA ESTATE,ALAKUKO,ALAGBADO,LAGOS STATE
COUNTRY: NIGERIA
RELIGION: ISLAM
DATE OF BIRTH: 5TH 0F APRIL 1994
AGE: 14 YEARS
EDUCATION: WEST AFRICA [ WAEC HOLDER O LEVEL]
POSITION: FORWARD
CLUB: FAITHWAY FOOTBALL ACADEMY
REPUTATION: VERY ATTRACTIVE
HEALTH
Excellent; no limiting injuries or conditions
Height: [:5.6FEET]; weight: [59 KG]
SKILLS, TRAINING, AND PLAYING CHARACTERISTICS
Exposed to and trained in all positions of competitive play; currently specializing in FORWARD responsibilities, (i.e. good control and well goal sense) requiring delaying, channelization, great use of the ball. Very intelligent forward with great first touch, accurate through balls, hard and fast shoot, great dribbling and dodging. Master minded in defending responsibilities, very fast runner, tackling, counter attacking, heading, slide tackling, shielding.
Skilled with both right and left feet. High intensity, high concentration. Excellent timing and anticipation, positioning, reading the game. Knowledgeable in rules of the game, team and individual strategy. High pain threshold. Very strong leadership skills on and off the field. Take-charge mentality.
thanks
from 8 days ago
...em...
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