Dear Sir,

STOP MAKING EXCUSES

As evidenced by the tenor of post match comments made over the last two years, clearly the technical staff at the Bermuda Football Association subscribe to the Rafa Benitez school of management - namely, good results are almost entirely down to good management and coaching, while bad results are almost entirely down to the players.

It's not enough that being in "development mode" over the past two and a bit years has precluded any objective assessment of the progress of the recent restructuring of youth football – including the introduction of the National Academy – but we have also been continually bombarded buy pseudo-technical jargon like "mistake management" and "winning defeats".

Fortunately the recently concluded CFU Youth Tournament provides us with the first real opportunity to measure the impact of the initiatives mentioned above.

What's more, we can directly compare the state of youth football at the national level "before" and "after" and the picture looks like this:

Before: 2008 CFU Youth Tournament Results

Won: 2; Lost:: 1; Drawn: 2

Goal Difference: +5

After: 2010 CFU Youth Tournament Results

Won: 1; Lost: 4; Drawn: 0

Goal Difference: -1

As is plain to see, before we even get into the myriad of reasons as to why, it is clear that the ultimate measure – performance on the pitch – is not as good as it was prior to implementation of the various initiatives.

Since 2008, either we have not matched the development of our Caribbean rivals or we have actually regressed.

Furthermore given that youth football was restructured from top to bottom specifically to facilitate the successful implementation and execution of BFA's current development model – proposals that were voted on an approved by the BFA member clubs – surely the only place to look for answers is within the Player Development Committee of the BFA and the National Academy itself?

Recent announcements from the BFA suggest that there is some degree of discord relating to the youth development initiatives. Hopefully, given the BFA's use of public funds, the incoming executive will be inspired to conduct a thorough review and make any findings and actions points public.

In closing let me make it clear that I have no axe to grind with the National Academy staff or the BFA. Indeed I can imagine that implementation of this element of the strategic plan has been difficult on many levels, particularly personally for the people involved. People whom, I am sure, are passionate about the game in general and especially they development of young players.

Rather, I would suggest that Bermuda's National Academy concept and its implementation in a Bermudian context is/was deeply flawed and at the end of the day it's the players who suffer while the public pays.

Yours in football

SCOTT WADE

LONDON