I have met Graeme a couple of times and he was a very nice chap and very accessable. I'll never forget the 1st time I reffed a fixture that Graeme was involved in (England F30 v Ipswich Wolves @ Lilleshall), he was extremely vocal and passionate and he went as far as offering myself advice, which was massively appreciated.
I would like to wish Graeme all the best in what ever he decides to do next and thanks for everything that you have done to develop Futsal in this country.
Graham was a nice guy, no question about that; unfortunate that when he got hold of futsal it was a poisened chalice. We still do not have the _base_ for an England team 5 years after the first England team played at the KL5's in Malaysia; and I think it is this comparison with the 2008 visit to the same tournament that will have concerned his bosses. The results with a thrown together group (2003) of futsal & non futsal p_layer_s was marginally better than 2008 which was the result of some seriouse training and financial support. As a result a change was needed; in this case maybe a change for changes sake; the fact that we have not opted for a foreign coach means we are still on a 'voyage of self discovery.'
The FA league is a missed opportunity to raise the standard of the England team, very few p_layer_s in the initial teams are close to international standard, the best have to be playing each other regularly to raise standards, which means fewer teams. North vs. South vs. Midlands vs. England Training Group with each team playing each other 4 times; that way you condense the best p_layer_s and coaches.
In my opinion Graeme did what he could with Futsal in the time he had, with what he had. Although I don't agree with his insistance on using semi-pro footballers so much, but thats besides the point, hes undoubtably a good football coach and transferred his knowledge accordingly.
Now the Futsal side need to take a leaf out of the Football sides book and go for a experienced foreign coach. Its got to be the best option, many developing football countries do it, Asian, African and smaller european. In all intense and purpose we are exactly that in the Futsal world and need to grasp the cancept that many people around the globe are more qualified and able to take this country on as a national futsal side.
The new regional leagues will be a decent basis to select the p_layer_s from for a national squad, and the p_layer_s from previous squads now have the opportunity to join clubs if they don't already play on a regular basis and play against competative teams. If they really enjoyed their time representing England and want to continue they should join a team within the league and show commitment to the game.
Well I generally agree on the consensus here that Graham Dell did a great job for futsal in England during his five year reign. We have to accept his knowledge of both football and futsal that he obviously felt the semi-pro’s were better technically that what he had seen. And let’s be fair, he has had no basis to see anything else without a proper futsal structure set up after five years to help him. It’s not dell anyone should be knocking but his bosses at the FA – maybe they are the ones who should have stepped down for not supporting him better.
I saw him coach several times and I have no doubt that he knows what he’s doing. He is a highly experienced and regarded coach and we should accept that. As a p_layer_ though I would have to say that we aren’t a futsal nation and he has been able to do very limited things with a bag full of limited ability p_layer_s.
As for a foreign coach, that won’t work either. They would still have the same incapable p_layer_s to work with and I’m one of them from the low calibre regional leagues. The current crop of footballers aren’t even a world class standard despite what people might think and Capello will find that out very soon so there will be no hope of expecting better from our five a side p_layer_s with a foreign futsal coach. We have to get the youngsters playing the game with better knowledge as it’s about the technically ability of non-professional p_layer_s and knowledgeable futsal p_layer_s. England is limited for both, very limited for the latter.
From what we read in his FA column and in the media Graham Dell has been a devoted coach who has done a magnificent amount to promote futsal in England for which all futsal fans should be grateful. I cannot think of many coaches who will have stuck with such a thankless job for so long. Futsal is gaining popularity and anyone who saw him work will understand how limited the p_layer_s are yet how knowledgeable he is. In a couple of F30 sessions I watched I had mentally given up with the p_layer_s whilst he persevered at the basics with them.
The regional leagues are no better at this time but maybe in the years ahead they will be, so whomever the FA chose to replace Dell they will come up against the same issues, maybe more as they wont have Dell’s knowledge of what he had to go through over five years. Be prepared for a few more years of heartache though.
Personally, I think the FA will not fully value how he was perceived, or the loss of his knowledge until it’s too late and should have done all they could to stop him going. It’s our game so they keep telling us in their media hype, your game your say, so why let that experience go? Well done Graham, you stuck with a system that didn’t support you and you are to be congratulated for sticking with it. Let’s see if the FA recognise and honour your contribution to establishing this game in England in a respectable and appropriate way - you will be missed.
Futsal fan? are you on glue? have u any idea what futsal is?
if greame dell had tried playing the apparently poor p_layer_s from regional leagues and it hadnt worked then fair play to him for sticking with his system that didnt work. i dont think futsal in the country needed his "its broke, why bother fixing it" apparoach to the game. i know as i was at the FA cup he did see some matches from the tornament, but rather than watch majorly english _base_d teams play and try find some tallent he watched the teams like ispwitch who were mainly if not totally forign p_layer_s.
the amount of times i read his column on the FA site and he put his finger on solutions for progress and then just totally ignored it was utterly hurendous! like saying Falcao could play the game with a lower heart rate than his p_layer_s becuase falcao plays the game evry week and we suffer because our p_layer_s need time to adapt from football to futsal so we suffer at the start of matches... well this to me says you take action like picking p_layer_s that play futsal as aposed to football and/or make the 'F30' p_layer_s join futsal teams.
now we will have a new manager who will have no choice but to pay attention to the futsal p_layer_s in this country we will make progress, i mean if capello had picked the rugby squad for the friendly with france cos theyd got to a world cup final hed have got no were near the dressing room... football and futsal are totally different sports.
well done greame you did try and thanks for the patience, you did the right thing for english futsal, good luck with what ever you do next in life.
I do agree with some comments made. Delly did use primarily football p_layer_s to no effect, but continued to do that. I think, like FutsalFan, he had no faith in futsal p_layer_s, thus never gave them a chance. I think he should at least have paid more attention to regional leagues back when there were no national leagues. Credit where it's due though, he did pick up a few p_layer_s from the FA Futsal Cup finals. Luke Ballinger for one, who went on to do really well.
I think he carried a game that was nowhere near given enough support from The FA and he had results that reflected that. I don't doubt he's a good coach, but I think for futsal he might be a little too rigid. He can't be entirely blamed for poor results, England just doesn't have the infrastructure and the quality of p_layer_/coach to play at international level, but again, it didn't give any hope to those playing the game when he was picking p_layer_s from a different sport.
People with the attitude of it's just not good enough will never help the game develop (FutsalFan), if you don't think it's good enough, why are you playing it? You can say lets get the youngsters playing it, but it's actually doing it that needs action. I hope you are actively in schools coaching the kids?? That's not however going to solve any of the problems the England team face for at least 15 years. The FA regional leagues SHOULD now be where the England national team are selected from. They are good enough, there are some talented p_layer_s in a lot of teams and it will take those 12 or so p_layer_s, with a good experienced coach (and a translator perhaps) to move england up a level.
We still won't see instant results, but it will be a step in the right direction.
Now p_layer_s can aspire to play for England by playing well in the national league, and this in turn will attract a better quality of p_layer_. Most footballers at that level i know, only play for the money, and would quit to play futsal if they weren't going to lose out on so much financially! In turn, the kids who grow up playing futsal will opt for playing futsal over non-league football, I'm sure of it.
I think Futsal in england is at a pivotal stage and Graeme's "resignation" will only help to move the game on. I appreciate what he put into the game and even the advice he's given me down the line and as he said, he will put his knowledge back into coach education, so he will still be involved in developing the game at some level. I am not sure what the FA's plans for England are now, but I think they fully believe in their leagues and will bring in someone who is going to use the leagues to select england p_layer_s. I also hope the F30 squad is disbanded as it really was only a training program as they didn't train/play futsal anywhere else, now the p_layer_s should be picked on merit and will not need to have a training session to tell them to use the sole of the foot...
I don't think Graeme Dell will be missed as England Coach, providing we can get in someone with a LIFETIME of experience. There would be no point in bringing in an englishman, as it would be a step backwards. Delly is the best english futsal coach, and he has learnt a lot from his peers, and will hopefully feed that back into futsal. Maybe it would have been good to see what he could do with futsal p_layer_s from the leagues, but with no planned games now, why keep him in the job for another 6 months when someone else can be brought in to build something from the start, which is where we are now.
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