Glenn Hoddle’s Safety Net for Rejects

By: Martha | December 19th, 2007

Oh, bugger. Glenn Hoddle may have been a flop as England manager (aren’t they all), but that doesn’t make him a bad person. Seriously, it doesn’t. In fact, he’s currently engaged in a project that’s both practical and almost absurdly heart-warming, and something somebody should have come up with long ago: The Glenn Hoddle Academy is being created as a haven for the young players who get pink slips rather than contracts from their clubs, and have nowhere left to go if they want to keep chasing their footballing dreams.

Hoddle’s been working on the Academy for a little more than a year and hopes, if funding is secured, to open it in spring, taking in players — based mostly on trials — who have been rejected by their clubs, but might be able to reach the top level with the aid of a bit more training and experience. As Hoddle says, it’s mad to think all players are fully-formed when they hit 18, the point at which decisions are often made on if they’ve got the ability to succeed in football. Big clubs simply lack the time and manpower to really focus on training for older players, and the idea of Hoddle’s academy is that it would fill that void, helping rejects improve their skills to the point where they’re worthy of another look by a club.

The idea is that the Academy would be fully funded, so if a player was accepted, he’d have to pay nothing for the training, room, and board (the academy is in Spain, where Hoddle went because of the good football weather). There have supposedly been encouraging talks with the PFA and the FA about possible sponsorships, and Hoddle also has a sort of great idea about getting players to sponsor individuals who have been let go by their clubs. So, say, Stevie Gerrard could pay for a talented (but not quite talented enough) Liverpool reject to spend a year at the academy, learning things that would hopefully enable the kid to pick up somewhere else and continue his career.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize this could be a boon for young players who are just on the cusp of making it, and it could be great for clubs, too, who let kids with potential go because they’ve just not got the time to train them further. Hoddle says what he’s doing is “brave,” and it probably is, in the fairly closed world of English football, but let’s wait a year or so before we give him a medal — he’s got to get this thing off the ground first.

[Thanks to Lem for the link.]

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andy

great idea ,needs to be free from any fa intervention they have had there go thats why were in the mess were in we need new and as daft as it sounds old values to bring individual skill to the forefront,rave on
Sid

Glenn Hoddle a flop as England manager....don´t think so!
Glenn Hoddle is a good man who´s words were taken out of context by a journalist hack hunger for glory and got it because the England hierarchy have not backbone.

Its great what Glenn is doing in Spain, how many other ex managers would do it? He has given up the opportunity to go back into premiership management to help these lads.

The guy needs applauding not criticising.
nige

Thought there already was an academy for these type of players. Its Called DERBY COUNTY
Ak

Ah, to be an England supporter! I remember that headline about Arsenal winning the World Cup -- the undercurrent of stubborn denial was genius! Laurie, that article probably is going to be the best description you'll get; but still that is only one aspect of it. All breeds of people support England: many of my friends and I are 2nd/3rd generation immigrants (whose parents never heard of the game before), and we all support the team broadly similarly to everyone else, and yet just as distinctly.

In any case, I sense this is beginning to snowball out of topic and control, so I won't try to add anything more, even if I could (without degenerating into an essay)! If anyone ever wants to know or understand anything, it is always best to sample it first hand; and although it is still some time away, IF England do get to stage 2018, then I highly recommend getting in touch with a long-lost relative!
Laurie

Ak, I follow the team only from a distance, but the best description I've read of the England fan experience was Nick Hornby's in "Thinking Person's Guide to the World Cup." (Reprinted in National Geographic, which was where I read it first.) Made me laugh out loud. I still go back and read it occasionally when I'm looking for a laugh.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic....
Ak

Oh no: you're right that the media is, to a varying extent, fanatically optimistic before a tournament (or indeed, a particular match); and, actually, that most of the England supporters share the same sentiments (myself included most of the time) -- these are facts that any sane person would find difficulty in arguing against.

But now you've put me in a difficult position because it can be folly to interpret facts without any context, and now I feel obliged to provide precisely that context! I've been trying to come up with a definitive answer for the past few hours (granted, whilst also trying to watching today's Carling Cup highlights!) but now I've resigned myself to saying that there's nothing succinct that I can say that will FULLY explain why we all get a bit carried away.

Probably all that I can say is that there's, generally, a genuine belief that the squad has been improving since the disastrous '94 qualifying squad, and that the players themselves have had enough raw talent in the last few tournaments to have a chance of winning it (along with the help of that illustrious lady luck). Given that, simply read those newspaper headlines, and listen to those fanatic supporters again, but now imagining that they are coming from a 10-year-old, and then imagine adding the words "We can do it!" with clenched fists and the faint glimmer of a tear in their eyes.

Maybe my bias is getting the better of my objectivity and that the team has been crap all along; but even then, football is so engraved in English society that it's like its our baby: would you ever, no matter how annoying it is to everyone else, talk about your kids except with blind optimism?
Hana

what an original idea. wish him the best, could be huge if it takes off.
Martha

Ak, it's perhaps unfair of me, really, because I base most of my characterization of English expectations on the madness in the press, which is very possibly nothing to do with you and the other real England supporters. It just seems like going into every major tournament there's a drumbeat from much of the media (and always a core group of players) that This is the Year, or This is the Best England Team in ____ Years, no matter the reality of the situation. Do you get that impress from the media, or that a skewed perception that only those of us outside Britain end up with?
Ak

I'm sorry if I came off as being slightly obnoxious: I suppose all the knee-jerking that's going on in the English media is beginning to squeeze my balls. This "grass-roots" idea from Hoddle is a good idea, and exactly the type of thing that the FA should be investing its thoughts in. In fact, it couldn't do them much harm to involve him in the FA backroom somewhere, if only for his refreshing (although, occasionally bizarre) thoughts -- certainly, they could find much worse.

Regarding Keeganism (i.e. the attribute of abject national mediocrity), is my memory failing me? I remember Hoddle's performance at '98 as being quite respected by the supporters/media; although, there certainly was criticism. I wonder, from your reply, whether we humble England supporters come off as being insanely demanding?
Martha

Wasn't mean to be sensationalism, Ak, I mostly meant what I said about them all being flops -- expectations in England are so high no one can meet them. I'd say at the time people would have described his tenure as a failure; definitely unfair, but such is the England job.
Ak

Describing Glenn Hoddle as a flop is a bit sensationalist isn't it? From my memories, he was quite a respectable England manager - not a world beater, but certainly not a flop. Hoddle is one of the English coaches that I still respect - he's not a simpleton that simply follows the crowd (not often, anyway) and is always willing to think outside the box. Incidentally, also at 'The Guardian' is his views on Capello, England, and the 4-4-2, which made me smirk as I remember him on many occasions trying to drop the formation for the "radical" 3-5-2!
Shane

Come one Santiago Munez, come all!

This does nothing for us now or it's not even something to keep track of but it's a very cool and great idea and i hope it works out.
I bet more defensive minded midfielders come out of this than anything else. You can teach someone how to be a solid player but you can't teach talent.