Five games into the season and we have our first sacking in the Premier League. Sunderlands woes deepen as the league blossoms into life with 28 goals scored over the weekend. Join us for discussion about the results, the tactics, and the departure of Palo DiCanio.
Well, it certainly has been a rabble rousing week for English football. Protests from the fans over ticket prices brought together some 15 supporters’ groups to protest in London. Meanwhile, the outgoing FA chairman, David Bernstein, complained to the press that the league management has given preference to foreign players and thus damaging the development of English players in their home league.
The recent summer protests over ticket prices follow the in season protests from Man City supporters’ over the cost of stadium admission to an away game at the Emirates. Arsenal’s 0-2 loss was overshadowed by unfurled banners in the Manchester City section declaring “£62!! Where will it stop?”. The controversy was further highlighted by the return of nearly ⅓ of the tickets allocated to Manchester city supporters.
The protests in front of the Premier League’s office in central London are both reactionary and preemptive, with fans calling for a £20 cap on away tickets. Premier league officials claimed they had “a positive meeting” with club supporters, the fruits of such positivity remain to be seen. In truth, the league has left the decision with the clubs, who have no excuse to charge such high prices in the coming season as NBC signed a three year £250 million deal for coverage rights. The American channel will show all 380 Premier League games in the US and, most importantly, bring a hefty cash injection to every club.
There is also the little added measure of Financial Fair Play, but see the good doctor’s article to understand why FFP might not be doing it’s job.
The windfall from the television deal could add an extra £25 million to each club’s wallet starting this August. Let me repeat that £25 MILLION. EACH. YEAR.
That should be problem solved, clubs will have enough cash in hand to provide cheap seats to fans.
Let’s take the Arsenal & Man City. The Man City away tickets were priced at £62, according to the protesters’ sign. Arsenal had reserved 3,000 seats at the Emirates for the away supporters but let’s suppose that Arsenal expected all those seats to be filled. That comes out to about £186,000 per game that the management would expect to be filled. Each team in the league played 38 games which comes out to an expected £7, 068,000 in revenue from league games each season. Assuming all teams expect revenue from 3,000 away fans and the £20 cap is agreed upon that comes out to £4,788,000 difference before the NBC deal.
So where will the clubs spend the , roughly, £20 million left over?
Overseas, apparently, concurrent with the fan protests over ticket prices comes additional dissent over the distinct foreign flavor of this summer’s transfers. David Bernstein made very clear during his exit from the FA, that he believes the league is letting down the development of national English talent. The statistic, 3 out of 29, has been paraded about the English press like a martyr. Out of the 29 players signed this summer only 3 are English. Andy Carroll, Danny Whitehead, and Duncan Watmore the lone representatives for King and Country in their home league.
Bernstein burdens the Premier League with the blame, prioritizing league success over English development. The complaints come on the heels of the English U-21 squad being knocked out of the European Championship final in Israel. Before we go about blaming the foreigners for stealing the jobs or the Englishmen for demanding too much money I propose we take a look at what the Premier League does require of it’s squads. Then maybe compare their criteria to that of the MLS squad requirements, since England and the USA are the most xenophobic countries with a dialect I understand.
The squad requirements for the Premier League have undergone a recent shift in 2010 that raised the minimum from 20 players to a 25 man squad. The changes also required 8 “Home Grown Players” (HGP) be included in this 25 man squad. The term “Home Grown” is a bit misleading, qualified players do not need to be English, see official league definition:
An HGP means a player who, irrespective of nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to the FA or Welsh FA for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months prior to their 21st birthday.
So the homegrown player can often be the local boy who comes up through the academy, but clubs have signed foreign prospects at increasingly younger ages to give them time to develop within the English system either in youth clubs or on loan spells, allowing these foreign born players to eventually qualify as “home grown players.”
The upshot of it all is that the 25-man squad that must be announced before the start of the season, allowing an exception for under 21 players. These players can be included in the squad after the close of the transfer window. While not all clubs will find an advantage in fielding players under 21 players the clubs who do have the depth of talent really benefit from these superstars. Last season’s under 21 stars were:
Oscar (Brazil), Romelu Lukaku (Belgium), Eden Hazard (Belgium) – Chelsea
Raheem Sterling (England), Philippe Coutinho (Brazil) – Liverpool
David De Gea (Spain), Phil Jones (England) – Manchester United
Matija Nastasic (Serbia) – Manchester City
Christian Benteke (Belgium) – Aston Villa
Nathaniel Clyne (England) – Southampton
Ben Davies (Wales) – Swansea
Jack Wilshere (England)- Arsenal
and I’m sure I’ve glossed over a couple. In a world where big money will eventually discover every loophole, I am honestly surprised there hasn’t been more manipulation of this exception. Star players under the age of 21 can be named in the original 25 man squad but for the teams like Chelsea and Man City I would have thought they would overload the squad with young and expensive talent. Maybe I shouldn’t encourage that kind of behavior.
Back to the point, does this policy encourage domestic player growth? “Maybe” is the best answer and “likely not” is my second best. The “Home Grown” status requires a player be in the English league for three years before said player turns 21, which is not an insignificant portion of that player’s to that point. Naturally one would assume that this would be easier to integrate the younger English players into squads, but as you can see from the table above 7 of the 12 players from the list above are NOT British.
Another strategy, employed by the MLS, limits, outright, the number of foreign players a squad can include. In the American league that cap is high and “international” spots can be traded amongst teams, much like players. More often the salary cap is a greater deterrent to MLS teams bringing in talent from abroad not domestic squad requirements.
I do not claim that the system in the MLS is any better or worse than the Premier League’s requirements. However, Mr. Bernstein is correct in his assertion that the policies of the Premier League do not protect domestic players in any way, shape or form. Whether or not one system is better than the other is not the purpose of this article, but I will say this, English players are absent not only in their domestic league but also in league’s abroad. Foreign players in the Premier League do not spell doom for the national team but lack of playing time in top leagues does paint a rather dark picture for a recently bare English trophy cabinet.
Sound off in the comments or on our facebook. Is the Premier League suffering for its lack of English talent? Is the multinational complexion of the Premier League hurting the English national team?
Stateside Hooligans 