Blatter Still Forging Ahead With Foreign Player Rule

711

I know, I just think that they will weasel round any new rules whilst the English will stick to them rigidly. (Well, if you forget Zola Budd, that was an exception).

However, sorry to repeat a post, but if the Italians and Spanish feel really threatened, together with all the French, African and South American sellers, agents and interested parties, then there will be too much money working against Blatter and his own position will be under threat.

CnutOfAllCnuts

Yes, for a couple of years, the price of English players will probably go up.

Same for Italian and Spanish players.

Then, the prices will normalise themselves.

711

Indeed. English players do go at a premium, but they have for a while, and there doesn't seem to be a sudden rush for the Ashleys and Bentleys.

Which means that the clubs don't rate Blatter as a threat.

Well, our yankee owners seem to be pretty shit-hot legally, I fucking hope so anyway.

FranklyVulgar

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7417746.stm

Has loads of nice graphs and charts and stats for all the people who want to see.

Interesting read and it doesn't bode too well for the english clubs sinse they are about the furthest away from this "6 plus 5" thing Blatter is talking about.

The Premier League is obviously against this and says "We must raise standards, not implement something that will never happen under European law and would only create a broader pool of average players rather than a deeper one of the right level of talent for Premier League clubs and England."

Which in itself is a fair point. I however get the feeling that the Premier League is not really that fussed about the fortunes of the national team. Alot more concerned with the cash it would lose if such a proposal went through.

Alarming stats compaired to Italy and Spain though.

Cornell

Didn't the EU block this on account of you can't discriminate based on nationality or something?

Twisted_Woody

What about players found in dirt patches in 3rd world countries? I guess they are screwed then?

Don't get me wrong I think it is a good idea, but what about the benefits for people 'imported' from say, Africa. For example, England might be able to compete, but African nations are screwed because their talent won't be able to go anywhere.

FranklyVulgar

Not sure how it would benifit these countries but it would most likely still happen with the most tallented players in africa.

Here is a quick breakdown of forign to home grown ratios for those not in the mood for reading the article.

7.1 - 3.9 England
5.0 - 6.0 Scotland
4.1 - 6.9 Spain
3.7 - 7.3 Italy
6.1 - 4.9 Germany

These are averages of starting players for the last weekend of the season in each respective league.

Suedesi

He doesn't. Any high school student would be able to tell you that quota-imposed bans would not work...

IBleedRed

I dont think the idea itself is bad
his reasons for trying to pass it are somewhat ridiculous

im just really looking forward to seeing arsenals starting 11

plus this probably wont affect united too much as we already have enough english players in our regular 11s

p_ps_sock

there are more spanish, italian, french, german and probably dutch players of CL quality than british, would effect us more than european teams

at the minute yes, but 5-10 years down the line those players will be gone and we'll be left paying £35-£40m for tomorrows equivalent of bent

sonymobby

Exactly.

green demon

The idea is right. After all look at Arsenal - they really are disgraceful in that they could only manage a 0.34 average of an English player per Prem League match. In that I agree with Blatter and there should be a quota that's binding on all teams from all countries.

The reason that Blatter is doing it appears to be wrong. It does look like he is trying to get rid of England's dominance. If that's the case then the man is a fraud and should be removed from office.

However, if they implement this then they MUST also introduce something to stop players changing their nationality so easily. It's already happening that Brazilian players are playing for European countries because they are not good enough to get into their own national team. It's the same in Athletics with Kenyans representing European countries and Australians winning gold medals for Austria in the Triathlon. That must be stopped.

Fearless

The big elephant in the room is that English players are crap.

Too crap to make up the numbers in the prem, too crap to be recruited by big foreign clubs (LA Galaxy not included) and clearly too crap to even qualify for the Euro's.

Blatters right in every respect.

Even academies are going big time on scouting foreigners now, meanwhilst English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish kids are stuffing there faces with KFC .

marcus agrippa

would you trust the fate of your club to this man?

CantonasWife

This just can't be done. EU law prohibits it, I quote article 39 of the Rome Treaty

surf

Laying aside the conflicts with EU law, there are other difficulties in applying the concept to England. Legally there is no such thing as English nationality, only UK. So how would Giggs have been classified when he was 16? Why can't Fletcher or Evans count as home grown? How do you classify all the UK players at, say, Stoke, who may have never been anywhere near international honours, and so their "football" nationality is unknown and unclassified. I think Blatter could find it difficult to separate the UK nationality into 4 different groups for quota purposes.

green demon

I would assume each player would declare his nationality on signing up. If a player discovers in his twenties that his grandfather once had a pint of Guinness and the Irish pick him for the national team then he becomes a non-home player at that point. It's fraught with possible problems but these will have to be resolved prior to the introduction of the rule.

Keano1999

I was wondering how they would handle the oddity of the UK versus English/Scottish/Wales/N. Ireland. I hope we're not going back to our home nations players being counted as foreigners. We got fucked by that before.

How do you handle a player who was born in England but then chooses to play for another country like Jamaica, T&T or a home nation because of the granny rule?

acnumber9

Not a bad idea. They had a good one in Scotland a few years back, not sure if they still do it, where two players on your bench had to have through your clubs youth system. Something like that might help young British players to get a chance.

RedRover

You're spot on.

Anything along teh lines Blatter seems to be suggesting will be almost impossible to implement given that in the EU workers are aloud to move freely to any country they wish to ply their trade - hence why only no-EU players need a work permit.

Also - how exactly would this be policed - would a club need to have so many homegrown players on the books - or on the field. The latter would seem to be what he's suggesting but the clubs wont stand for that.

another useless Blatter soundbite.

ralphie88

Yep, it's a pointless debate to be having.

Player quotas that directly discriminate against players on the grounds of their nationality are illegal under EU law - they are discriminatory, they breach rights to freedom of movement and they also breach competition law.

Direct discrimination can't be justified (unlike indirect discrimination, which is why UEFA are trying the Homegrown Player route - which may also be illegal but less obviously).

The only way in which this plan wouldn't be blocked by the European Commission is if football got an exemption from the EU Treaty. Again this isn't going to happen, we on;y need to look at the recent White Paper on Sport to see this.

CockneyHammer

Aside from any kind of intervention from European Governing bodies, Sepp Blatter's motion here could be the saving grace of the game and the best thing to happen to West Ham United Football club too with its strong roots in English players. The last team to win a major honour whilst featuring only English players in every game was West Ham United with the '64 FA Cup. The other cup success's of Cup Winner's Cup '65, FA Cup '75 and FA Cup '81 all featured predominantly English players for the club. Add the '66 World Cup trio plus the current selection WHUFC and ex-WHUFC players in the Under 19's, the Under 21's and the full England team its not hard to see a long pattern of West Ham's English roots. A lot to do with geographical location too I believe having a piece of London, the County of Essex and some of North Kent to scout from plus the Tony Carr evolution for the club.

A total of 18 English players feature in the West Ham United first team squad of 40 and an even better ratio of 19 English players in the Reserve squad of 22. Maybe all bodes well for the future of the Hammers if Blatter gets his way even marginally.

Christofaux

wouldn't it just mean the following?

by 2012/2013 most foreign players currently would be able to apply for english citizenship.

It just means more foreign players will become english citizens so it frees up space for a new overseas player to come in.

Also means the price of a pom goes up again.

Foreign players who become citizens also can add a couple of mill to their tag.

Also means racisim will go up again as if a player is playing crap and taking up a foreign spot they are going to get blasted more.

quiet_united

African football would be fucked than.

Clueless

Wouldn't this make it harder for clubs from countries with low populations to succeed in Europe?

Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber

Fuck Blatter

ciderman9000000

The integrity of the sport is what's at stake here and if Sepp Blatter gets his way and this rule ever gets implemented then it will be at the sacrifice of true competition. Forgetting for a second the EU's stance and the human rights issues involved, if UEFA think it their responsibility to 'balance' the abilities of the European clubs then they have seriously misjudged their reason for being. Dominance of any particular nation in football is a fluctuating occurrence and should NOT be guided or quashed at the whim of a governing body, it is the responsibility of whichever clubs or countries who find themselves being dominated to improve their squads and catch up those who're winning, that's the nature of sport.

Sepp Blatter somehow finds the idea of English clubs achieving success at a time when the national side is going through a bad patch somehow offensive or wrong. Why? Does he hold a candle for English national football? Does he wish that the England team could mirror the successes of it's clubs? I don't think so. More likely (read; almost certainly) he is upset because Europe's golden boys of Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, and Munich have been knocked from their pedestals somewhat in the last twelve months and he wants the power back safely in the hands of the glamorous Series and Ligas. The 'dominance' of English clubs itself is highly debatable, we've produced three winners in the last twenty years with only six finalists out of forty in that time, it's hardly the Scottish Premier League. And now Blatter is worried that the competition is suffering, despite record breaking interest and viewing figures, and would like to change the rules to make it more 'balanced'- balanced in whose favour?

The fact is, English national football IS at a low point at the moment, but it's by no means beyond repair. We, as a nation, do not need to be molly-codled or nannied by UEFA into improving or be persuaded by brute force of administration into giving more opportunity to English players, we can handle that ourselves.

ciderman9000000

...Cont

It is the responsibility of the FA to ensure that there are a suitable amount of English talents and not that of UEFA or the Premier League. 'Grass Roots' football is the current buzz-word and £millions are being spent to ensure that the England team does not disband, and Blatter and UEFA know this. They are trying to meddle with what is not theirs to meddle with, they must not be allowed to 'balance' teams, they must not be given that power. The sport's integrity is at stake.

As, of course, are the EU's freedom of employment laws, which should without doubt put this all to bed before it ever gets off the ground