Smaller goals and smaller pitches can aid England’s big vision for the future

Southgate, the FA’s head of elite development, and national development manager Nick Levett, have been touring England promoting the ‘Your Kids, Your Say’ programme and yesterday they were at Valley Parade, Bradford City’s home.

The initiative includes a raft of recommendations for changes in youth football and was unveiled last December as a result of an 18-month research project into how to improve development at grass-roots level.

The programme, if approved by 75 per cent of the FA’s voting shareholders, will mean children will not play 11-a-side club football until under-13 level, while other younger players will play in teams of five, seven or nine dependent on their age.

The FA point to the fact that three of the most successful countries in the world in recent years – Spain, France and Italy – do not play 11-a-side until under-14 level as proof that the plan will have a positive impact on England’s chances of international success.

The programme also recommends young footballers play matches on smaller pitches with smaller goals. Southgate, who assumed his new role in February, said: “People have seen the way that the likes of Barcelona have played this year and they’re asking, ‘Why can’t our kids play that way?’ We want them to play that way. We feel that what we are proposing will give them the environment to develop those skills.”

The research involved in the project showed that children who are slow to physically mature are also being forced out of the game before they have a chance to have a crack at professional level.