England's Demise: Whose fault is it anyway?

An England team containing several players labelled as the ‘Golden generation’ failed miserably this week to qualify for Euro 2008 from a distinctly average group. Fans from the game’s formative nation will be forced to sit through meaningless internationals next summer. We will have to settle to be entertained by insipid sides such as Poland, Greece, Austria and Switzerland with England absent from international competition for the first time since 1994.

In the taught, era-defining few days before the culmination of England’s disastrous qualifying attempt, mumblings over the quality of the national side and the apparent limited pool of English talent have rumbled on. It seems everyone has an opinion on the issue, including former FA Technical Director Howard Wilkinson, UEFA President Michel Platini. The issue has even reignited the feud between Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson - although this doesn’t take much. The blame for the current dearth in English talent (which can also be attributed to a failure by national scouts and coaching staff to be brave enough to take gambles with new players) has been placed on the increasing number of foreign players earning their trade in the Premier League. Is this right though? Or are we just looking for new scapegoats?

Familiar Story
This debate is not a new area of contention and has been evident ever since the formation of the Premier League in 1992, when the substantial economical boost in English football made it an attractive option for overseas players. Not for the first time too, there have this week been renewed calls for installing a ‘cap’ on the number of foreign players within each club and starting eleven. Back in the early 90s, restrictions on non-English players within starting 11s severely weakened English clubs in Europe. Man Utd in particular were torn apart by teams like Barcelona because occasionally they had to sacrifice players like Peter Schmeichel and Eric Cantona to stay within quotas. This experience should provide for a better structured cap this time around but is a warning as to the negative effects that could accompany it.

The whole idea of a ‘cap’ is to protect the national game and provide young English talent the opportunity of regular first team football to assist their development. Last week, after naming his latest squad Steve McClaren complained about the lack of English players competing regularly in the Premier League when only 38 players were involved in the previous weekend’s action. There are either two ways of viewing the impact of a proposed foreign player cap.

The Two Views
First, there is the Alex Ferguson and Howard Wilkinson camp, who feel that Premier League club’s preference to sign players from abroad, both established and young talent alike, limits chances for home-grown talent to develop and damages youth academies. Ferguson believes an increase in home-based players at the top clubs in England would be ‘good for the game’. The national side would benefit from English players playing regularly at the highest standard. At present several members of the current England squad, such as Shawn Wright-Phillips, Wayne Bridge, Jermaine Defoe and Joe Cole are not guaranteed starting places with their club sides. From the top four, Liverpool and Arsenal in particular field very few English players in their first choice 11. Ferguson supports the idea but admits it would be difficult to pass legislation, ‘I totally agree but it would be a problem for a club like Arsenal. That’s why they’ll protest the loudest.’ Man Utd’s team’s best players are pre-dominantly foreign (Ronaldo, Tevez, Vidic, Van der Sar) and he has bought mostly overseas players of late (Nani, Anderson). Ferguson’s latest comments must be tempered then with the possibility that he may simply be providing the kindling to stoke the fires in his nemesis at Arsenal.

With increased financial value afforded in the Premier League’s current climate to every point won and lost, managers are also less willing to take gambles on youngsters and give them the playing time needed to progress at the top level. Wilkinson says, ‘Because of the massive money coming into the game clubs are able to recruit from all over the world…youth development is no longer seen as a priority and it will impact on the national team if we don’t have players coming through from the academies.’

In contrast, there is the Arsene Wenger camp, who believes the English game has benefited greatly from the introduction of foreign players because they educated and increased the quality at club level. Before the advent of overseas players, English defences, at club level and internationally, were often bamboozled and bewildered by pieces of trickery and skill, and failed to cope with continental formations. Youngsters at English clubs have undoubtedly benefited from world class players coming to England. Towards the late 90s, as the Premier League became rapidly lucrative, initially it became a retirement home for ageing foreign stars looking for their last big pay-day. The likes of Gianfranco Zola and Fabrizio Ravanelli may have enjoyed the financial package on offer, but they also acted as great mentors for young English players. As an example, John Terry at Chelsea was taken under the wing of Marcel Desailly to great effect, while Dennis Bergkamp at Arsenal mentored David Bentley – both players are now England internationals, Terry the captain. Wenger says, ‘If you are in a better class you improve quicker and you shouldn’t put the criteria just down to producing local players.’ It seems that if you are good enough, the likes of John Terry and Steven Gerrard will come through regardless. What Wenger’s theory does not account for is players from the next tier of quality that, as a result from competition from abroad, will be pushed down to lower league clubs and not fulfil their potential.

Hierarchy Eroded
The media and FA are desperately searching for whom and what to blame after England’s poor showing in Euro 2008 qualifying. Ultimately it was the manager’s fault for not getting the best out of players with world-class reputations and also the players’ responsibility for taking the group for granted. Worldwide attention received by the Premier League has massaged the egos within the squad to the point where several personnel are considered by fans and also players themselves, as being better than they actually are. Quality of back-up players when England was hit with injuries to defenders Terry and Rio Ferdinand and strikers Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney was evidently poor. Coming, as they did, from supposedly the greatest league in the world, we are entitled to ask why?

The Premier League may have been improved by foreign skill, technique and movement but, when it reaches the level where there are more overseas players in the top flight than home-grown, the benefits no longer exist and the production line of English talent judders to a halt. It should come as no surprise when nations like Croatia beat England home and away. They have a squad who play football in the best leagues in Europe, several in England (Niko Kranjcar, Vedran Corluka, Eduardo) and because of this, in terms of quality they have caught up with traditionally dominant nations like England.

A Solution?
Much as it pains me, both as an Arsenal fan, and what may also be a knee-jerk reaction to England’s recent elimination, I would have to agree with the proposal of introducing the ‘cap’. The idea could be trialled in cup competition initially, perhaps the Carling or FA Cup, to see if it is workable. A stipulation of playing at least 4 English players in a starting 11 would be fair, and feasible to most clubs. From hear it could then be introduced into the Premier League and although it would provide a major shake up, with many foreign players having to leave the league as a result, the England side would be strengthened significantly. The pool of players involved in regular top flight competition would be much wider, academies would see a vast upturn in success, and we could go back to blaming the England manager when we screw up against the rest of the world.