I was just reading a BBC Sport article about how Gareth is complaining about how the Premier League is to blame, in part, for lower clubs in the football pyramid struggling with their finances because the top teams predominately sign foreign players. When I read the gossip sites surrounding the Premiership I must confess I do wonder if they are ever interested in British born players because the predominant talk is about mainly about European and South American talent with the odd reference (such as Scott) to home grown talent. His argument is that without revenues from selling English talent to the Premier League a major source of valuable revenue has all but disappeared from the balance books and that is the main reason as to why so many Championship sides are facing the FFP wall of sanctions. Does Gareth have a truly valid point or is he just moaning because QPR seem to be constantly on the FFP naughty step? I reckon that there is some validity and sense to his argument, but what could be done to stop the elitism and out of control spending by the Premier League ruining the game further down the ladder? Has the time come where we return to a quota system for foreign players in our leagues or do we just carry on and mind the gap?
The trouble is that currently all teams in the Prem have squads made up predominantly of foreigners, who have greater skills than English players. Premiership teams want to sign the best players to win trophies, and the uncomfortable truth is that not that many are English in the really successful sides. Man City probably have one of the most with English players ? Walker, Grealish, Stones etc ? Really noticeable as to how few English goalkeepers are in the top flight too. The emphasis over the years has changed from there being a lot of Germans, Italians, Portuguese etc in English football and now it seems to be more African, Spanish and South American players. There are also plenty of overseas players in the Championship too, but not as many as in the Prem by far.
I get the signing of top players from abroad is attractive, the key word here being - TOP players. However, PL clubs still, it seems, routinely sign unknown and unproven foreigners from equivalent or lower standards than English/British - or even foreign players from the Championship. I can only assume they don't want Championships clubs to have 'their' money and, therefore, if promoted, potentially have the financial clout to challenge the status quo.
