The Bootiful Game Issue 2 The Bootiful Game Issue 2 | Page 12

seventeen. I
still have to
pinch myself
about it.”
! Will we ever
see another
young Brit
reach those
same heights
at such an
age? The
great influx of
foreign players
coming into the
English football
league ladder
has been a
source of great
debate for the last two
decades. Many argue
that it has hindered the
development of the
British national teams
and those who aspire
to break through in the
same way that
Whiteside did in the
eighties.
The former
Manchester United
man who made his
debut two weeks
before his seventeenth
birthday commented
12 @TheBootifulGame Issue 02
on the issue: “I
don’t mind the big
clubs bringing in the
top players,
because as football
people we want to
see the best in the
game, so you want
teams to bring the
main boys in and
pay them the good
money and I get
that.”
However he doesn’t
fully feel that
importing players
from abroad is
Whiteside: Club career statistics
positive. “What I don’t agree with
is clubs lesser down the line in the
Championship or League One for
example and they’ll be bringing
people in, say from, Sweden or
Iceland and they’re the ones
coming in stopping the growth of
the British players coming through.
! “They’re good for that level but
it actually stops the progress of the
kids in Britain.” With places at
football league clubs limited many
young players have made the
decision to leave the football
league in search of football.
Dropping into non-league football
has proven to be a master stroke