Originally Posted by
Charlie Darwin
I'm not sure this is quite right. As a "finishing school" of sorts, the English system has a good record of taking really talented, really technically-gifted players and making them better. Many of the better players in the English leagues received their education elsewhere before finishing their education in England at 16+, just like the Irish kids do. The difference seems to be that fewer Irish kids are of a good enough standard to compete with those kids. That's something we can change without reference to England, in my opinion.