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There’s been much talk recently about the state of the game in England. The national team’s failure to qualify for Euro 2008 has led to lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth and everyone you talk to has an opinion on how we got here.

Many people feel that there are too many foreign players in the English Premier League (EPL) and that this has had some huge detrimental effect on the game at all levels. I’m not so sure. In fact, I would like to make the case that, rather than holding the game back, the number of foreign players in the EPL is actually helping the game.

So here’s my theory. The Premier League clubs are often criticised for their failure to develop enough young English talent. Young players from 10 years of age might get called in to the Manchester Utd Academy but very few of them will make it and the vast majority will be let go by the age of 16, while expensive foreign imports take their place in the senior teams.

So what do these players do? Some get jobs, some go back to school, and some carry on playing in the lower leagues or in non-league soccer. So now you have a great many players who have been coached by some of the best coaches around, have played at a decent level and are now bringing that experience, skill and quality to the lower leagues. If you follow lower league football in England you can’t deny that the quality and excitement is greater than ever.

And the other factor to add into the equation is the level of coaching. There was a time when coaching expertise was the domain of the big clubs with lots of money (or at least with a large fan base and a decent heritage). That is no longer the case.

The coaching expertise which underpins the success of the Big 4 EPL clubs is now easily available to lower league and grassroots coaches alike. The Internet, the broadcast media, and even the FA have brought to the fore the real issues for coaches. There is a degree of concensus about how and what to coach our players and resources to develop those coaching skills are available to all.

Lowly Havant and Waterlooville very nearly knocked Liverpool out of the FA Cup a few weeks ago. I believe this was made possible by a combination of the factors that I’ve just outlined. Their team contained a number of players who had trained at bigger clubs, and their coaches have access to the same sports science and coaching resources as the coaches at Liverpool. These factors are just as relevant at international level.

So why did England fail to qualify for Euro 2008? Simple. They lost games to well-coached, highly skilled and motivated international soccer teams.

Dwyer Scullion, Publisher, Better Soccer Coaching