An interesting historical view on football finance. This guy is rapidly turning into the real football fans' guru. "The failure of the England team to improve is a visible consequence of a sport divided and confused about its purpose and priorities. The national game was never reshaped with the England team at its apex, as the FA had wanted; the top clubs, meanwhile, are more powerful than ever. Many argue that the principal problem is the prevalence of overseas players in the Premier League, crowding out young local players who donât get the chance to gain experience at the top clubs. Only 30 per cent of Premier League players are English, whereas around 70 per cent of the players in the top leagues in Spain, Italy and Germany are qualified to play for those countries. But just as significant may be that the Premier League has failed to develop a strong English coaching culture, relying at the top on European coaches and Ferguson, a Scot. Little of this is likely to change as the new season gets underway. The national teamâs hesitant efforts in the summer will, along with the gameâs wider problems, struggle for attention amid the tumultuous weekly dramas of the Premier League." http://www.lrb.co.uk/v34/n16/david-conn/follow-the-money
I heard a rumour that Murdoch insists premier league teams are made up of 70% foreign players as part of his premier league payment package in attempt to attract more viewers from around the world to pay for his TV packages to watch their favourite players in action. Maybe not too far from the truth
20 yaers ago we were ok to good as a national team, the last time we were really any good was that 2-2 draw against Argentina in '98. Maybe Hodgson can do something, I don't think we'll win anything in the next few years but as long as thise idiots at the FA don't start get their heads up their arses expecting us to win things then maybe we are starting to go in a more positive direction!
David Conn reporting on us. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/dav...ll-city-finances-russell-bartlett?INTCMP=SRCH http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/nov/04/russell-bartlett-hull-city-cash?INTCMP=SRCH http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/dav...1/hull-city-accounts-adam-pearson?INTCMP=SRCH http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/mar/19/hull-city-portsmouth-finances?INTCMP=SRCH http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/mar/19/hull-city-portsmouth-finances?INTCMP=SRCH
interesting semi-conclusion in that our problem isn't necessarily too many foreign players, its ultimately too many foreign coaches picking what they know best . Perhaps it's catch 22 as the Murdoch League encourages our most promising home grown ex-pros to take the easy route into punditry rather than coaching at expense of the traditional English game!
I know it seems in fashion to blame Murdoch and Sky for our football failure but we haven't won anything since 1966, and Sky wasn't around for years and years after that. So what excuse did we use before?
It has been said that you can either have a strong national team, or a strong national league - not both. To be honest, I think that I prefer the strong national league.
For years England have quite arrogantly relied on passion and the 'bulldog spirit' while other countries have concentrated on improving their technical ability. Now they are also improving their spirit on top of that ability, but it will take us decades to catch up technically.
So Rupert Murdoch forces our Premier League teams to employ foreign players and managers and its all his fault England suck? Nothing to do with the FA or the owners of the clubs then?
That's a far better point than just saying too many foreign players mean English players don't get picked. If they're not getting picked it's cos they aren't good enough, nothing to do with nationality.
But at the same time, when a big club is lacking up front, how often do you see them giving a 20 year old striker their competitive debut instead of going and buying someone, quite often from abroad, nowadays?
You all slag it off but hand on heart, how many of you subscibe to Sky Sports? Come on - seriously, do you or dont you? I'd be interested to know. If you're part of the problem you're not part of the solution and if EVERYONE suddenly ended their subscription the Premier League and Sky might do something about it. I have never subscribed to Sky Sports and never plan on doing so.
