Oh No! The Big Bad Foreigner Is Coming to Ruin English Football!
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I am so sick and tired of England’s failures on the international stage being blamed on foreigners. Now FIFA president Sepp Blatter wants to challenge the EU laws that prohibit quotas on foreign players.
He says: “’This is a matter of principle and we need to protect the national identity of the football clubs,” and “When you have 11 foreigners in a team, this is not good for the development of football.” He also goes on to say that footballers “are not workers” and therefore shouldn’t be protected by the EU’s labor laws. If they’re not workers, then what exactly are they getting paid for again?
This is the kind of xenophobic fear mongering that I’ve just had enough of. They are too many of them! England doesn’t develop enough good, young players! Ban the foreigners! Brits are good enough for us! It’s Wenger’s fault—he doesn’t start any Englishmen! He should put the success of a national team he doesn’t care about above, you know, doing his job (which is, if you remember, to win games for Arsenal).
Can we please all give this a rest? First of all, the EPL is either the best or second best league in the world and the most popular. This is because the best managers in England try to find the best players, not the best English players, not the best British players, but the best players, period. You put a quota on the number of foreign players, you put a quota on quality.
Also, I won’t get too deep into the moral, political and legal issues of stipulating what employees a business can have based on something so arbitrary as country of origin, but what if I said, for instance, the following: “I think Chelsea has too many black players. It’s affecting the development of our young white players. You should only be able to start two black players on any team.” Would that really be all that much less ridiculous? (Yes, I know there’s no “White Racial Team” or whatever it would be called, but as I’ll try to prove, having more foreigners in the league has almost no effect on the quality of the national squad, so this is really just a prejudiced desire to get rid of those pesky foreigners.)
This is a free market people; if you’re good at your job, you get the best deal for the cheapest price. If you limited the number of foreigners on a team, that would drive the price of Brits even higher than their already ridiculously high levels, forcing teams to pay more for less. Consider for instance, that Martin Petrov cost a little over £4m while Portsmouth was asking for £8m for Matty Taylor’s services.
Taylor is a lot closer to being half as valuable as Petrov than being twice as valuable, but because he’s English, he’s “worth” twice as much money. Now imagine a league where a team has to start, let’s say, four Brits. Then what is Taylor “worth”? £12m? £15m? Where does it end?
I suppose you can make a reasonable argument that people like Wenger have a bias against Brits—he could probably use both Pennant and Bentley right now. But would you really want anything to change at the most beautiful team in the Prem if not the whole world? And where exactly does it say in his job description that, in addition to winning games, he should also be producing young English talent? His job is to make Arsenal the best team possible, simple as that. Helping England doesn’t—and shouldn’t—enter his thought process. Finally, is England really worse because Pennant and Bentley aren’t at Arsenal anymore? Good players find a place to play, pretty much no matter what.
Now, let’s consider the theory that England isn’t developing enough good players, regardless of the reasons behind it. Well, right now, the national team is pretty stacked, with the likes of Gerrard, Rooney, Lampard, Terry, Ferdinand, Hargreaves and Owen.
But I assume you all must mean that there aren’t any good young players coming up then? Right, because the nucleus of Rooney, Lennon, Young, Walcott, Bentley, Agbonlahor, Ashton, Richards, Noble and Taylor is just absolutely atrocious. Surely even Bulgaria must have a better crop of young footballers than that bunch of no talent losers. Honestly, if you got the right coach, England’s U-21 team (including the players already on the senior side) has more than enough talent to qualify for the World Cup. Talent is NOT, repeat is NOT, the problem with England’s international fortunes.
What is the problem? Oh, I’m not really sure. I still think Steve McLaren is a bad coach, no matter how well the most recent friendlies went. They don’t have a good enough goalkeeper (which must be the foreigners’ fault!). Their managers have a history of choosing players because of their names and not because of how they fit into the team. The argument that England’s coaching system doesn’t produce technical players may have some merit (though I fail to see how Beckham, Scholes and David Bentley aren’t “technical”). Also, I think luck, plain and simple, has been a big, if certainly not the only, factor. These international competitions are all cup competitions, and therefore, heavily dependent on having the bounces fall your way, especially in the penalty shootouts.
Anyway, whatever you think the reason is that England has lost so many times of late on the big stage, can we at least agree that it’s not because of a lack of talent, and therefore, not a product of too many players from outside of Britain in the Premiership taking all the opportunities away? It wasn’t when foreigners started entering the Prem in droves that the Three Lions stopped winning big. It had already been a long time since the last World Cup victory. What adding European, South American and African players did do is make the EPL one of the two most exciting leagues in the world, with four of the very best teams in the world, and has actually probably forced British players to get better to keep up.
The simple truth is foreigners have been good, not bad, for the English game, and the campaign to expel them ignores the facts and smacks of xenophobia.
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I think that this is a very good and well-thought out article. I can’t refute any of the points (and I share your opinion on the matter); my only genuine criticism is that the article has hints of Arsenal-centrism, i.e. an attempt from a happy Arsenal fan to justify Arsene Wenger’s policy rather than to interrogate all of the wider issues.
My problem regarding young English players is not that they are not good enough, but that they aren’t trusted enough, due to the immense pressure on each and every result. You get situations in which a club has an injury problem in a particular position (e.g. Chelsea’s centre-back “crisis” last season), and rather than play the talented Worley, there are calls for the club to splash 20 million on another centre back. When exactly are these youngsters going to get a game at a high level?
A couple of points, first, Sepp Blatter is not just talking about England, so you need re-focus the article as if you are using England as an example. You do realize that this is the FIFA president making this statement and nobody representing England, don’t you? Blatter is Swiss, so the tone of the ranting tone of the article kind of lacks sense.
There is a reason Wenger prefers not to use Brits and it’s obviously beyond you.
Carson is a tremendous keeper, miles better than Robbo Crap, but there are reasons that Robinson is kept on board.
I would also like to know who is leading this ‘xenophobic campaign to expel foreigners’? If you think anyone cares what some pundit has to see, you’re way up the creek without a paddle. There is no campaign, it’s all in your head, planted there to distract you from real issues.
By the way, who is ‘you all’?
Stop being a muppet.
sam’s a pool fan with a soft touch for the arsenal
fritz - a rant for a rant? at least you could try to elaborate as much as sam..
Excellent article. English have been (sorry!) shite since 1966, and ‘foreigners’ have only started coming in in the last 10-20 years, so you can draw your own conclusions from that. Apart from the goalkeeper position (where England still have the likes of Foster, Carson and Manny Almunia in a couple of years :D) this England side has the largest amount of quality in recent years.
It’s down to the manager and coaching staff to find the best way to utilise it.
You’ve just completely focussed on Arsenal?? i heard the statement and it wasnt talking about the England sqaud it was talking about making English teams into English teams i think only 5 foreigners in the starting line up is a bit extreme maybe 8? That would mean that atleast 60 British players would be featuring everyweek in the EPL.
The majority of people won’t agree with this but i certainly do and the amount of Legendary English Talent that has came from Liverpool is amazing.
“There is a reason Wenger prefers not to use Brits and it’s obviously beyond you.”
Care to explain? They aren’t as good in bed?
Jason Pereira more than 10 or 15 years ago wasn’t that when england was dominating the Champions League?
This is a brilliant article. The xenophobia is making me sick, so sick I might hurt some people. You’re spot on about that stuff Sam.
On the subject of the England (national team), the reason I think they haven’t won anything since is because they are really crap. Some great individuals but far from best in the world. They are also way way way too over-confident.
Spot on- great article mate, it’s not even undercover how it is perpetuated by both the authorities and media hacks, it’s baseless and crappy- England are shite due to their own failures and not for the sake of ‘johnny foreigners’.
The truth is, I had already written the article before Blatter said anything, so I kind of tacked it on with out really dealing with what he was actually talking about (not just England). That was a mistake.
My point still stands for England though, which is the place where I understand the politics the best. Read “The Reason for England’s Failures Since 1966″ on this site for an example of some of the undercover xenophobia–I’m not saying that one’s as bad as some, but it’s just that the idea is rampant.
I focused on Arsenal because they’re the team that gets the most crap for it, and they don’t deserve even if I now want them to lose every week (as Ahmed pointed out, I’m a Pool fan). I probably should have said something about how the nickname “Spanish Liverpool” has is said so derisively, but c’est la vie.
Dude if they allowed me to vote, this would definitely be my choice. brilliant article man. keep it up!!!
Good article, but the only problem i have is that you think that the increasing number of foreigners isnt a problem at all which is untrue. The problem is, between Rio Rooney Carrick you have roughlyy 75 million pounds spent. That can be contributed to the growing number of foreigners. If you have a cap on the number of foreigners then there will be more british players, and econ 101 teaches you, more the supply, less the price. This will result in a huge drop in the price of british players and an increase in the price of foreign players. Im not saying the english team sucks because of foreigners, man for man they are one of the best teams on paper at the international and U21 level, but all this will do is promote british talent, which isnt too bad a thing either. And if every european league adopts it then it is a little fair i guess. The good players will have to play for the slighlty weaker teams till they get european passports, which also benefits the smaller teams. Im not saying its a flawless plan, but to be honest it does more good than bad. And im sorry, no matter what way you twist it, an english team not playing even one englishman in their starting 11 is disgraceful.
A,
Economics 101 teaches you that the pool of English players to choose from remains the same size, whereas the pool of alternatives (foreigners) grows smaller because of the limit put on them, making the English more expensive as there is higher (forced) demand for them.
Liverpool_Fan,
nothing personal, but didn’t English football fall off at the end of the ’80s after the Heysel disaster forced the clubs out of UEFA competition for 5 years?
Hey ‘Pool fan.
The club sides may have done well over the years but in reality the national side has been shite for the last 40-odd years. Foreign players have only been prominent in the Premier League for the last 10-20 years, and some would say that this England national side is one of the most talented ones in recent memory, so I’d say foreign players in the Premiership have helped rather than hampered the national side.
randy, while the pool of players may remain the same, the opportunities they receive because there is less competition from foreign players mean that a larger number of them will get chances they dont get right now, and that cannot be quantified. There are a whole host of players out there who are good enough at the top level who just dont get the opportunity to showcase themselves. You just have to look at the examples of DJ Campbell and Matt Derbyshire, who were lugging boxes and working in back offices. I dont think United would not have bought nani or andersson if there was a cap, because there are players who the club wanted. But clubs like Arsenal and Liverpool who are investing more and more in foreign players, there are little or no english youth coming through. If benitez could buying tens of useless players every season and shipping them off again, maybe some liverpool youth players would have had the chance to show they can do the job.
randy watson: I meant between 15 years ago and 1966.
Jason Pereira: Yeh i no the national side did crap but im simply pointing out that english players are capable of being the best in europe.
Sam: I was looking for something about “spanish Liverpool” but i was dissapointed
1 foreigner always on the pitch for every team, arsenal are getting seriously out of hand
Mr.A, you are spot on mate. Simple calculation of supply and demands theory should be self explanatory but there seems to be too many non british fans here who fails to see it… they only want to see EPL, especialy arsenal….
whoever wrote this is RACIST.Just because Chelsea has a lot of black TALENTED players who have contributed to their success doesn’t mean that they are overshadowing the young “white” players thats just BS.Black players are always the best e.g PELE HENRY ETO. And also arsenal has a lot of foreigners so what i don’t see the problem this just shows that more eng players should step up to the plate.They are still good English players Lampard,Terry Wright Phillips,Gerrard,joe cole and the list goes on.
B-muny are you trying to make a subtle joke or are you really that stupid? The author used the example of how wrong it would be to dislike a team because they have a lot of black players to demonstrate that it is also wrong to dislike a team because it has a lot of foreign players. Duh. Learn to read and analyze.
Sepp Blatter is a acomplete joke. Wenger put the whole thing into perspective. It’s not a managers job to make sure England become the worlds best national team, it’s their job to make sure their team is the worlds best team, the international levels job is the England Managers.
Todays game is a joke, for example Shorey was only 2mil before his England debut, after he got his first cap, he was rated at 8mil by Steve Coppell, not that he’s a stupid man but he really he exagerating a sub-average player.
For Fritz who said Wenger doesn’t develop or sign English players, his reason is to build a good team, if the English player aint as good as a French player, who would you pick? This isn’t a race/nationality thing at all, this is just people are bitter that England are failing miserably in Europe/World cups, they think they need more players developed, if they can’t make it through the academy with flying colours, any smart coach wouldn’t play him.
Mr A, you harp on quite alot about BRITISH talent, as if a team which fields 11 Northern Irish or Scottish players will somehow benefit the ENGLISH game and team more than a club which fields 11 french players. Could you explain this without sounding xenophobic?
Also, forgot to point out that, for people who said Wenger isn’t developing British talent, I’d like to serve you a big cup of shut the F**K up, stop speaking out of your asses.
Look at the carling cup side that played Newcastle, he fielded over 5 British players, all of whom he believes in, in a few years, they will break into the first team because they’re talented, unlike some of the british players already in EPL teams who suck real bad.
What would be the state of world soccer be like if talent like Drogba, Adebayor, and Benjani never made it out of West Africa. The Premier League is so popular because the best in the world play in the Premier League. If foreigners playing in domestic leagues would be restricted, it would only serve to lower the quality of play in the English, Spanish and Italian leagues. This is a classic case of trying to lower the standard of quality instead of raising quality in other leagues.
For the English, if you want English football played by English, watch some Championship or League One games. The EPL is a worldwide league at this point. It’s a better league because of it.
Nice article sam. England hasnt won anything in the last 40 yrs cos they are shyte. The media has done the perfect job of hyping their abilities and the players beleive the crap.Dont blame England’s woes on foreigners.
Sam - did I somehow inspire you to write your article with my contribution on foreigners in England? I hope I did.
I think your article is well written and all that, but I’m pretty sure, your arguments are mistaken.
Of course Arsene Wenger does the job, he’s been hired to do. He’s hired to win trophies with Arsenal, and he clearly thinks, foreign players are the best helpers he can get to do this for him. The problem is, as I see it, that Wenger is a foreigner himself and therefore prefers players with qualities more cherished in his homeland (France). That leaves an entire club not producing any English talent, and you can argue all you want, but your argument will always bite itself in the ass: Wenger is hired to do his job, yes, but he’s still a foreigner. And yes he’s not hired to produce English talent, and he doesn’t… but isn’t it bad for the development of English footballers regardless of his job description?
I think you miss the point in the debate a little bit. It’s not a matter of whether the foreigners ruin the EPL, because they clearly don’t, since the EPL is now the most beloved league in the world. It’s a matter of the foreigners ruining the development of English footballers, because there are not enough talent coming through the ranks due to foreign influence and players.
Of course you can name quite a few good English players, even young ones. But the number of really qualified English players for the future is very low considering the size of the country. Italy, Spain (who have other issues), France, Argentina, Brazil can all produce at least 2 teams of really high quality…England struggle to find 1, and it won’t change anytime soon.
And naturally you can argue that luck (or lack of luck) has played its part in England not winning, but the thing is… England hasn’t even come close for a really long time. Can one team really find bad luck (or lack of luck) so many times, when other countries of similar size once in a while are lucky enough to go all the way.
I think it’s reasonable to argue that England hasn’t got the sufficient amount of talent, and that the talent there is isn’t varied enough to go all the way.
[...] If the topic of Foreigners in the English Premiership interests you, check out Sam Adriance’s “Oh No! The Big Bad Foreigner Is Coming to Ruin English Football!” excellent discussion on the subject, here on Soccerlens. srExecute(); Related Items from [...]
Well, I’m getting into this discussion late but, to me the bottomline is Professional Football is a business. A manager is paid to put the best damn team on the pitch that’s it. No matter English or Foreigner … if you perform better than the other guy you get the job. Do you see the CBF bitchin about all the other leagues taking their talent. No, because they still come back and get stuck in for their country. So, the free market is good and you should consider yourself lucky if in the UK having the Premiership. Producing English talent is up to the FA and its a completely different issue IMO. If the size of country card is gonna be thrown, then were is Russia, China & USA. As an American, I put our national performance accountability totally on the federation shoulders. Just thought I’d thrown in something. Cheers!
IMO England not doing well has to do with
1) Coaching quality
2) Tactical know how
3) Fear (Media phobia)
I would think this same squad of english player will go on and win major tournaments if you appoint manager like (Wenger, Mourinho, etc..) and give them at least two full month to work with the players.
It got nothing to do with foreigners in EPL.
The other flip of the coin regarding foreigners:
You always hear about United, Arsenal, Chelsea, etc raiding other ‘countries’ for their young up-and-coming talent. I can’t recall ever reading about another country’s clubs eg. Barca, milan, Madrid, etc raiding England for its young up-and-coming talent? Why is that?
One possible reason Karl? English players notoriously don’t do well abroad. See Hugo Steckelmacher’s discussion on the subject.