So now the foreign quota debate is a Manchester United versus Arsenal thing

By: Bob | November 6th, 2007

It is another week of Champions League football which means little work will get done during the middle of the week and we will once again have an opportunity to see many of the best players in the world playing for clubs that aren’t in their home countries. That is a troubling and unsettling thing for some, like FIFA head honcho Sepp Blatter, who continues to push for a limit on the number of foreign players on each club even though the law is against him. Today, Blatter received the backing of Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Scotsman cast his vote for a quota while also taking a predictable swipe at his rivals.

“It’s certainly not wrong that clubs should be seen to have a proportion of home-based players,” the Manchester United manager said.

“I totally agree (with Blatter) but it would be a problem for a club like Arsenal. That’s why they’ll protest the loudest.

“You want to protect your own, and there is nothing wrong with that. But, for the good of the game in England, it would be good to see more home-based players at the top clubs.

“United’s critics would say ‘It’s all right for you, you already have English players in your side’. But I think if you asked a neutral, they would rather see more home-based players.”

As a neutral, I couldn’t disagree more. I’d rather see the best players regardless of if they are from Manchester or from Mali. Most of the billion or so people who tuned in to watch Arsenal play Manchester United probably also agree since they aren’t from England themselves and simply enjoy watching the best players in the world.

It is also worth pointing out that in last Saturday’s clash between the top two in the Premier League, Arsenal started zero players born in England. Manchester United? They had four if you include the Welshman Ryan Giggs and the whatever the fuck he is Owen Hargreaves. Hardly a huge advantage I’d say.

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Category: English Premier League, World Football

Tags: Arsenal, English Premier League, Foreign Quota, Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson, World Football, World Soccer

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• Ian |  November 6th, 2007 at 9:36 am

  
  
  

  I think what Sir Alex really meant by “neutrals” was “neutrals in England” and I think in that way, he’s right. A lot of English football fans are disturbed by the national team sliding down the world rankings and on the brink of not qualifying from a pretty mediocre group for Euro 2008, and the finger has rightly been pointed at the Premiership for becoming such an international league. But overall I agree with you - put the best 11 on the pitch, regardless of anything else.

  Posted from United States

  

• Bob |  November 6th, 2007 at 9:47 am

  
  
  

  But do the neutrals in England really matter anymore? The league is being sold as a global product and the money is increasingly coming from outside England. For better or for worse, I’d argue that the Premier League is much more concerned with its global audience than its domestic one.

  Posted from United States

  

• Ian |  November 6th, 2007 at 10:00 am

  
  
  

  I guess, to me, it’s for worse. The Prem might be a global product, but its base is in England and always will be. PL head office people should be smart enough to know that growing means getting new markets AND keeping the ones that made you rich in the first place.

  Posted from United States

  

• Jan |  November 6th, 2007 at 10:09 am

  
  
  

  Well, how about those English players, who can no longer make it into a PL side, just go abroad. They can get their first team playing time and experience somewhere in Eastern Europe or Asia, or wherever they’re still needed.

  Posted from Germany

  

• Jan |  November 6th, 2007 at 10:10 am

  
  
  

  If the players don’t want to learn a new language, they could alternatively flood the MLS or A-League with surplus English talent.

  Posted from Germany

  

• Laurie |  November 6th, 2007 at 10:32 am

  
  
  

  I’m 100% behind the quota rule because then Ligue 1 teams would totally kick butt in Champions League and all other international competitions.

  Posted from United States

  

• Noah |  November 6th, 2007 at 12:15 pm

  
  
  

  Once again, I completely disagree with Fergie. If anything, this will make it much more difficult for small market teams to compete because the demand for relatively good home country players will be such that only the top clubs can afford them, thereby driving up the value and pricing out the small clubs. And because they’re limited from bringing in foreigners, they’ll have to contend with fielding an even worse team then they would if they could field whoever they wanted. One of the beauties of football is that it’s an international sport; hopefully they’ll remember that when voting against this proposal.

  Posted from United States

  

• Inara |  November 6th, 2007 at 12:48 pm

  
  
  

  Yeah, but taking football to such international levels practically negates the domestic aspect of it. Chelsea, Barca, Juventus, etc still try to retain some ties to their countries, and one of the ways they do that is by taking pride in their home based talent. But if we’re going to jump on the global bandwagon, then we might as well get rid of domestic leagues entirely and move to a European league format.

  Posted from United States

  

• Linda |  November 6th, 2007 at 4:35 pm

  
  
  

  100% agreed with Jan. If, say, Spanish players can go abroad and get into top sides in other leagues, why can’t English players?

  Posted from Australia

  

• Namu |  November 9th, 2007 at 9:11 pm

  
  
  

  i think a big issue that’s part of this discussion is that, when you look at the mid-table squads of the Premier League, you see that the squads are still packed with many more foreigners, compared to the mid-table squads of comparable leagues such as the Primera Liga, and Serie A.

  when you think about the top squads of these three leagues, they’re packed top to bottom with foreigners, because they compete in the CL, which has become an international product rather than a continental product. i dont think people have too much of a problem with that.

  but when you look at the Premier League, the whole league, from top to bottom, has become more of an international product as well, rather than a product that is national as well as international. and you see quite a lot of mid-table squads packed with foreigners as well. if i was english, i would start having problems with that.

  i know that many mid-table spanish and italian squads have many foreigners as well, but when you look at their bench or their 25-man squad, you see a strong spanish and italian influence. you dont see that in mid-table english squads. i am writing this as a asian in canada, by the way, not as an englishman.

  Posted from Canada

  

• gery |  December 27th, 2007 at 4:52 pm

  
  
  

  i agree with quota system .

  Posted from Malaysia

  

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