Should clubs be forced to field homegrown players? Wenger says no!
Posted by Martin in Arsene Wenger, HOT Topics | 6 November 2006
You may have seen last week that Wenger has spoken out against Fifa’s latest plans to force teams to have at least 6 nationals playing in each match.
Wengers main argument against the idea being that you could end up fielding second rate teams, with players who perhaps are not up to the job, but are on the pitch just to meet the quota.
Now I have to say I have some sympathy for the argument. Yes I wouldn’t be keen to watch a game that was perhaps second rate, just because certain players were being restricted from playing.
However, I equally would like to see more home grown players make the premiership based on their merit, surely we have the talent. It would seem that some clubs just can’t afford the cost of running ongoing academy programmes, and so we are not building the next generation of English footballers.
It’s great to be able to bring players into the game from around the globe, which Wenger has done with great expertise and insight, but wouldn’t it be great to have teams fielded with some of our own talent?
Comments
think about what you said for a moment. if club were forced to meet a english player quota who do u think would be the first affected. that right smaller english teams. do u think in such a case lennon,king,dawson would be at spurs,bent at charlton,reo cocker at west ham. no. these player would be at man utd,chelsea,liverpool and arsenal. and then were would the smaller club get their quality player.the lower league? then the league would be even less competitive. it is sometimes good to think about these things more thoroughly and view it it from all side.
No, they shouldnt be forced to play home based players. It would be nice, but only if you consider the Premier League to be English. In reality, it is a European Super League in all but locality. The players are from all over the world, the managers are largely European and the top clubs are now owned and sponsored by foriegn entities. None of these figures, even the English ones, have any commitment to the game's development in England. I disagree that the game would become 'second rate' with the introduction of a quota, however....the game at the top level is becoming a self indulgent parody of itself, a money making enterprise guised as sport. On the field there is little competition, more gamesmanship; off it the stadiums are soulless and the prices elitist. The Championship, meanwhile, from what Ive seen of it this year is full of good, neat, honest football played at real football grounds by mostly English players. Maybe we should cut the Premier League loose and consider this England's top division. Its going to happen anyway......
I don't believe introducing quotas will improve the pool of English talent.
We already have players regarded as amongst the best in the world yet we under-perform in international tournaments.
Also, while foreign players can come to this country to play, English players equally can go and play abroad. Yet so few of them do.
The problem stems from our approach to grass roots football, the way we train children and adults and their lack of willingness to travel and learn.
What we see in the premiership are the symptoms of this underlying problem.
Quotas should be added, The EPL is a very European league and its quality and style is greatly improved from this, but it should not be to the detriment of local talent. Clubs should be forced to spend more on improving home grown talent instead of the quick fix option of buying a foreign import.
Quotas would not stop some of the best foreign players coming into the league, but would put greater emphasis on training of the home grown talent which can only benefit the league as a whole.
In terms of the smaller clubs, in the short term I agree with ‘enki’ in that players such as lennon, king and dawson would likely be at bigger clubs, however this would help with the redistribution of wealth throughout the leagues, and once further investment and training was in place the amount of players with this level of talent should be greatly increased.
Foreign managers have often been quoted as being ‘bewildered’ as to the lack of basic ball skills many English players have. This is down to a lack of training from an early age that quotas should help instil.
