“Do you know what?” says Pete Sturgess. “One of the things we were able to put to bed this summer was the horrible statement, and it was embarrassing, that English players aren’t technical enough. I think that has changed now. I see them here, right from the under-nines. We’ve got a generation of players who are technically on a par with anything.”
In the first instance, it seems fair to take Sturgess at his word. If anyone is in a position to appraise the next generation of English footballers (and the one after that), it’s him. He is the Football Association’s national lead on the foundation phase, charged with creating and rolling out a coaching blueprint that will affect every child who wants to play the game. His plan for five- to 11-year-olds is implemented in schools and grassroots clubs and in conjunction with professional academies. It is also a first and vital step in creating what the FA means by the England DNA.
All too frequently mocked since it was coined three years ago, the England DNA is no longer a phrase that dare not speak its name. After a summer of success across the age groups (and sexes), staff at the FA clearly believe it’s an idea bearing fruit. The words fall frequently from Sturgess’s lips. More important, it’s the inflection point for everything he does. A long-term, systemic approach to developing England players, coaches and teams looks as if it is here to stay.
Sturgess watched the Under-17 World Cup final in October – Phil Foden, Rhian Brewster et al – with his colleagues at the National Football Centre at St George’s Park in Staffordshire. “It was just incredible,” he says, indulging in the memory only briefly. “For our DNA work, though, it was not: ‘Everything is nice in the garden.’ We were just scratching the surface of what the DNA could bring to football in this country. It was more: ‘If this is how we feel now, we’ve got to work even harder, we’ve got to communicate it even better.’”
The England DNA is applied across three age groups; foundation (ages five to 11), youth development (12-16) and professional development (17-21). It has five principles, none of which strike you at first reading as uniquely English. The concept of “who we are”, for example, comprises pride, integrity, excellence and collaboration. “How we play”, is defined by the ambition to “dominate play intelligently”. (The set is completed by “the future England player”, “how we coach” and “how we support”.) As the titles suggest, it’s a model that allows for flexibility but certain points are unambiguous.
“We have stated we want to dominate possession more than we might have done in the past,” Sturgess says. “I’m not sure as a nation we’ve really valued possession and used it as a weapon. I think we’ve used our physicality. So what we have to change the most would be in possession, because it requires our players to have a much better technique, much better movement and a much better tactical understanding.”
Physicality and combativeness, aspects of play recognisable as traditionally English, do still have a place according to Sturgess. “Out of possession I think we ask for what we’ve always brought to the table,” he says. “That is to say, that we are warriors. We want our players to be warriors. But we don’t want to go on to the pitch thinking being a warrior is all we’ve got. You need to be a real fighter and a real competitor, but if you’re going out there with fantastic technical ability and tactical understanding, then you’re dangerous.
“In the past, if the under-17s had gone 2-0 down in the final [as happened in the 5-2 win against Spain], that game might have been over. Or we’d have started going long ball, stick it in the mixer, all of those cliches. But these boys had a real belief in what the DNA was asking them to do; maintain possession with a purpose, and eventually you’ll pull your way back into the game. I think that was a perfect example of never giving up, that bulldog spirit, but having the next bit added on as well.”
We are talking in the heart of St George’s Park. Specifically, we are sitting outside the Starbucks concession, overlooking the lobby of the Hilton hotel that serves as the entrance to the facility. There are sponsors’ logos everywhere you go in the National Football Centre, from the conference rooms to the Wembley-sized training pitch. It’s an awkward combination, also inevitable (without corporate funding, St George’s Park would not have been built) and probably quite modern, too.
Sturgess’s approach to the game is equally of the times. He has worked for the FA since 2005 but from 2008-2015 was the coach of the England futsal team, a sport whose technical and tactical demands influence a lot of his thinking on player development. He uses a lot of buzzwords, he knows the message and he sticks to it. But he convinces, coming across as someone who believes in what he is saying and who subscribes to the importance of the FA’s role as guardians of the game.
In describing his work with children aged five to 11, he talks of stemming the rush towards the 11-a-side game, of encouraging development as broadly as possible for as long as possible, of moving away from judging the potential of a child by the tasks they can perform. Most important of all, he says, each child who engages with the game should get the most they can from it.
“The environment we want to create for the young children is exciting, memorable and one that makes them want to keep coming back,” Sturgess says. “We ask all coaches to see them as children first, rather than kids who might be pretty good at football. If we look at the child first then we can look at their holistic development we can make sure there is always value added in any time they spend with us.”
This means all children are coached not only to improve their technical and physical ability but also their psychological and social skills. Sturgess calls these the “four corners” of the foundation approach but, like everything in the DNA, they are applicable at other stages too. The psychological and social elements stand out. In a sport that makes contact with hundreds of thousands of children a year, at least 99% of whom will never play the game professionally, these skills are surely the most important that can be transferred. As a happy bonus, it may stop the England team of tomorrow from freezing against Iceland.
“I saw the match and as a fan you’ve obviously got an opinion,” Sturgess says with a sigh of the Euro 2016 exit. “But what I can say quite categorically is that if [psychological strength] was missing then we’re trying to put in place lots and lots of strategies to help deal with that better. And I know that was a very political answer.
“I’ve seen talented boys who’ve gone into an academy and technically they might be a year, two years ahead of the curve. But put them in situations that they can’t deal with either emotionally or psychologically and they just crumble. They’ve almost got a gift that they can’t use. So we want to support the child to cope with those challenging situations, to cope with disappointment.”
Holistic support for any child playing football is an admirable aspiration and it is a principle clearly written into the DNA. It’s not the kind of support that was offered to Eni Aluko during her dispute with the FA, however. For all that the garden has been rosy on the field for the FA this year, the problems off it have been serious too. Does the FA have a problem with diversity?
“If you look at our teams absolutely not,” he says. “If you look at the mix of coaches that come on our coaching courses, no. We have a BAME [black, Asian and minority ethnic] unit that is mentoring coaches – four graduated last year and four this. If the game is closing doors, as a governing body we are trying to really fast-track them through that so if any jobs come up they can say: ‘I am presenting myself in the best way possible.’ So I think that’s just a myth.”
The only question Sturgess does not answer is what we as a nation should expect of Gareth Southgate’s team. He does believe the England coach to be the best possible person for implementing the DNA; it is something he has been involved in since the start, something he intrinsically understands. But the DNA is about a process and a set of values. It is obvious Sturgess does not want that judged by whether we manage to beat Germany on penalties at the World Cup.
“I think in the past there’s been so much disappointment because we just haven’t brought our A game,” he says. “My expectations would be we go to major tournaments and come back saying that was exactly the best we can do. If that wins you the cup, brilliant. If it doesn’t, we’re not disappointed because we’ve got a plan for the next one and the one after that.”
The idea of any plan lasting longer than the short term may be alien to those who follow England, but wouldn’t it be nice if one day that had to change?
Young Lions’ summer to remember
U20 WORLD CUP winners Paul Simpson’s side enter the history books on 11 June by beating Venezuela 1-0 in a frenetic final in South Korea. Freddie Woodman makes a superb 74th-minute penalty save to preserve a lead provided by Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
EUROPEAN U21 semi-finalists Later in June, Aidy Boothroyd’s team win their group in Poland and against Germany in the semis, Demarai Gray and Tammy Abraham put England 2-1 up. Germany force a shootout, though, and win when Nathan Redmond’s penalty is saved.
EUROPEAN U19 winners In Georgia, Keith Downing’s squad win all three group games then Lukas Nmecha’s 93rd-minute goal beats the Czech Republic 1-0. On 15 July in the final Nmecha strikes another winner as Portugal are beaten 2-1.
U17 WORLD CUP winners In India, Steve Cooper’s side win their group then see off Japan on penalties, before thumping the USA 4-1 and Brazil 3-1. Spain go 2-0 up in the 28 October final but Rhian Brewster starts a fightback and Phil Foden hits two in what ends as a 5-2 romp.
