Ten Things Missing from English Football

Last Friday marked 10 years exactly when an English Premier League club (Aston Villa v. Coventry 27/02/99) last fielded an all-English first eleven.

Now, I am not suggesting for one second that foreign coaches and players have damaged the English game, as indubitably they have broadened horizons and invariably improved its standards.

However, there have been some important elements that have been lost in recent years, and this has coincided with the rise of a league that was once unmistakably British. 

Superior goal tallies in other leagues (like La Liga) tell their own story, but I am beginning to come around to the notion that Bill Shankly has a lot to answer for.

Okay, the EPL is widely perceived to be the best in world football, and I don’t dispute this, nevertheless, I am beginning to suspect this is largely an a priori assumption that is based purely on pound signs.

This has certainly contributed greatly to the demise of other prestigious leagues, which many feel, unlike the Premier League, have still managed to retain a sense of nationality and authentic beauty.

As strategies and physical attributes continue to have a strangle hold in England, and the Arsenals and WBAs relentlessly struggle; does our game now resemble something more similar to rugby?

And does adopting a win-at-all-costs mentality, threaten to undermine, and more worryingly, dismantle what made this league great to begin with?

As a result of my new found pessimism, I have compiled a list of all the things that seem to have disappeared from the English game. Iconic things, that not so long ago, set us apart. Things which made us proud and endeared many of us to the great game in the first place. Things I dearly miss.

Here goes…

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