THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: HAS IT LOST
IT'S 'ENGLISNESS'?
The English Premier League seems to have lost a bit of its 'Englishness' in the past couple of years, with tons of foreign players coming over as well as foreign managers, and a continental playing style sweeping through the English game. But why has this happened? What impact does this have on the England national team? What is the future for English payers in the world of football? I will attempt to answer these questions and a few others in this article.
by John White
The Premier League was set up in 1992, in order to aid the development of the England National Team. In its inaugural season, 12 English players and a Welshman finished the campaign with 15 or more goals, and the League's top scorer, Teddy Sherringham netted 22 times. This was brilliant news for the FA, and it boded well for the national team under the management of Graham Taylor. After their dismal performance at Euro 1992, when they were eliminated in the Group Stages after failing to win a game, the future looked bright with English players showing their quality in the highest division in England. 177 players who featured in the first game of the 1992/93 season, held English nationality, which was 73.1% of all players. However, that figure dropped to just 75 this season, 34.1%.
How has this happened?
This is down to a number of factors, namely the influx of foreign managers to the league - who know and trust their own market more than the English market. As well as this, English players are generally more expensive than foreign players to bring in. This, in turn, leads to the Golden Triangle argument (Media, Sponsorship and Sport.) If a manager buys a foreign striker for £35 million, he is going to play that player ahead of a home grown kid from his academy.
There might not be much difference in the quality of the player, just look at Manchester City - they spent £30 million on Fernandinho, and loaned Gareth Barry out. While I am not denying Fernandinho is a good player, I would much rather have Gareth Barry in my team than him. Although he might be older, he has arguably made one mistake in 4 years. He does his job to perfection, breaks up attacks and plays the ball out wide so that his team can break. One of the most underrated midfielders in England currently, in my opinion. He proved just how good he was when he made his debut for Everton on Saturday, when his expertly timed sliding tackle denied Samuel Eto'o a debut goal.
But this is just an example, the point I am making is that foreign managers bring in foreign players, and play them before home grown players who have came up through the ranks
What could be done to change this?
What is ridiculous about the English Premier League is this - a team can legitimately field a team full of foreign players, but they are NOT allowed to field a team solely of English players.
Newcastle, if they wanted to, could send out a team entirely of French players if they wanted to. However, Norwich would get brought up in front of a disciplinary panel if they sent a team full of English players to the pitch
THIS IS WRONG.
Employment Law is there to give foreigners an equal opportunity of finding a job, but that should not apply to football - which is a game of talent.
I think that the FA should step in, and say that teams have to field a minimum of 6 home grown players, but you can have as many foreign players in your squad as you want (within competition rules.)
The argument of Exceptional Talent
What defines 'Exceptional Talent?' For me, Lionel Messi, Christiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Gareth Bale are all examples of Exceptional Talent. They would have no trouble coming to the UK on an Exceptional Talent VISA. However, other 'lesser' players have come to the Premier League under this visa.
Examples include Anderson, Rafael and his brother Fabio coming to Manchester United and Andriy Arshavin to Arsenal.
Now, here's the problem. Exceptional Talent is when you consistently represent your national side, e.g. Messi and Neymar. Rafael does not, and he didn't when he signed for Manchester United! He entered the country through a loophole in the Law, in that he signed when he was younger than 18.Anderson isn't an example of Exceptional Talent, he isn't any better than Carrick of Cleverly. They should start before him.
"Anderson isn't an example of Exceptional Talent, he isn't any better than Carrick or Cleverly."