Michael Owen must be the luckiest man in the world. Playing for Manchester United, on an occasional basis, with no real pressure, earning vast sums of money… while still being able to indulge in his love of horse racing. When he writes his next autobiography, they’ll have to call it Riley – The Life Of.

It is not the script we expected Owen to follow when he was a teenager and emerging as one of the greatest goalscorers the game has seen. At that time he was always being compared with me, as we both banged in goals for England at an early age. It was regarded as only a matter of time before he bettered my 44 for England and Bobby Charlton’s record of 49.

Yet he has ended up stuck on 40 from 89 caps, which is still an outstanding record. But Fabio Capello’s arrival as England boss turned out to be the death of his international career. And his decision to play only cameo roles at United ended any hope of a comeback. I am not buying into the idea of Owen making an England return – even though he’d make an excellent option to come off the bench and grab a goal. Capello has never fancied him, and he is not the first manager with an aversion to what you’d call out-and-out goalscorers.

It’s not true that players like Owen have suddenly gone out of fashion. All my managers were sceptical of me and I seemed to spend half my life arguing with Bill Nicholson at Spurs about his obsession with me having to track back. I wouldn’t have a go at Owen about the way things have turned out for him. I’m sure I’d have been delighted to have had the same existence at the age of 31, if only the squad system had been about in my playing days.

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Back then, being on the bench, or being substituted, had a real stigma attached to it, suggesting you weren’t good enough or weren’t performing up to scratch. I remember a dog invading the pitch at White Hart Lane. As the referee and players tried to catch it, Bill Nick decided to make a substitution, bringing on David Jenkins for Frank Saul. Clear as a bell, one terrace wag yelled: “Bring Saul off – but leave the dog on instead!” Yet now all players recognise that it’s a squad game and that even the idea of being ‘dropped’ has become obsolete – players are just rested, rotated and managed.

Owen, then, is very much the ultimate modern footballer. And signing him was something of a masterstroke by Sir Alex Ferguson. If you’re challenging for four trophies and trying to juggle six or seven senior strikers, it is handy to have one or two who are relatively happy to play bit parts. As Owen showed with his brace in the Carling Cup at Leeds the other night, he certainly has not lost his eye for goal.

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You would imagine that when Ferguson talks to Owen, they are more likely to discuss racing form than football. And Owen’s chief remaining sporting ambition is more likely to be owning a Derby winner than collecting more medals with United or England. There is nothing wrong with footballers not being completely in love with football, as long as they remain totally professional.

Strikers, in particular, have rarely been obsessed with the sport and few top front men have gone on to become successful managers. I couldn’t have thought of anything worse than staying inside football after I’d hung up my old shooting boots. In fact, I can readily identify with Owen. We probably ended up with a lot more in common than I gave people credit for, when everybody compared him to me as a teenager.

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It is over a decade since Howard Wilkinson’s Charter for Quality reforms changed the youth development system in England, and it appears that the time has come for another revamp of the youth set-up in this country. The Premier League have announced the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP), which if fully approved could come in as early as next year, making whole-scale changes to the academy set up in this country. The aim of the plan is to revamp the youth development system in order to produce more top quality home-grown players to benefit both clubs and the national team.

The EPPP is a dramatic reform, which paves the way for clubs to match the Barcelona model of training youngsters. Current rules limit coaching hours and place travel restrictions on young players, but this plan aims to change all that. It is aiming to bring in 15-20 hours of coaching time per week for ages 9-16, up from the current target of 5 hours, which will bring it closer into line with other European countries. Coaching is currently limited to 2,000 hours between the ages of 10 and 18, but the EPPP would up that to around 10,000 hours, which will no doubt make a huge difference to the young players in England. It also aims to scrap the travel rule, which currently only allows sides to sign players based within 90 minutes travelling distance of the club. The new plan would mean that the bigger clubs could effectively take players from different areas and move them into a residential complex on site, the thought behind it being that the most promising players can only benefit from playing amongst the best.

Under the proposals, clubs youth operations will be put into one of four categories or tiers. Clubs in the highest tier will have far fewer restrictions placed upon them in terms of the amount of coaching time they can provide per week, and the age at which a child can be trained, also the travel restrictions will not apply to them. The cost of equipping a category one or two training facility means that these tiers will be out of reach for the majority of Football League clubs who have produced exceptional talent in the past. Restrictions in terms of accessing players will apply to tier three and four clubs, which could then force them to abandon their youth operations altogether, as they will not get access to players until a much later age. This could effectively mean that the best youngsters will all end up at the bigger clubs no matter where they come from, as the smaller clubs might not have the funds or resources, to be able to compete in this area.

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Manchester City have already announced plans for a huge new training complex, which would place them at the forefront of youth development in this country. Fortunately for them they are in the luxury position of being able to create such a complex, but the teams that will be able to achieve anything like this are few and far between. The EPPP could rule out very good academies because of money, which is wholly unfair to smaller clubs.

The changes in the constraints on travel and the notion of compensation being restricted to smaller clubs, could also have a very negative aspect. Smaller clubs who see their youth academy as an additional revenue steam, would lose out on this valuable income, and it could render their programs ineffective. It would be terrible if small clubs had to abandon running their youth set-ups, and could effectively work the opposite way and kill youth development in this country. The changes could make the system more elitist, with finance dictating what category a clubs academy belongs to, and smaller clubs forced to close their academies due to the financial strain.

A large proportion of top quality Premier League and England stars actually came from the lower leagues and were produced by smaller clubs, so it would be a shame if these academies were eradicated. It seems that the changes-which seem to be coming from the Premier League instead of the FA-are not in the interest of the lower tier clubs, and clearly favour the bigger clubs, which poses problems. The Football League still have to ratify the plan before it gets the go ahead, but you would think that they would have to make some changes to the plan, as it does nothing to favour clubs in the lower tiers. Compensation levels need to properly weighted to ensure the smaller clubs can survive, and the restrictions in terms of access to young players need to be more lenient than they are set out to be in the plan. There must be a place for smaller clubs in the programme, as they have produced so many talented youngsters over the past few decades, they provide vital experience and more often than not can toughen up a player, before he moves onto a bigger side to progress his career.

The ideas behind revamping youth development are long overdue, but there are other changes that need to be implemented as well. The link between academies and the first team has to be stronger, as there is plenty of top quality talent at the bigger academies who don’t get a fair shot to make their senior side. If the big clubs are having first options on the nations talent, then they have to ensure that young players will be given the experience they need in order to give them the best chance of making it in the game. We don’t want even more youngsters to fall by the wayside, which seems to happen far too frequently in the modern game. At the top clubs, young players often sit and watch on as money is thrown about and foreign players are brought in, which render it impossible for them to breakthrough into the first teams.

The changes proposed-particularly regarding coaching time-are likely to overhaul youth development in this country, but other changes also need to made. The way children are selected for academies, the manner in which they are developed, and the transition between academy and first team level must be looked at, if we are to truly revamp youth football in England. The EPPP does propose some radical changes, but these are unlikely to have the desired effect on youth development unless the whole mindset and attitude around the youth system in England is changed as well.

Do you think the elite player performance plan is likely to make any difference to youth development in this country? Let me know your thoughts by commenting below, or following me on Twitter @LaurenRutter for more comment and debate.

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Juan Mata’s arrival at Chelsea in the summer has seen new manager Andre Villas-Boas deliver on his promise of expansive, attacking football. The former Valencia man has brought a real spring to the step of an aging Chelsea squad and provided the much-needed boost to put Fernando Torres on the right path to his form of old.

With Glen Johnson being a far better attacking full-back than one who excels in the art of defence, manager Kenny Dalglish may look to the returning Jamie Carragher (if fit) to keep the Spanish international quiet. With a back-four that has not always been up to standard, Juan Mata may look to exploit the lack of pace in Jamie Carragher and target the Liverpool defender as a weak-link in a possible right-back position.

Needles to say, much of Chelsea’s attacking creativity will come through Mata, a player well versed in the possession football Roman Abramovich is so desperate to see at Stamford Bridge. A player who is lethal in front of goal and with the creative touch to unlock a Liverpool side who will be dogged in their defence, stopping Juan Mata may be the key to a Liverpool result next weekend.

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With January fast approaching, there could be a lot more action than usual in the mid-season window, mainly due to contract situations with so many players in the Premier League. With player power beginning to surface around the English top flight, players are now controlling the contract situations and the majority of the agents are always on the lookout for new clubs, and more money.

A staggering 113 players who were registered for Premier League football are out of contract at the end of this season resulting in many clubs looking to either move them on in the summer or risk making a loss in May. There will be plenty of chances to earn a new contract for the future Bosman players, but having now let their contracts run down to just over six months remaining, perhaps the clubs are eager to get rid of them.

The list of out-of-contract players is not just packed with squad players and bit-part first team members, but star internationals that have brought a lot to the Premier League in the past five years or so. Names such as Didier Drogba, Dimitar Berbatov and Ledley King head the list that is a scattered with house-hold names that may suggest a change in the tide of attitudes from Premier League clubs that are happy to lose their experienced heads when their contracts expire in favour of young players breaking through.

At the end of last season there was not a huge rush to snap up free signings from the Premier League as there was very little to choose from. Hargreaves, Ba and McFadden were about as glamorous as it got last May but this year a team could be built solely from free signings that could well finish in the top half of the league. A club could spend their whole transfer budget on wages for these players and have a better side than most in the Premier League next season. Some clubs however may struggle to recover from losing players for free next summer and need to either replace them or keep them to have any chance of being competitive in a year’s time.

Bolton Wanderers are a team that could particularly struggle, with an astonishing 13 players coming to the end of their contracts next summer, January could be a time to either sell them or offer them a new deal otherwise there could be a major issue at the Reebok. With the side struggling this season in the Premier League, players may not be eager to commit themselves to the club with the possibility of Championship football next season.

Kevin Davies, Gary Cahill and Jussi Jaaskelainen plus 10 others will all have big decisions to make over the next few months that could be a massive period of Bolton’s modern day history. It is surely a problem that many clubs must be tackling throughout the season. Of course some of the 113 players will sign new deals at their clubs before the end of the season, lying to bed all speculation surrounding them, however some will also leave in January, with the clubs looking to get at least a small amount of money for their players rather than lose out in May.

Here is a list of some selected players that are out of contract next summer, can you make your Bosman XI:

Goalkeepers –

Jussi Jaaskelainen,

Mark Schwarzer,

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Defenders –

Ledley King,

Maynor Figueroa,

Gary Cahill,

Carlos Cuellar,

Jose Bosingwa,

Sylvain Distin,

Fabio Aurelio,

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Midfielders –

Ryan Giggs,

Owen Hargreaves,

Danny Murphy,

Martin Petrov,

Saloman Kalou,

Junior Hoilett,

Tomas Rosicky,

[divider]

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Forwards –

Louis Saha,

Dimitar Berbatov,

Didier Drogba,

Kevin Davies,

Nicolas Anelka,

Andy Johnson,

And of course…. Emile Heskey!

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Arsene Wenger reaffirms his commitment to Arsenal after reports in France suggested that he is considering his future at the end of the season. Apparently Wenger claimed that if he wasn’t able to get the best out of his players then he will look to move on, while also suggesting that the loss of Fabregas and Nasri was a significant blow to his plans for this season.

Elsewhere in the news Villas-Boas is slowly making his mark at Chelsea; Fergie claims Phil Jones was a steal at £16.5m, while Dalglish stands by Carroll.

 

Wenger reaffirms Arsenal commitment – Guardian

Terry and Suarez to back anti-racism campaign in Stamford Bridge clash – Daily Mail

Villas-Boas makes his mark – Daily Telegraph

Dalglish stands by Carroll after Capello fuels doubts – Independent

Chelsea plot £20m raid for Toon star – Mirror

Rafael van der Vaart says Adebayor is the reason for his great form – People

Blackburn boss Kean all set to net a ‘decent’ pay rise despite struggles – Daily Mail

Sir Alex: Phil Jones was a £16.5m steal – Mirror

Liverpool set to secure Chris Samba signing – People

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Blatter’s new controversy – this time over tickets – Independent

Nike closing in on St James’ Park deal – People

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Manchester United could leapfrog rivals City and go top of the Premier League if they beat basement boys Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford.

The Red Devils are in sparkling form at the moment and go into the game off the back of two successive 5-0 wins. This is the time of year that Sir Alex Ferguson’s side usually picks up momentum as they make their charge towards top-flight glory. United have been imperious since their 6-1 drubbing at the hands of City back in October winning eight of the subsequent nine games keeping seven clean sheets in the progress. Despite having 12 players out injured including captain Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, midfield enforcer Darren Fletcher and winger Ashley Young fringe players like Michael Carrick and Dimitar Berbatov have stepped in to fill the breach with the Bulgarian striker helping himself to six of United’s 10 goals over the last two games. He scored five in this fixture last season and is sure to be hungry for goals again as the Ferguson sets himself up for another championship assault.

Blackburn boss Steve Kean has a very different agenda as he prepares to take his side to Old Trafford knowing a defeat could cast them further adrift at the bottom. Rovers will go into the game with renewed optimism after holding Liverpool on Boxing Day gaining a vital point in their survival bid. However I doubt Kean and his players will believe they can beat United on their own patch with and last season’s 7-1 thrashing likely to be fresh in their minds. Goalkeeper Mark Bunn will be keen to avoid a similar score line this time round and should he perform like he did on Merseyside on Monday then he could be the difference for Blackburn. The club will hope their supporters once again provide positive noises from the stands after they got behind Kean and the players at Anfield as they attempt to engineer the biggest scalp of the season thus far.

Manchester United 2nd : 45 points

Team news: Sir Alex Ferguson is without 12 first team players but could have Phil Jones, Rio Ferdinand and Fabio back for the visit of Blackburn on New Years Eve.

Key Player: Wayne Rooney

Since rediscovering his knack of scoring goals at the start of December the England strikers performances have been near perfect. Rested for the game against Wigan on Boxing Day he’ll be firing on all cylinders as he looks to guide United to Premier League glory in 2012.

Blackburn Rovers 20th : 11 points

Team news: Blackburn have doubts over Paul Robinson, David Dunn and Junior Hoilett who all have knocks. Six other players are definitely out until the New Year.

Key Player: Mark Bunn

With Paul Robinson a doubt for the trip to Old Trafford it looks as if Bunn will start for the second successive game. His performance against Liverpool on Boxing Day was nothing short of spectacular with his reaction save from Andy Carroll’s header out of this world. Will be crucial to thwarting United’s goal hungry attack.

PREDICTION

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United are unstoppable at the moment scoring 10 in their last two games and looking on course to regain the Premier League top spot. At the other end of the table Blackburn are staring into the abyss and defeat at Old Trafford will see them start 2012 rock bottom. 

Scored: 4-0

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Fulham will be aiming to bounce back from their defeat at Blackburn by beating Newcastle who chasing a third straight Premier League victory in 2012.

Sitting just six points above the relegation zone in 14th wasn’t the position Martin Jol envisaged the Cottagers being in when he took over in the summer. The Dutchman has presided over a stop start campaign at Craven Cottage and he will have been angry that his players failed to build on their impressive win against Arsenal a fortnight ago. Their inability to beat struggling Blackburn, who played over an hour with 10 men, was typical of their inconsistent form. Fulham have won just four of their last 14 games usually following up victories with a string of defeats, which has made it difficult for them to climb the table. Lapses in concentration, missed chances and lethargic performances are certainly starting to take their toll although the first half of the campaign was hectic. The game at Ewood Park was their 37th of the season which is just one shy of a full top-flight campaign. Despite exiting the Europa League they had to endure a hectic Christmas period straight after and have hardly had any time to put their feet up and charge the batteries. Coming up against energetic Newcastle is the last thing Jol will have wanted as he tries to steer the club away from danger.

The Magpies have roared back into life in the New Year beating Manchester United and QPR at St James’ Park to leapfrog Liverpool into sixth. A minor blip over Christmas saw the pundits predict Alan Pardew’s men to struggle in the second half of the campaign especially with leading scorer Demba Ba heading off to the African Cup of Nations. Leon Best was the man charged with leading the line against Rangers on Sunday and his expertly taken goal proved to be the difference between the two teams. The Republic of Ireland international has played second fiddle to Ba for much of the campaign but proved his worth to the club with his first goal in four months. Admittedly Best has been a consistent performer for Newcastle since coming into the side at the start of 2011 following the sale of Andy Carroll and his work rate, hold up play and aerial strength has made him a real asset in black and white. A similar thing could be said for Danny Guthrie who returned from injury at the weekend to deputise for Cheick Tiote but found himself filling in for Yohan Cabaye as well after the Frenchman was stretchered off. Both Best and Guthrie typify the hard working and tenacious Newcastle United that will go to the capital confident of making three wins on the trot in 2012.

Fulham 14th : 23 points

Last six: L W D D L W

Team news: Moussa Dembele and Dickson Etuhu are doubtful after picking up knocks whilst this game will come too soon for Mark Schwarzer

Key Player: Danny Murphy

Despite his advanced years Murphy still plays a vital playmaking role in the heart of Fulham’s midfield. His guile and quality on the ball will be useful in breaking down Newcastle’s resolute midfield and defence.

Newcastle United 6th: 36 points

Last six: W W L W L D

Team news: Yohan Cabaye could miss out after injuring his ankle on Sunday although Peter Lovenkrands could return.

Key Player: Leon Best

With his strike partner Demba Ba away at the African Cup of Nations the onus is on Best to score the goals in his absence. The former Coventry striker notched his fourth of the season on Sunday and will be keen to add more before Ba returns.

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PREDICTION

Fulham are in a rut failing to build on some impressive wins and will need to start being more consistent. They’ll face a tough test against Newcastle who will heading to the Thames with all guns blazing in their pursuit of a Europa League place.

Score: 1-1

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Fulham manager Martin Jol has called his side’s 5-0 win over Wolves a ‘perfect day’, and was full of praise for in-form new signing Pavel Pogrebnyak.

The Russian scored a hat-trick, with Clint Dempsey grabbing the other two goals in a comprehensive victory for the Craven Cottage outfit.

The win lifts Fulham into the top half of the table, and put a smile on the Dutch coach’s face.

“It was a perfect day because before the game we talked about how Wolves were fighting for their lives and to play like we did, especially in the first half, was outstanding,” he confessed to Sky Sports.

Pogrebnyak’s treble makes it five goals in three goals for the on-loan Stuttgart man, and Jol heralded the accomplished nature of the eastern European marksman’s finishing.

“I’ve got to say that of course he scored at the right moments which he didn’t do in the first part of the first half because we had so many shots on goal but we couldn’t score and luckily enough after that he scored the goal which was because that is what we needed.

“I didn’t know that he had a right foot as the goal which Andy Johnson had the assist (Fulham’s fourth goal) was a perfect goal, so yeah, he makes a name for himself.

“Even in Germany they will think, he’s probably scored more goals than in the 18 games that he played in Germany (for Stuttgart),” he concluded.

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By Gareth McKnight

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After their latest in a long run of disappointing results, there are rumours that Roman Abramovich is ready to get rid of Andre Villas-Boas, after just eight months in charge. Speculation surrounding the man to take over has been rife, with some areas of the media suggesting that ex-Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez could be in line for the job.

A change is likely to occur sooner rather than later, with the Portuguese coach rumoured to have lost the dressing room at Stamford Bridge. Abroamovich is not known for his patience, and this latest revelation could well prove to the straw that broke the camel’s back.

A move for Benitez wouldn’t be the most popular decision among supporters of the club, who are believed to want Jose Mourinho back. Benitez could however be a shrewd decision on the part of the Russian, with the former Liverpool coach’s tactical knowhow and relationship with Fernando Torres.

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Benitez’s finest bit of business in his last visit to the Premier League, was taking Fernando Torres to Merseyside. The striker was a revelation under the guidance of his fellow countryman, scoring and breaking records for fun in the north of England. However, after the dismissal of the ex-Valencia coach at the Reds, Torres’ form dipped, and then collapsed completely following his move to the capital. If there’s one thing Benitez does know it’s how to get the best out, on his day, one of the finest front-men in Europe, and this could be a deciding factor for Abramovich, who will be very reluctant to take a significant loss on the £50 million paid last January.

Another weapon in the coach’s armoury is his impressive record in the Champions League, a competition that the Russian billionaire has craved success in since his arrival at the club. Benitez steered his Liverpool side to victory in 2005, beating Chelsea on the way, with a squad that, arguably, had no right to win the tournament. He was again successful in 2007, coming runner-up to Milan, once more defeating Chelsea en-route. It’s no secret that failure in the competition has been a factor in the demise of previous managers under the Russian’s regime, which shows just how high the trophy, is on his list of priorities.

All of these successes were quite some time ago now, with Benitez having a less enjoyable spell at Inter Milan in the mean time, but Benitez’s knowhow in the world’s leading club competition, alongside knowledge of the Premier League, could make him an ideal candidate for the Chelsea role.

Although there has been no official contact as of yet, Abramovich wants the Champions League, and Benitez wants a job, it could be a match made in heaven.

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In an ever politically correct society, football continues to be thrust under the microscope and people’s comments upon certain issues are played over and over again in the hopes of coming towards a decisive conclusion on whether to punish a few foolish murmurings. In the light of Fabio Capello’s resignation and inevitable rumours encircling Harry Redknapp’s head surrounding the vacant England capacity, journalists and spokespeople everywhere have been urged to remain tight-lipped until the current season is out and the FA come towards an agreement about an appointment.

So if managers cannot comment on the current England role, should they be able to comment upon players from the opposing side? The question comes in light of Arsene Wenger’s public criticism of Luis Suarez in his knack of ‘buying’ penalties following the controversial penalty in the recent Liverpool-Arsenal league fixture. Kenny Dalglish has called on the FA to look into the Frenchman’s comments and thinks Wenger’s labelling of Suarez as a kind of cheat is out of order.

Time and time again, we hear managers referring in transfer terms to the repeated, tired old phrase ‘I won’t comment on another team’s player’ and then weeks later indeed that man has moved to the club. However, this gentlemanly conduct is not always maintained when referring to another playing following a contentious incident or sending off for example.

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When emotions are running high in the immediate aftermath of a match, the media grab hold of managers and obtain more raw and original versions of what has just taken place on the field of play. Whilst some managers tend to remain smart and refrain from naming any players to avoid FA punishment, both Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson have been anything but silent in recent months.

Ferguson’s jibes were also in relation to Suarez and the Scot maintained the player shouldn’t play for Liverpool again. A scathing outburst and the standout quote from an intriguing interview after the ill-fated affair at Old Trafford in February.

But back to the case of Wenger, he damned the much documented public courting of Samir Nasri last summer whereby Roberto Mancini boldly claimed the club were looking to sign the midfielder, but what is the difference between commenting on player in transfer terms and commenting on a player in the way Wenger did relating to Suarez?

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It seems there is a grey area of uncertainty in relation to what verbal misconduct is and what isn’t when referring to players of the opposition. Does Kenny Dalglish have a point, is commenting on other teams’ players a manager’s trait that needs to end?

Follow me @ http://twitter.com/Taylor_Will1989