The international break could well be viewed as an inconvenient caesura, arriving just as the new season was beginning to engross us all once again. However, it presents an opportunity to revise some of the well-worn debates surrounding the national team, as well as some arguments of more recent provenance following England’s campaign in Brazil.
‘There are too many foreign players in the Premier League’. An observation so common, that it is beginning to encroach on the realm of cliché. Those who utter it are in fact expressing a rather undeveloped hypothesis that fails to explain why this situation should be considered undesirable. A more accurate statement would be: there are more foreign players in the Premier League than would be considered ideal for the best interests of the national team. An abundance of foreign players in England’s top division is not, intrinsically, a bad thing; arguing otherwise will have you sounding like Alf Garnett on a bad day. However it can be said to be instrumentally detrimental to the national side when they heavily out number their English counterparts.
In other words, I would argue that far more positive and enlightening inference, would be to say that there not enough English players rather than stating there are too many foreigners. Many commentators like to play a numbers game on this point, and the statistics do indeed back them up. Last season, only about 30% of Premier League starters were eligible to play for England. This compares to around 60% of starters in the Bundesliga who were eligible to play for Germany.
I would argue that far more positive and enlightening inference, would be to say that there not enough English players rather than stating there are too many foreigners.
Why do these numbers matter? Well, it is almost tautological that the more players a national team’s manager has to choose from, the better. I don’t contest this point. Would England have performed better at the World Cup had Roy Hodgson had double the pool of players to choose from? It’s a safe bet to say we would have done. Greg Dyke’s FA commission earlier this year produced a ‘state of the nation’ report, trying to penetrate this issue. The results were a mixed bag, which is what you would expect from a panel ranging from the perceptive Glen Hoddle to the uninspiring, disciple of Charles Green, Howard Wilkinson. Wilkinson must be a fantastic networker, cajoler and sycophant because how he gets his feet under such high tables is beyond this author.
It is crucial, however, to recall the stated aim of this report. It was not to increase the number of English players in the Premier League; it was to help England win the 2022 World Cup. Increasing the number of English players in the top flight was only a means, though an important one, to this ambitious end. It seems however, to appear obvious, that what is required to win a major tournament is not just a mere increase in volume of players. There must be an increase in quality as well as quantity, so to speak.
Wilkinson must be a fantastic networker, cajoler and sycophant because how he gets his feet under such high tables is beyond this author.
A tale that’s been frequently told since the World Cup is of paths being ‘blocked’. Promising English players are having their paths blocked at bigger clubs due to foreign stars. ‘They’re having their paths blocked’, you’ll hear. Who are they? I challenge all of those who claim this, to produce a list of these players who have had their paths blocked over the last ten years or so. I think you’ll find very few names who would have been an asset to England at major tournaments. Here’s one case study.
Arsenal, whilst being the club the author is most familiar with, are also blamed with having started the trend of ‘far and wide’ recruitment at the expense of English players (at least until recently). According to the ‘blocked path’ theory, Arsenal have blocked the paths of Stuart Taylor, Graham Stack, Justin Hoyte, Matthew Upson, Steve Sidwell, Henri Lansbury, David Bentley, Jay Simpson, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas , Jermain Penannt and many others. Are there any England fans who wish they’d made the grade and established themselves in the England squad? Thought not.
Arsenal, whilst being the club the author is most familiar with, are also blamed with having started the trend of ‘far and wide’ recruitment at the expense of English players
In fact, you would be hard pushed to find a single example of a young English player released by one of the top clubs who came back to haunt them and caused regret. To win major tournaments you need top quality players and the top quality players England have produced have had no problems with blocked paths. Lampard, Gerrard, Terry, Ferdinand, Cole and Rooney faced no block paths. More prescient examples, Callum Chambers and Erik Dier, have faced no blocked paths. Quite the reverse in fact, they have been fast tracked to the top in quicker fashion than might be considered ideal.
An increase in the size of the pool, therefore, needs to run alongside an increase in players of the required quality. An increase in numbers will not, in itself, bring about the desired results. If every Premier League team had two extra Steve Sidwell’s , the statistics would look far healthier, but England would be no closer to winning the World Cup than they are currently. Focus needs to shift towards player production rather than closed avenues of opportunity. This includes not only changes in coaching, but changes to the coaching of coaching. St George’s Park has provided the infrastructure to do this. A more developed ladder of school and county football, along the lines of cricket and rugby, would be desirable and would shift responsibility into the hands of public institutions rather than the academy systems of elite clubs.
Dan Zeqiri
You can follow Dan on Twitter: @DanZeqiri
Follow Impact Sport on Twitter and Facebook
Image courtesy of skysports.com
