FORMER England international and Sheffield Wednesday star Viv Anderson ran the rule over 250 local footballing youngsters and said: "I really hope this is the future!"
Anderson, a two-time European-Cup-winner, accepts that the number of foreign players in the top-flight has made it difficult, over recent years, for home-grown players to break through.
But his visits around fast-food chain McDonald-sponsored football festivals - including one yesterday in Dronfield - has given him fresh hope that those issues could change, as long as there is an an acceptance throughout the sport that English hopefuls must be nutured.
Anderson, aged 52, a former Owls defender and Barnsley player-manager, said the festivals were a beacon for kids who could learn from organised and technically-aware coaches.
After watching girls and boys picking up different skills and techniques, he said that coaching in the country was as good as any in Europe or South America.
Talking about the influx of foreign players and a possible current change in focus, he said on video at the thestar.co.uk: "Look at Manchester United, they have got a lot of young English, and Arsenal are starting to get a lot of English lads through."
Anderson said that foreign-packed Premier League teams had "been a detrimental thing for our the game".
"Young English lads, have had to go away to get their (international) caps," he said.
"(David) Bentley is a great example. He had to leave Arsenal to go to Blackburn to get a cap for his country.
"But I think it's slowly turning now and the powers-that-be are starting to get more English lads through so things like this festival are going to be good for the future."
He said he had seen a couple of local kids with potential among the youngsters, aged mainly seven to 12, at the festival at Sheffield FC's ground.
"Hopefully we will see a lot more English players coming through and hopefully winning something," he added.
"We had the 'glory' years, though the Owens the Beckhams and the Gerrards have not won anything yet, and everybody thought they would do!
"From what I have seen today there are lot of kids and we need to nuture them.
"Hopefully in the future, who knows, we might have a team that wins something."
Nottingham-born Anderson, who was awarded the MBE in Janaury 2000, was the first black football player to represent England in a full international match.
But he says his greatest achievement in football was winning the English league title under his favourite manager Brian Clough with Nottingham Forest.
GRANT AID FOR OWLS: See the Green'Un newspaper, available from Saturday night, for the storyWhat do you think? Post your comments below. READ MOREWEST HAM SHOULD DO THE DECENT THING AND PAY UP - Click here to read Les Payne on the Tevez affair Blades Watch 08-09 - The Season So FarOwls Watch 08-09 - The Season So FarWatch Premiership highlights, international football, golf, tennis, darts and much moreFootball headlinesMore BladesMore OwlsMore SpireitesMore RoversMore RedsMore MillersMore Ice HockeyMore rugby leagueMore rugby unionMore boxingSports columnistsAll sport categoriesThe full article contains 550 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
