The reason we're pish?
Cultural
As a teacher in Scotland for many years before I crossed the pond, 99.9% of the kids want it handed to them on a plate. They're ingrained with laziness, stupidity (not learning issues, genuine stupidity) and the culture of "something for nothing". "I can play fitba better than ma mates" = I'm gonna be a star and I don't need to learn anything, academic OR how to play "cos, like, I'm a fuckin' natooral, like, ken, definATEly".
Half of them cannot even speak coherently and we expect them to "learn" how to be better players? They don't want to learn, once they've got a contract paying them more than ten times a week what their "mates" make in a month they become lazy big-time-charlies.
It's a cultural thing and, until they learn better that they are PROFESSIONAL (hahahahahaha) sportsmen and act like it, the next generation will also think it's ok to give up any attempts towards "CPD" cos "I has my monies now so we's gonna spend it like a dick' eh"
Oh, BTW, it's getting like that here as well with kids who assume that because they can play sports they don't need an education................but there's a fuck of a lot more 'murcans so they have a bigger "talent pool"