Progressive training
The Frenchman explains that appropriate training facilities must be available, and that training programmes should have a progressive slant. "What you do with kids between 13 and 15 is not the same as you do between 15 and 17," he said. Coaches should be suitably qualified and experienced, and youngsters should be helped to adapt to the professional level by gradually being introduced to club and first-team set-ups.

 

French example
Houllier was able to put a lot of his theories and views into practice when he became the FFF technical director just before 1990. "Our academies weren't producing enough top-class players. We had good, strong players but they lacked technical expertise and creativity. I knew we had to change and, especially, take on kids at an earlier age. Every club had what we call a 'centre de formation' for young players, from the age of 16.

 

School and families
"What I did at Clairefontaine [the FFF training centre] was set up a 'centre de préformation' and took on kids from 12 and 13. There was training every day, they went to school together, went home to their families on a Friday and played for a small team over the weekend so they weren't uprooted."

 

Skills work
For three years, the players worked intensively on skills. The result was that players such as Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka, William Gallas and Jérôme Rothen began their career paths. The pilot scheme became the established way of developing youngsters, seven regional centres were launched in France, and clubs used the system to train youngsters.

 

Kids need coaching
The Liverpool manager feels that former players are essential in helping young footballers. "Kids need coaching, they need to be shown how to do things," he said. "All coaching was once based on one-touch football, pass and move but you have to allow young players to use their initiative, be creative, learn dummies, how to tackle, make mistakes."

 

National centres
According to Houllier, better-trained players need better coaches. In France, training techniques were changed, in particular for 15 to 19-year-olds, while coach training and coaching methods also underwent an overhaul. Houllier promotes the idea that each country should have a national centre, such as the Clairefontaine facilities – "a privileged place where players can try things with no pressure and which provides vital continuity".

 

Look forward
Houllier concludes by urging all national associations to look forward if they want success. "An association that doesn't look ahead, plan and research will go down, and its national team along with it," he stressed. "What can look expensive in terms of running costs can prove cheap later on."

 

Former Liverpool FC manager Gérard Houllier – whose pioneering work as technical director of the French Football Federation (FFF) was a crucial factor in France's FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship triumphs in recent years – has identified five elements which are the key to success in the development of young players.

 

Spotting and scouting
In the latest edition of Champions, UEFA's official UEFA Champions League magazine, Houllier says that efforts should be made to spot talent as early as possible, with the deployment of scouting systems that work for clubs at national level.