Once a season (or more) someone complains about the number of foreigners in English football. Not for the first time, Sir Trevor Brooking has made a few comments about his concern for the English game given the number of foreigners.I've never been worried about the number of foreigners because I'm in the "if they are good enough, they will make it" camp. One of the things that I reckon holds back young sportsmen and women in this country is lack of competition....the 10 year-old star is only allowed to play in the under-12s for example, rather than having a real challenge and playing in the under-15s. Consequently, he/she doesn't keep improving at the same rate, and it makes it harder to break into professional sport.
Major League Soccer in America is an interesting parallel. As The Observer's article this weekend described, they are happy to break their wage structures to bring in the likes of Beckham and Angel because they realise there is only so far they can get without attracting foreign talent. Without that, they have a mediocre league where average (on a world stage) players compete in exciting games, but the interests of the American national team aren't best served, which is why several of the USA team play abroad.
So bring in the foreigners and let's improve English standards so that they all sit on the subs benches - that's what I say!
1 comment:
I generally agree, but have two reservations. Firstly, those English players who make it, have competition from foreigners at club level, but little at international level, due to the lack of other English players. Therefore you end up with "untouchable" players, like Lampard or Beckham (the latter under Eriksson), who arguably get complacent.
Secondly, as academies recruit from abroad, the number of English young players beig developed drops off. The same rules don't apply here, as young players develop at different rates, and when a talented English youngster gets dumped in favour of a foreigner, who is to say he wouldn't have developed into a fine player further down the line?
I think it is at this developmental level that action needs to be taken, rather than at the top, where market forces will always rule.
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