Capping Foreigners Not the Answer to a Better England

Sir Alex Ferguson has come out in favour this week of a cap on the number of foreign players allowed in each Premiership squad. Given that only four of Manchester United's starting line up last Saturday were English (though four more than Arsenal it should be noted), it is likely that there is more than just a hint of tongue in cheek here from the maestro of the mind game. Sir Alex is a genius when it comes to winding up his rivals and this comment is more likely a reflection of a man with a growing confidence in his team's ability to see off challengers to United's Premiership title this year. Let's face it English football would be a sorrier place without him whether he is being serious or not.

But what would a cap actually achieve? Premiership football is where it is. It has attained a high standard and entertains supporters the World over. At least three of the big four usually qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League and last year we had three semi-finalists. The point is we can't go back and lower the standard now. Putting an artificial restriction on the number of foreign players would almost certainly do exactly that. Rather than helping English players to get better, it would more likely create an artificial situation where clubs would have to pay a premium for them to keep their quota at the required level - whether they are good players or not.

There is an argument in Scottish football that when Sky pulled out of its coverage deal with the SPL, it meant that expensive foreign imports could no longer be afforded by the clubs. The result has been that more younger, home-grown players get to play at the highest level than would have done previously. Hence, the more impressive performance by the Scottish national team in the Euro 2008 qualifiers. It certainly seems a reasonable argument but if you actually look at the stats, there are no more Celtic or Rangers players in the Scotland team now than there were in 2002, 2004 or 2006 when Scotland finished third in their Euro and World qualifying groups. You could argue that perhaps there are more Hearts players present than there were and Hearts were certainly one of the clubs who went for East European imports in some numbers. But what is not mentioned is that two of Scotland's star performers in their current run, James McFadden and Duncan Fletcher, rarely start for their clubs. And while it has to be said that Scotland have certainly surprised everybody by their current position in what is a really tough group, they haven't actually qualified for anything yet.

At RTG we actually believe that football has moved on to take on the status of a truly global sport. There is, therefore, a big argument in favour of Premiership teams employing players from places like Africa as it might actually help to instil some sort of regulation in the movement of players. With the huge spoils that are currently on offer in leagues such as the English Premiership, the procurement of a young African player's signature by an agency and his subsequent movement overseas can be likened to something little short of people trafficking or slavery. If English football can help improve the transparency of deals involving non-European players then perhaps we can see an end to the farcical situation that occurred over the Tevez affair. Of course, FIFA-affiliated national football associations could all help in this with more co-operation, transparency and less corruption involving transfers across borders. But at RTG experience leads us to suspect that this will never happen.

If we care about the development of the game overseas, then there is also a lot to be said for developing players from China, India, Korea etc. in the best European leagues, to encourage the game abroad. Let RTG stress again, we are not against the operation of football as a business. It is too late now for it to be anything else. We just want to see that genuine competition is maintained.

It is true, that there is something frustrating about seeing players like Jermaine Pennant or David Bentley struggle to break into the Arsenal team when they are clearly more than capable of holding their own in the Premership. And perhaps their attitude, that Arsene Wenger could not seem to come to terms with, was borne more out of the frustration of being highly paid millionaires sat in the reserves week after week. But the real way to develop English players is not by artificially raising the value of home-grown players. English footballers would benefit more from a proper coaching and education programme backed by the FA. That way, they would earn the right to be in their club starting line-up as skillful and intelligent footballers rather than being there because the club has to pick them. While the responsibility to develop players rests solely with the clubs they will continue to operate in their own best interests and not those of the England national squad.

Reclaim the Game - The Week's Events

• It is early days and we shouldn't jump to conclusions just yet but there are worrying signs of yet more polarisation in the game - this time in the Champions League. Is it our imagination or do teams appear to be achieving qualification for the knockout stages earlier this year and does there appear to be a bigger prevalence of teams at the bottom of their group struggling to maintain the required standard? Let's hope not. The last thing Europe's elite competition needs is for the group stage to become a meaningless bunch of games simply to see the predictable 16 teams march comfortably through.
• Rumours have reached us that Steve Maclaren actually visited LA Galaxy, not to watch David Beckham (because he didn't even attend the game in fact), but to attend an interview for the vacant manager's position. Well, all we can say is jolly good luck with that Steve. Though sources today seem to suggest that Ruud Gullit is likely to be appointed very soon. Oh well!