It won't happen because it can't happen. Did Blatter just turn away from football during the Bosman court case years. Rather than trying to stop players in a team why doesn't he try to sort out the game we have at the moment and concentrate on things like goal-line technology or a way to impose TV technology to stop the controversy, not start more!
Posted 13:35 31st May 2008
Lewis Robinson (Northampton Town fan) says...
The debates on illegality are over my head as I've never studied employment law.
However, pretending thats not a problem, I think instead of a team limit a better idea would be a squad limit. I've no problem with the very best foreign players playing in the premier league. It improves the league and the England team having these players here. What bugs me is when you have average foreign players on the bench, in the squad and in the reserve team.
To have a squad limit of 12 or 15 foreign players would mean teams such as Arsenal can pretty much carry on the way they are, but when there's an injury a home based player can step in. If under that system, where home-based players at least get the opportunity to play, they still cannot shine, then they can no longer say they havent been given the chance and cry "unfair" like they can now
Posted 11:58 31st May 2008
Bill Dyer (Rangers fan) says...
The man is an idiot. Also those of you who think England will benefit....dream on. For the first time in decades, England (accepting the failure to qualify this time round) have the talent at International level, thanks to the quality of their foreign colleagues at club level. Perhaps we should accept that if our young players are good enough, they will get a slot at any club, in England or abroad. Blatter has never hidden his loathing of all things English and it sticks in his throat to see English clubs dominate Europe. I only hope the EU stick to their guns and send this idiot away to spoil another part of football, at which he is expert.
Posted 11:15 31st May 2008
James Moore (Chelsea fan) says...
To the man who said Arsenal cant afford english players. Im sure in London theres thousands of youth that want to join Arsenal, so it is up to Arsenal to put them through, the usual requirement is that they have to be French speaking. As for buying English players theres plenty in Aston Villa, Blackburn, Tottenham and Man City, which wouldn't cost anymore than a Samir Nasri. English players may not have the flair Wengers looking for but they have strength and want in the team they play in, which is why Man U and Chelsea do well, because they have an English core. Blatter has to bring in this rule not because im worried for the national team, but to improve the tradition of the league, to make it a English league.
Posted 11:06 31st May 2008
Barry Mccann (Celtic fan) says...
The 'debate' shouldn't exist because it is illegal to enforce nationality restrictions on starting elevens.
Posted 10:50 31st May 2008
Huw Roberts (Aston Villa fan) says...
I just wanted to say that this proposal is illeagl and will never work. Under Blatter's proposition you must be English to play for a PL club, yet all Scotsmen, N Irish, Welshmen, and indeed Englishmen don't have an English Passport - it's British. As there are no cross border restrictions between the home nations, by law, you can't restrict anyone working / playing for you. Why stick and just players? Should all managers be English? More importantly shouldn't English Clubs be owned by Englishmen? Should the Catering Staff and the Toilet cleaners be English and not Foreigners? - I think not!
Blatter has gone power mad - it's his ball and you will play according to his rules
Posted 10:49 31st May 2008
Alan Price (Sunderland fan) says...
This idea will never get off the ground, i can't recall it being such a big deal when Italian & Spanish teams dominated & apart from the fact it would be illegal to restrict employment rights of EU citizens wouldn't it ? Or would the beloved EU move the goalposts? It's all politically motivated. Neither would it improve the England team in my opinion, there's no motivation anymore, it's all about the money.
Posted 10:43 31st May 2008
Adam James (Doncaster fan) says...
i think that this is the best thing to happen to football since the old pig bladder balls were replaced with synthetic ones. the only people who dont like this proposal are casual corporate fans of the big four clubs. they are simply scared that they may temporarily lose their dominance in th league because they have screwed english top flight football into the ground by preventing english talent from fluorishing. english football needs saving and this is the only way to save it.
Posted 10:13 31st May 2008
Kev Lee says...
Isn't it odd how all the ManU and Chelsea fans seem to love this proposed rule? And state with undisguised glee how it will be so bad for Arsenal. But what they're not telling you (and if they support either Chelsea or Manchester United they may not have noticed for obvious reasons) is how, at the same time it helps them turn the English Premier League into the Scottish Premier League with two teams alone competing for all the prizes. Guess which two teams that would be. The reason Arsenal don't have many top English players in their teams is because Arsenal cannot afford them. Any unbiased look at the transfer spending of the three teams, or for that matter any team in the Premier League, will show that Manchester United and Chelsea have regularly cornered the market in English players by spending far more for such a player than would be paid by a comparable foreign player. Furthermore many pounds (or roubles) have been thrown at clubs for their english players and in many cases (Wright-Phillips, Sidwell, Bridge for instance) those players have been left them on the bench to rot closing down their careers as well as the possibility of them entertaining crowds on a weekly basis for another team. Whose fault is that? Club ambition? Player greed? Lastly, with true English arrogance nobody has brought up the possibility that our best English players may well decide the grass is much greener on the other side of the channel and leave the Premier League for Italy and Spain! And, even if they do stay do we really want to be condemned to watching every week the awful standard of football played by the England Team?
Posted 09:08 31st May 2008
Dave Salter (Manchester United fan) says...
This is basically Sepp Blatter trying to make sure our league decreases in quality.Does anyone actually think hes doing it to benefit our national team?No way!!You'd have to be deluded to think that.I agree that English talent needs to be given more of a chance but its down to money.English talent is overpriced.All this rubbish that we need to spend more on grass roots football is rubbish,theres no guarantees that even the most promising kids will even go professional they might choose something else.I think we have enough money and resources.We have as much as the likes of Italy,France,Germany if not more and we have more than Argentina and Brazil and they are more successful.As England fans we will always find excuses but the team isnt good enough,but only on paper and thats very effective isnt it!
This idea wont benefit England much but it wont help the PL.Betting on England winning the World Cup in 2013/14 is ridiculous to suggest on this matter.This foreigner restriction rule wont make us successful,its got to come from the staff and players not some idiot in a suit trying to wreck our league anyway he,and his followers, can.Go with UEFA,thats slightly better.3 years isnt long enough though to call a player homegrown.
Blatter can take his idea and shove it.
Posted 08:25 31st May 2008
Al Max (Arsenal fan) says...
This rule is totally against the fortune of the Premier League and the England Team. Many English ( Even the FA) might think the failure of the Euro 2008 campaign is due to the influx of foreign players at the top flight. However, the real reason that they don't change their tactics and improve their youth development system. I have been watching English football since 12 and I only consider Gazza as the English talent. Shearer, Mcmanaman, Beckham, Owen and Rooney are all good, but not talented. You can find the word "talent", "wonderkid" on English newspaper than anywhere else because the English system put their emphasis in wrong emphasis. When you look at those current English youngster in the Premiership, they all good at crossing, speed, heading, body balance, but poor in ball control, dribbling, reaction, sportsmanship, mentality, creativity. I am not saying the English sucks but if they don't change their system, the root, they can't go any further in the coming major competition.
The Premier league is a perfect example of a free market. If you try to put limitation on it, it will not help the poor but enhance the power of the strong. Consider this, if the Big 4 (ARS, MU, LIV, CHE) all purchase english players this summer, how many english are good as the foreign players at their club? My guess is less than 10 (consider no english at big 4 transfer to other clubs). The 6+5 limits the # of foreign players but not the wealth of the clubs. I mean the new rule will stimulate the transfer of all those potential english youngster to the big 4 and the competition can be worser than now (like the SPL). Don't believe the new ruling is doing the english favor but the favor of other European country. As this rule comes into enforcement, you will see the old picture - Real Madrid, Barcelona, Ajax, AC Milan are all in the Final 4 of the CL while all English club will exit at the early stage of the competition.
Posted 07:59 31st May 2008
Mike Callaghan says...
Football is now a business and not a sport hence restricting foreign players will make no difference whatsoever. I note a couple of comments mention "English dominance in the CL, sadly not as most of the players are foreigners.
When English players start to play for their country with pride (as Scotland,Wales and Ireland do) they may again succeed at international level.
The answer is to restric salaries and make the game more affordable.
Posted 07:54 31st May 2008
Steve Hall (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...
Great Idea, I've seen many foreign imports arrive at the lane who in my opinion were no better than home produced players.Surely to have a foreign player the club need to prove that they can't employ a uk born player of the same ability first.Transfer money to foreign teams leaves the UK so doesn't benefit our economy or drip feed down to Grass roots football.UK born players may even be more loyal to the clubs as well,and not just after the huge wages on offer.I can remember the great English players but only a few of the foreign ones that have played at the Lane.
Posted 06:34 31st May 2008
Atom Soria (Arsenal fan) says...
It's not just the EPL who will be affected. A Romanian member in a forum I go to commented about this ruling and said most of the Romanian teams won't be easily able to follow the rules, and he cited the Romanian champions CFR Cluj as an example. That club only had 2 Romanian players on average starting for the first team, where most of their starters are South Americans (ARG and BRA), Swedish, French and Portuguese (the captain is Portuguese).
And talking about the national team, didn't Romania get to qualify for Euro 2008? How about England, did they get to qualify for the Euros?
Posted 05:29 31st May 2008
Kalimo Leboela says...
True. i agree with Steven Thomas. Players should be judged on merit rather than nationality. I think that this rule has come about for the simple reason that Europe (mainland) is rather unhappy about the fact that there were 3 teams in the semi - finals of this years champions league. English players do have talent and the ones that ARE good enough ARE selected in the big sides. Manchester united DID have 6 players from England and they won it. I think it is good for the game to have players being selected on merit alone. this raises the bar for quality required. I cannot see how this can be a bad idea. Again. i just think "Europe" is unhappy about 3 English teams being in the CL semis this year. i do not see how this change would be in the best interests of the game. in saying this, it is a bit upsetting seeing the likes of arsenal having maybe 1 player from England on some match days. This leads to something else worth pondering the question about the english footballing philosophy? Arsenal play a certain way (intricate short passing) . England play a certain way ( long hopeful balls and hopefully that will change). Is there a relationship in the two?
Posted 02:24 31st May 2008
Sean Ryan (Arsenal fan) says...
This seems pointless to me. It looks like people are unhappy nationally about England not being in Euro 08 and it looks like the rest of the world are unhappy that england dominated the champions league. English players aren't as good. Blunt truth. Other countries train children from not long after they are able to kick a ball, they work hard to make thier players the best. We don't. It looks like Fifa doesn't want english teams to dominate the champions league. Italy and spain have had thier dominance, now its our turn. Uefa had the slightly different idea which oddly enough would barely affect arsenal because we buy a large amount of young players and train them i.e Fabregas. Waste of time, pointless. The only thing that England can say is that it has the best football league in the world. You implement this rule and you can say goodbye to that. You want to make England better? Train the kids better when they are young. I personally like the fact that foreign players bring a different dimension to football. No english player can attack like ronaldo or torres, none can create goals like fabregas. My opinion is leave well enough alone Sepp.
Posted 02:19 31st May 2008
Steven Thomas (aston villa fan) says...
People keep blaming the influx in foreigners playing in the Premier League as the cause for England's lack of success in major tournaments. Give me a break. Was that to blame 30 years ago, or 20 years ago or 10 years ago? Face it, we haven't won anything since '66 because our players are not good enough. This rule would have no effect on the England team but it would certainly spell the end of any English dominance in the CL, and drive the quality of the PL down.
On a side note you wouldn't find people saying that over 50% of the doctors/dentists/or any other professions working in Britain had to be English would you?
Posted 23:01 30th May 2008
Jimmy Mcgee (Sunderland fan) says...
And what about when teams buy in young players from abroad who are 18 years old and under and run them through the academy for 3+ years? They will be approved by the regulations as English players when in fact they will travel back to their native countries for internationals, thus solving nothing....
Posted 22:54 30th May 2008
Steve Fealy (Liverpool fan) says...
This has got to be a long term win for the national sides. Ours has taken a big hit and McClaren & Co can't take all the blame. As for the lucrative Premier League - they may suffer short term, but at least the English clubs will be fielding English players. As a grass roots coach, this has got to be an overdue step in the right direction. 2014 or 2018 - England for the world cup - who'll take a bet on that!?
Posted 22:31 30th May 2008
Ian Thomas (Arsenal fan) says...
If this rule comes in, I can see clubs like Arsenal having to let players go because they are not English. With that in mind, I think you'll find it is illegal in Europe to sack an employee based on thier race. So, bring on the lawsuits. Alternativelly, all the clubs have to do is appeal to the court of human rights as this does not sit well with the idea of a united Europe.
Comments (99)
Luke Chard (Arsenal fan) says...
It won't happen because it can't happen. Did Blatter just turn away from football during the Bosman court case years. Rather than trying to stop players in a team why doesn't he try to sort out the game we have at the moment and concentrate on things like goal-line technology or a way to impose TV technology to stop the controversy, not start more!
Posted 13:35 31st May 2008
Lewis Robinson (Northampton Town fan) says...
The debates on illegality are over my head as I've never studied employment law. However, pretending thats not a problem, I think instead of a team limit a better idea would be a squad limit. I've no problem with the very best foreign players playing in the premier league. It improves the league and the England team having these players here. What bugs me is when you have average foreign players on the bench, in the squad and in the reserve team. To have a squad limit of 12 or 15 foreign players would mean teams such as Arsenal can pretty much carry on the way they are, but when there's an injury a home based player can step in. If under that system, where home-based players at least get the opportunity to play, they still cannot shine, then they can no longer say they havent been given the chance and cry "unfair" like they can now
Posted 11:58 31st May 2008
Bill Dyer (Rangers fan) says...
The man is an idiot. Also those of you who think England will benefit....dream on. For the first time in decades, England (accepting the failure to qualify this time round) have the talent at International level, thanks to the quality of their foreign colleagues at club level. Perhaps we should accept that if our young players are good enough, they will get a slot at any club, in England or abroad. Blatter has never hidden his loathing of all things English and it sticks in his throat to see English clubs dominate Europe. I only hope the EU stick to their guns and send this idiot away to spoil another part of football, at which he is expert.
Posted 11:15 31st May 2008
James Moore (Chelsea fan) says...
To the man who said Arsenal cant afford english players. Im sure in London theres thousands of youth that want to join Arsenal, so it is up to Arsenal to put them through, the usual requirement is that they have to be French speaking. As for buying English players theres plenty in Aston Villa, Blackburn, Tottenham and Man City, which wouldn't cost anymore than a Samir Nasri. English players may not have the flair Wengers looking for but they have strength and want in the team they play in, which is why Man U and Chelsea do well, because they have an English core. Blatter has to bring in this rule not because im worried for the national team, but to improve the tradition of the league, to make it a English league.
Posted 11:06 31st May 2008
Barry Mccann (Celtic fan) says...
The 'debate' shouldn't exist because it is illegal to enforce nationality restrictions on starting elevens.
Posted 10:50 31st May 2008
Huw Roberts (Aston Villa fan) says...
I just wanted to say that this proposal is illeagl and will never work. Under Blatter's proposition you must be English to play for a PL club, yet all Scotsmen, N Irish, Welshmen, and indeed Englishmen don't have an English Passport - it's British. As there are no cross border restrictions between the home nations, by law, you can't restrict anyone working / playing for you. Why stick and just players? Should all managers be English? More importantly shouldn't English Clubs be owned by Englishmen? Should the Catering Staff and the Toilet cleaners be English and not Foreigners? - I think not! Blatter has gone power mad - it's his ball and you will play according to his rules
Posted 10:49 31st May 2008
Alan Price (Sunderland fan) says...
This idea will never get off the ground, i can't recall it being such a big deal when Italian & Spanish teams dominated & apart from the fact it would be illegal to restrict employment rights of EU citizens wouldn't it ? Or would the beloved EU move the goalposts? It's all politically motivated. Neither would it improve the England team in my opinion, there's no motivation anymore, it's all about the money.
Posted 10:43 31st May 2008
Adam James (Doncaster fan) says...
i think that this is the best thing to happen to football since the old pig bladder balls were replaced with synthetic ones. the only people who dont like this proposal are casual corporate fans of the big four clubs. they are simply scared that they may temporarily lose their dominance in th league because they have screwed english top flight football into the ground by preventing english talent from fluorishing. english football needs saving and this is the only way to save it.
Posted 10:13 31st May 2008
Kev Lee says...
Isn't it odd how all the ManU and Chelsea fans seem to love this proposed rule? And state with undisguised glee how it will be so bad for Arsenal. But what they're not telling you (and if they support either Chelsea or Manchester United they may not have noticed for obvious reasons) is how, at the same time it helps them turn the English Premier League into the Scottish Premier League with two teams alone competing for all the prizes. Guess which two teams that would be. The reason Arsenal don't have many top English players in their teams is because Arsenal cannot afford them. Any unbiased look at the transfer spending of the three teams, or for that matter any team in the Premier League, will show that Manchester United and Chelsea have regularly cornered the market in English players by spending far more for such a player than would be paid by a comparable foreign player. Furthermore many pounds (or roubles) have been thrown at clubs for their english players and in many cases (Wright-Phillips, Sidwell, Bridge for instance) those players have been left them on the bench to rot closing down their careers as well as the possibility of them entertaining crowds on a weekly basis for another team. Whose fault is that? Club ambition? Player greed? Lastly, with true English arrogance nobody has brought up the possibility that our best English players may well decide the grass is much greener on the other side of the channel and leave the Premier League for Italy and Spain! And, even if they do stay do we really want to be condemned to watching every week the awful standard of football played by the England Team?
Posted 09:08 31st May 2008
Dave Salter (Manchester United fan) says...
This is basically Sepp Blatter trying to make sure our league decreases in quality.Does anyone actually think hes doing it to benefit our national team?No way!!You'd have to be deluded to think that.I agree that English talent needs to be given more of a chance but its down to money.English talent is overpriced.All this rubbish that we need to spend more on grass roots football is rubbish,theres no guarantees that even the most promising kids will even go professional they might choose something else.I think we have enough money and resources.We have as much as the likes of Italy,France,Germany if not more and we have more than Argentina and Brazil and they are more successful.As England fans we will always find excuses but the team isnt good enough,but only on paper and thats very effective isnt it! This idea wont benefit England much but it wont help the PL.Betting on England winning the World Cup in 2013/14 is ridiculous to suggest on this matter.This foreigner restriction rule wont make us successful,its got to come from the staff and players not some idiot in a suit trying to wreck our league anyway he,and his followers, can.Go with UEFA,thats slightly better.3 years isnt long enough though to call a player homegrown. Blatter can take his idea and shove it.
Posted 08:25 31st May 2008
Al Max (Arsenal fan) says...
This rule is totally against the fortune of the Premier League and the England Team. Many English ( Even the FA) might think the failure of the Euro 2008 campaign is due to the influx of foreign players at the top flight. However, the real reason that they don't change their tactics and improve their youth development system. I have been watching English football since 12 and I only consider Gazza as the English talent. Shearer, Mcmanaman, Beckham, Owen and Rooney are all good, but not talented. You can find the word "talent", "wonderkid" on English newspaper than anywhere else because the English system put their emphasis in wrong emphasis. When you look at those current English youngster in the Premiership, they all good at crossing, speed, heading, body balance, but poor in ball control, dribbling, reaction, sportsmanship, mentality, creativity. I am not saying the English sucks but if they don't change their system, the root, they can't go any further in the coming major competition. The Premier league is a perfect example of a free market. If you try to put limitation on it, it will not help the poor but enhance the power of the strong. Consider this, if the Big 4 (ARS, MU, LIV, CHE) all purchase english players this summer, how many english are good as the foreign players at their club? My guess is less than 10 (consider no english at big 4 transfer to other clubs). The 6+5 limits the # of foreign players but not the wealth of the clubs. I mean the new rule will stimulate the transfer of all those potential english youngster to the big 4 and the competition can be worser than now (like the SPL). Don't believe the new ruling is doing the english favor but the favor of other European country. As this rule comes into enforcement, you will see the old picture - Real Madrid, Barcelona, Ajax, AC Milan are all in the Final 4 of the CL while all English club will exit at the early stage of the competition.
Posted 07:59 31st May 2008
Mike Callaghan says...
Football is now a business and not a sport hence restricting foreign players will make no difference whatsoever. I note a couple of comments mention "English dominance in the CL, sadly not as most of the players are foreigners. When English players start to play for their country with pride (as Scotland,Wales and Ireland do) they may again succeed at international level. The answer is to restric salaries and make the game more affordable.
Posted 07:54 31st May 2008
Steve Hall (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...
Great Idea, I've seen many foreign imports arrive at the lane who in my opinion were no better than home produced players.Surely to have a foreign player the club need to prove that they can't employ a uk born player of the same ability first.Transfer money to foreign teams leaves the UK so doesn't benefit our economy or drip feed down to Grass roots football.UK born players may even be more loyal to the clubs as well,and not just after the huge wages on offer.I can remember the great English players but only a few of the foreign ones that have played at the Lane.
Posted 06:34 31st May 2008
Atom Soria (Arsenal fan) says...
It's not just the EPL who will be affected. A Romanian member in a forum I go to commented about this ruling and said most of the Romanian teams won't be easily able to follow the rules, and he cited the Romanian champions CFR Cluj as an example. That club only had 2 Romanian players on average starting for the first team, where most of their starters are South Americans (ARG and BRA), Swedish, French and Portuguese (the captain is Portuguese). And talking about the national team, didn't Romania get to qualify for Euro 2008? How about England, did they get to qualify for the Euros?
Posted 05:29 31st May 2008
Kalimo Leboela says...
True. i agree with Steven Thomas. Players should be judged on merit rather than nationality. I think that this rule has come about for the simple reason that Europe (mainland) is rather unhappy about the fact that there were 3 teams in the semi - finals of this years champions league. English players do have talent and the ones that ARE good enough ARE selected in the big sides. Manchester united DID have 6 players from England and they won it. I think it is good for the game to have players being selected on merit alone. this raises the bar for quality required. I cannot see how this can be a bad idea. Again. i just think "Europe" is unhappy about 3 English teams being in the CL semis this year. i do not see how this change would be in the best interests of the game. in saying this, it is a bit upsetting seeing the likes of arsenal having maybe 1 player from England on some match days. This leads to something else worth pondering the question about the english footballing philosophy? Arsenal play a certain way (intricate short passing) . England play a certain way ( long hopeful balls and hopefully that will change). Is there a relationship in the two?
Posted 02:24 31st May 2008
Sean Ryan (Arsenal fan) says...
This seems pointless to me. It looks like people are unhappy nationally about England not being in Euro 08 and it looks like the rest of the world are unhappy that england dominated the champions league. English players aren't as good. Blunt truth. Other countries train children from not long after they are able to kick a ball, they work hard to make thier players the best. We don't. It looks like Fifa doesn't want english teams to dominate the champions league. Italy and spain have had thier dominance, now its our turn. Uefa had the slightly different idea which oddly enough would barely affect arsenal because we buy a large amount of young players and train them i.e Fabregas. Waste of time, pointless. The only thing that England can say is that it has the best football league in the world. You implement this rule and you can say goodbye to that. You want to make England better? Train the kids better when they are young. I personally like the fact that foreign players bring a different dimension to football. No english player can attack like ronaldo or torres, none can create goals like fabregas. My opinion is leave well enough alone Sepp.
Posted 02:19 31st May 2008
Steven Thomas (aston villa fan) says...
People keep blaming the influx in foreigners playing in the Premier League as the cause for England's lack of success in major tournaments. Give me a break. Was that to blame 30 years ago, or 20 years ago or 10 years ago? Face it, we haven't won anything since '66 because our players are not good enough. This rule would have no effect on the England team but it would certainly spell the end of any English dominance in the CL, and drive the quality of the PL down. On a side note you wouldn't find people saying that over 50% of the doctors/dentists/or any other professions working in Britain had to be English would you?
Posted 23:01 30th May 2008
Jimmy Mcgee (Sunderland fan) says...
And what about when teams buy in young players from abroad who are 18 years old and under and run them through the academy for 3+ years? They will be approved by the regulations as English players when in fact they will travel back to their native countries for internationals, thus solving nothing....
Posted 22:54 30th May 2008
Steve Fealy (Liverpool fan) says...
This has got to be a long term win for the national sides. Ours has taken a big hit and McClaren & Co can't take all the blame. As for the lucrative Premier League - they may suffer short term, but at least the English clubs will be fielding English players. As a grass roots coach, this has got to be an overdue step in the right direction. 2014 or 2018 - England for the world cup - who'll take a bet on that!?
Posted 22:31 30th May 2008
Ian Thomas (Arsenal fan) says...
If this rule comes in, I can see clubs like Arsenal having to let players go because they are not English. With that in mind, I think you'll find it is illegal in Europe to sack an employee based on thier race. So, bring on the lawsuits. Alternativelly, all the clubs have to do is appeal to the court of human rights as this does not sit well with the idea of a united Europe.
Posted 21:39 30th May 2008