Comments on: Football’s Going Home(-grown)

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:52:21 +0000

KJ – I see your point, they are much better off than many – even their Brazilians may be eligible, but with many of those English stars getting older, it poses a bit of a problem for the future. And what I really meant about Man U not being up for this system is that it takes away somewhat from the massive financial advantage they have.

By: KJ

KJ — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:52:57 +0000

‘Significant majority’ to me implies that maybe everyone except Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea would have been up for it.

Maybe everyone on there, EXCEPT for United.

1- Out of the teams you outlined, United are the only ones capable of producing a “home grown” XI which can reasonably produce results (Includes Rio, Rooney, Scholes, Welbeck, Carrick, Foster…etc)

2- If you look in this ruling, you’ll find that “The definition of home grown is trained for three years under the age of 21 by somebody in the English and Welsh professional system.”

This would open the room for players like O’Shea, Fletcher, Giggs, and even Macheda

So just because United are league winning team, doesnt mean we rely on foreign players as much as everyone else, i.e Liverpool, Chelsea, and Arsenal.

By: Annon

Annon — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:01:41 +0000

I might be wrong but if you have to have 8 players who are “home grown” and under the age of 21 what happens when they turn 21 and no longer help the club with their quota.

Given that there is 17 players in the squad they actually wanted to have, will the 8 be dropped or will every year there be juggling, if one or two of them are good enough, will someone a bit older be forced to leave the club.

I think in the long wrong this will destroy the league, and will make the transfer windows a joke, as clubs have to try and buy young players to fill out a quota, instead of purly focusing on improving their existing squads.

By: Sam Jackson

Sam Jackson — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:05:12 +0000

Nice article. Do you not think this means that the price of the English player will become even more ridiculously inflated?

Neil G, but by removing the limit then surely the top teams just poach the best talent from around the country?

By: neli g

neli g — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:27:45 +0000

although a step in the right direction towards the stated aim of improving youth chances and quality, and englands squad, this betrays a fundamental problem with the simplest solution.

clubs can only sign 90 minutes from the club, but are unrestricted globally. this naturally means that if the requiste talent cant be found within 90 mins, then everywhere else on the planet is likely to have a player who is.

remove the limit, improve the system. duh.