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From interview in Times with Andy Burnham the "Culture, Media and Sports" secretary…
Premier League football clubs should have a quota of English players in order to boost homegrown talent and improve the country’s chances of winning international championships, Andy Burnham said yesterday.
Okay, I know he’s only an MP( and a zanuLabour one at that) and therefore can’t be expected to look beyond the easy headline, but just think about it. If all Premier League clubs were forced to start with 10 English born players this season, what would be the squad for England’s games during this season? Er… James, Ferdinand, Terry, Gerrard, Lampard, Cole, Rooney, Walcott, Barry, Carrick, Micah Richards, Owen, Garry Neville, Agbonlihor, Defoe etc. etc. In other words, the same faces as are being selected now! Any youngster that forces his way into a Premiership team (eg Wheater) can safely be said to have acheived a pretty high level of skill already. If anything, our League should make the national team manager’s job easier (selection-wise if not tactically) .
Why? Because, in order to play regularly in the Premiership you have to be almost international standard to begin with. Its standard is a ready made "sieve" for an England manager. Forcing more English-born players into the league won’t give you extra international quality English players. It’s bloomin’ obvious.
In fact, it would diminish the game of the current regulars (and youngsters on the brink) who wouldn’t be testing themselves against the best in Europe every week; standards would drop. Gates would drop, sponsorship would drop.
If England don’t win trophies it’s because they or their manager aren’t up to it; simple.
This sort of shallow, unthought-through thinking is typical of our politicians, trying to grab an easy, populist headline without any depth of thought re. the ultimate consequences (cf 10p tax rate budget announcement by then Chancellor Brown).
The Premiership is great as it is. England have no divine right to be the best national side, but they’ve no chance if half-wit dimbos like this guy interfere with the set-up. (And, by putting forward this kind of simpleton proposal, play into the hands of the Platini, Blatter, UEFA, jealous, anti-Premier League lobby. )Here here, thoroughly agree with that.
And I would add (as I have done many times before) that if any of our younger players are struggling to improve themselves or get a game at a top Premier League club, they should move abroad and improve their skills.
Hasn’t Capello himself come out and said there’s a problem with the amount of English players in the premiership to pick his squads from? He must of known this when signing his contract or was he just focused on the digits of money that would be coming his way.
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Capello is no fool. That is just a polite way of saying there aren’t enough good English players to pick from.
Andy Burnham genuinely isn’t thick – I have friends who know him well and say he is both bright and engaging. He just has what most politicians of all parties have – what to me is a vastly over-inflated idea of what should be within the scope of government. Football (like many other facets of life) should be none of their business.
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