Why do Premier League clubs and England overlook the Championship? England has failed on an international level consistently, despite possessing the most competitive league in the world, the state-of-the-art of the art facilities in St.Georges Park and some of the richest clubs in the world. There are many factors that have attributed to this, such as the influx of foreign players in the starting lineups in the league causing a lack of young players breaking into Premier League first teams. however, in recent years, as a nation, we have struggled even against teams such as Iceland and Costa Rica, who were filled with players from European lower leagues and the Championship.
With a record low of 15% of English players in the Premier League in 2016 it is clear there is limited talent pool for English managers to choose from and with a limited number of English players playing abroad, the England squad almost picks itself each time. However, in comparison, the Championship last season was represented by 52% of English players. Premier League fans often view the Championship sides as largely inferior teams with inferior players - so much so that there is little chance we will see an outfield Championship player represent England whilst plying their trade in this league for quite a while (last outfield player was Jay Bothroyd in 2010).
Playing Styles
The Championship is one of the most competitive leagues in the world, so often in a season 1 of 18 clubs can get promoted and 1 of 14 can get relegated.
A team who have a run in the last 12 weeks of the season can often find themselves in a playoff position based on that form. However, the most striking difference to the Premier League is the style of play. A style of play can often beat a group of more talented footballers, an example is Bayern Munich v Chelsea in the Champions League Final.
International Football is different from the Premier League. A lot of the best English Premier League players have failed to live up to expectation due to this and a common conversation I hear is that players who can retain the ball such as Scholes and Carrick would be more effective than the more dynamic options of Lampard and Gerrard (for example).
But what if the Championship playing style is more similar to that of the International style - Is that why we struggle against players from the Championship when playing for their Countries and not when they play for their domestic clubs?
Talent Pool
There are many examples of players who have been in the Championship who are now in the England Squad - such as Jamie Vardy, Danny Drinkwater, Nathaniel Clyne etc. These players were only recognised by England once they had established themselves in the Premier League for a season or two. In Vardy and Drinkwater's case, not at a young age for a footballer either. There is no denying that these players have improved since playing in the top league but neither player was regarded as the best in the Championship (Out of Foreign or English players).
They got the chance because their team got promoted, same goes to players like Zaha, Lallana & Michael Keane. There are many as talented, if not more talented players in the whole of the football league who are being overlooked and overshadowed. So why can England not look at these players sooner and take more notice of their own young talent in the Football League, just as RB Leipzig did with Oliver Burke (albeit Scottish but from the Championship)? It only takes you to see how well Dele Alli has done to prove why England clubs should do more.
There are many arguments as to why there are a lack of English players in the Premier League such as; inflated price of Home-Grown players, foreign players being used for commercial deals etc - But forget the Premier League clubs investing in the English youth - Why don’t the FA invest more into the Football League and be brave enough to pick more of the talented Championship (and FL) players that do exist.
