Speaking exclusively to TheFA.com for England TV, Brooking told of the motivation behind the visit:

"Clairefontaine has been put forward as a big example of how you can structure coaching and coach education at the different levels. We met Gerard Houllier who was a key part as technical director in setting up a lot of that.

"We went to see what they've done, see what worked, what didn't, and how that can fit into what's in place here.

"Particularly at the grassroots level the quality of the coaching seems very fragmented here, so we've got to try and improve it."

So what is the French coaching system like?

"They have 23 regional areas, within which there are 4 or 5 little districts. They therefore have around 100 different areas controlled and co-ordinated in coaching by the French FA, and the fascination for me was that they all had to have level A coaching standard.

"Level A over here is a really high coaching qualification. We are just so far behind that in the quality of control and co-ordination we've got."

"They also had video and DVD resources concentrating on 6-9 year olds, 9-12 year olds, 12-15 - there were specific coaching resources and routines and drills to work in those different age groups.

How do we go forward now and improve the coaching in England?

"The feedback from the academies recently is that they need some help with what to do with 14 down to 8s - and what we should be doing with 8, 9 and 10 year olds is totally different to what we should be doing with 12, 13 and 14s.

"At the moment coaches don't know what we should be doing - we need to get out there and support the coaches.

"They shouldn't be doing fitness training, they should be doing technical stuff, but what sort of stuff - we've got to give them examples.

"There's a huge amount to do. If we can get the participation wider and get the quality of coaching to enthuse and excite youngsters to work technically, when they eventually get through to the academy age, 15 or 16, the technical quality should be much better than we're producing at the moment.

"I'm predominantly interested in coaching quality. Wherever we have got something happening in coaching I want to make sure it's of a good quality and the coaches who are getting the best positions are the best ones."

To hear the full interview with Sir Trevor Brooking click on the link below:

24 June 2004      
Sir Trevor Brooking Exclusive