Ioannis Makarounas met up with Gerry Armstrong to discuss the lack of Northern Irish players in the Premier League.
Ioannis Makarounas met up with Sky Sports' Gerry Armstrong to discuss the lack of Northern Irish players in the Premier League
Former Northern Ireland international Gerry Armstrong has expressed his concern at the lack of Northern Irish players in the Premier League.
Armstrong, who is co-commentator on
Sky Sports' coverage of Spanish football and also works on the Northern Ireland games and Irish League coverage, believes that, despite the impressive form of captain Chris Brunt, there are long-term problems with Northern Irish youth development.
The continual decline of Welsh and Northern Irish players plying their trade in Europe's top leagues is becoming a persistent headache for the FAW and IFA and the ex-Mallorca forward can not see a cure arriving anytime soon.
"I read a stat recently that around 1,400 players to have played in the Premier League have been English, second was Scotland, then in third was France," said Armstrong.
"I mean, you look at Northern Ireland and Wales, they were right down there."
Suffered
Armstrong, who originates from Fintona, believes the development of the Premier League is the main reason for the stark Northern Irish representation in comparison with past seasons.
He continued: "15, 20 years ago Northern Irish and Scottish players all went to English clubs and often became stars.
"I think the associations of Wales, Northern and the Republic of Ireland have all suffered because of that."
Armstrong was a key member of perhaps the most successful Northern Ireland side in history at the 1982 World Cup. In a tournament in which he was the highest scoring Britain, Northern Ireland claimed a memorable 1-0 victory over Spain in Valencia, with Armstrong scoring the winning goal.
When asked to compare the differences between that team and the current crop of internationals, Armstrong claimed: "The Northern Ireland team of 1982 had only one player not in the top flight in their starting XI, Billy Hamilton (who was at Burnley). We even had top-flight players on the bench and we qualified for a World Cup because we had that quality.
"Looking at the team Northern Ireland put out now there are only four players playing regularly in the Premiership: Jonny Evans, Chris Brunt, (Aaron) Hughes and (Chris) Baird and that tells a story. I think that has an effect on how football develops in those countries."
Armstrong believes the impatience of many top-flight English clubs is to blame for the lack of young Northern Irish talent playing on English shores.
He concluded: "Part of it is because the foresight of people, clubs want an instant fix, fans want an instant fix. If you're bringing kids through aged seven, eight and nine it's going to take 10 years before you see the benefits."
