Sol Campbell says...

[Jools 584]

... that with Britain in the EU ‘mediocre overseas footballers, especially

from Europe (are) crowding out young English and British talent’.He''s right. Isn''t he?

[Mr Angry 2,016]

No he''s wrong.

If British players are good enough they''ll be signed. I don''t think clubs consciously decide to sign foreign players over British ones.

[Nuff Said 5,960]

Given that the value of British players is already artificially inflated, if it was harder to bring in foreigners surely that would only get worse?

[Thirsty Lizard 3,215]

He''s wrong!

If an overseas player is not good enough he''ll soon get dropped - just like any other player. See Ricky Van Wolfswinkel.

If an overseas player is better than what''s here already he''ll improve the home grown players around him. See Tim Klose and Ryan Bennett.

[If wed only kept Howie.. 3]

Of course there is nothing to stop mediocre players from the UK playing for European clubs...

[Tetteys Jig 851]

What a load of shite. If the "mediocre british players" can''t get a game here they should spread their wings and either drop down a level or go abroad.

The high standard throughout the premiership is what makes it so uniquely brilliant.

Regardless, british players are doing great at the moment anyway. This season has seen the likes of vardy, drinkwater, kane, dier, alli, noble, rose, rashford, barkley, stones, smalling, brady all starring for their sides. I think the foreign talent has helped them develop immensely.

What i would say though is that there should be something done at a lower level. Some real no mark but more proven foreigners get signed down there when theres plenty of talented but unproven local youth waiting to be given a go.

[Jools 584]

[quote user="Mr Angry"]No he''s wrong.

If British players are good enough they''ll be signed. I don''t think clubs consciously decide to sign foreign players over British ones.[/quote]For the record, I don''t think leaving the EU would inhibit the importation of EU players. But no one can realistically deny it''s killing the national game.It''s been a great year for the Premiership with the likes of Leicester & Spurs (who both have many home grown players) doing so well and the Chelsea and Man U''s not doing so well.It goes to show that the days of buying the league with a billion pound team are over. You need a good manager and a team that gels.If we stay up we could well do a ''Leicester'' next season.

[Jools 584]

Tettey''s Jig -- I think the foreign talent has helped them develop immensely.Why is it then we use to dominate European competitions throughout the 60''s, 70''s & 80''s?

[TCCANARY 263]

[quote user="julian hudson"]Tettey''s Jig -- I think the foreign talent has helped them develop immensely.

Why is it then we use to dominate European competitions throughout the 60''s, 70''s & 80''s?
[/quote]

 

We didn''t in the 60''s, a bit in the late 70''s and early 80''s but this dominate thing is a bit of a myth.

 

 

[Mr Apples 1,407]

Howie makes a good point...remember when we signed a Scotsman with Bundesliga and Swiss league experience...who now happens to be plying his trade at Livingston F.C.

I give you European legend, Mark Fotheringham.

Apples

[Jools 584]

[quote user="TCCANARY"]

[quote user="julian hudson"]Tettey''s Jig -- I think the foreign talent has helped them develop immensely.Why is it then we use to dominate European competitions throughout the 60''s, 70''s & 80''s?[/quote]

 

We didn''t in the 60''s, a bit in the late 70''s and early 80''s but this dominate thing is a bit of a myth.

 

 

[/quote]Okay, not the 60''s, but it ''aint no myth that English sides totally dominated Europe between 1977 ''til that fateful European ban of 1985.

[Well b back 3,603]

Unfortunately the development of kids over here has been miles behind the development of kids over Europe. Unless you are born in sept / oct / nov you have very little chance of making it over here. There were plenty of opportunities to change this but the English game decided not to go with it.

After saying that the likes of Chelsea, Southampton, Man U and especially Man City are now beginning to change.

[TCCANARY 263]

OK, for about 8 years British team were successful but we didn''t win all of the competitions every year in that period and it was 30 years ago. Football has changed a lot since then.

[Hairy Canary 753]

If we leave the EU then freedom of movement would stop. Footballers from the EU would only be able to play here if they had a work permit (basically they would need to prove that they had a skill that the buying club couldn''t be provided from within). That would stop mediocre foreign (EU) talent - in theory!

[birchfest 401]

I think Jamie Vardy is a good example of if your young, English and good enough, it doesn''t matter what league you start in you can make it to the top!

[Molly Windley 76]

Perhaps young UK talent has been squeezed out from the PL and Championship but the knock on effect of that has been to raise the standards vastly of L1, L2 and the 3 Vanarama Conference Leagues. It`s not all hoofball down there, there are some very good footballing sides which was not the case in the late 1900`s.We assess and scout thousands more potential footballers from a very early age than we ever did  and footballing academies are everywhere. I wonder how many young players NCFC have on their database, would be suprised if its less than 20,000 that have been looked at assessed and referenced. If you have talent and potential you will be spotted. Norwich`s own academy has teams and squads for all the age ranges from 9 years old upwards. How many kids attend PL and Championship academies or sponsored academies?  Of course some will slip through the net, players develop at different rates and ages both physically and mentally but all leagues are scouted and missed gems are picked up.Whilst the number of UK born footballers playing in the top two leagues has gone down due to the numbers recruited from abroad it`s the best of the best that are left. A PL standard player of 5 or 10 years ago is no longer PL standard, the league has moved up a few notches and those players who would have got a spot a few years ago are now Championship level, not PL level. There is a problem bringing through the 18-22 year age bracket which does need an urgent solution but overall the best make it and the average one`s do  not.

[hogesar 10,761]

I get what the OP is saying, even if it''s not strictly true.

I do think it would encourage more clubs to take punts on lower league, british players which would be a plus.

[It's Character Forming 1,204]

I think he''s right and it''s a bad thing for the England team, but is it a bad thing for us as fans ?

 

As the Prem money grows, inevitably more foreign players get sucked in, and the EU makes this easier because there are no barriers to them moving here.  Could we at Norwich have been able to attract a player like Klose in the past ?  And inevitably, there are only so many squad places to go around, so it must be harder for young English players to get into a Prem team.  But the reality is that the standard of players (and of play) in the Prem has improved over the past few years, so as a fan it''s a good thing.

 

If we look back at the 90s, when the Man U team had the generation of Beckham, Neville, Scholes etc etc, the Champions League limited the number of foreign players allowed and I have no doubt this is what allowed that clutch of players to come through.  I can''t see any of our top teams now having a set of young players come through into the first team like that.

 

It''s a puzzle why Prem teams have struggled in the Champions League the past few years - there was a spell when we often had a couple of semi-finalists but no more.  I wonder if it''s because the strength in depth of the Prem means our top teams can''t afford to coast for a lot of their domestic games and focus on the CL, e.g. Barcelona won''t be overly tested in a lot of their domestic games so can focus on the CL, whereas our top teams will have a competitive domestic game almost every week.

[TCCANARY 263]

 

If we look back at the 90s, when the Man U team had the generation of Beckham, Neville, Scholes etc etc, the Champions League limited the number of foreign players allowed and I have no doubt this is what allowed that clutch of players to come through.  I can''t see any of our top teams now having a set of young players come through into the first team like that.

 

 

This isn''t a particularly good example, the Man U kids was a one off, just like Celtic winning the European Cup with players who only came from an area that was 30 mins from Glasgow.

 

   

[mrs miggins 0]

Try telling this to Pochettino, the spurs manager.

If they''re good enough enough, they''re in and it''s not up to clubs in the biggest league in the world to provide talent for our national team, as nice as it would be.

[shaunieboy77 84]

Spurs for example have given English players a chance in the Premier League. Kane , Alli , Walker , Dier , Rose. With more clubs willing to build their teams with good English players ,this can only help our National team.

[YankeeCanary 0]

[quote user="julian hudson"][quote user="Mr Angry"]No he''s wrong.

If British players are good enough they''ll be signed. I don''t think clubs consciously decide to sign foreign players over British ones.[/quote]For the record, I don''t think leaving the EU would inhibit the importation of EU players. But no one can realistically deny it''s killing the national game.It''s been a great year for the Premiership with the likes of Leicester & Spurs (who both have many home grown players) doing so well and the Chelsea and Man U''s not doing so well.It goes to show that the days of buying the league with a billion pound team are over. You need a good manager and a team that gels.If we stay up we could well do a ''Leicester'' next season.[/quote]

Julian, I''m sure you know what you mean but, the manner in which you have written your input ( second sentence ), appears to then be contradicted by your subsequent points.  

[Tetteys Jig 851]

Julian, you got the wrong end of the stick. Perhaps at the top our teams arent the dominant force of old but i meant more how competitive the top level is at the moment. In spain for example, you get the top 2 or 3, 3 or 4 also rans and a pile of rubbish that get beat 9 - 0 by barca every time.

We can go to grounds like the emarites (sp) and not just assume we will get tonked. That is what makes the premiership great. As the poorest club in the league, our foreign imports include a Swedish regular international, a team that usually qualifies for major tournaments, a swiss regular, cameroon international, one of the top african strikers around, no mugs there.

[Tetteys Jig 851]

To clarify, i meant poor as in moneywise. Just noticed how that read!

[Tetteys Jig 851]

[quote user="birchfest"]I think Jamie Vardy is a good example of if your young, English and good enough, it doesn''t matter what league you start in you can make it to the top![/quote]

Don''t even have to be young, Vardy is 28 or 29 years old

[Jools 584]

[quote user="YankeeCanary"][quote user="julian hudson"][quote user="Mr Angry"]No he''s wrong.

If British players are good enough they''ll be signed. I don''t think clubs consciously decide to sign foreign players over British ones.[/quote]For the record, I don''t think leaving the EU would inhibit the importation of EU players. But no one can realistically deny it''s killing the national game.It''s been a great year for the Premiership with the likes of Leicester & Spurs (who both have many home grown players) doing so well and the Chelsea and Man U''s not doing so well.It goes to show that the days of buying the league with a billion pound team are over. You need a good manager and a team that gels.If we stay up we could well do a ''Leicester'' next season.[/quote]

Julian, I''m sure you know what you mean but, the manner in which you have written your input ( second sentence ), appears to then be contradicted by your subsequent points.  

[/quote]Fair point, I''ll try again - ''though I personally don''t think leaving the EU would inhibit the importation of EU players, if there was a chance that it did, I''d be all for Brexit, because the prospect of more English players playing in English leagues would benefit every aspect of English football. . 

[Jools 584]

Tettey''s Jig -- Julian, you got the wrong end of the stick. Perhaps at the top our teams arent the dominant force of old but i meant more how competitive the top level is at the moment. In spain for example, you get the top 2 or 3, 3 or 4 also rans and a pile of rubbish that get beat 9 - 0 by barca every time.

We can go to grounds like the emarites (sp) and not just assume we will get tonked. That is what makes the premiership great. As the poorest club in the league, our foreign imports include a Swedish regular international, a team that usually qualifies for major tournaments, a swiss regular, cameroon international, one of the top african strikers around, no mugs there.I think Spain is a poor example - they have a decent domestic league packed with great domestic players and a superb national team to boot.

[Well b back 3,603]

[quote user="shaunieboy77"]Spurs for example have given English players a chance in the Premier League. Kane , Alli , Walker , Dier , Rose. With more clubs willing to build their teams with good English players ,this can only help our National team.[/quote]

Because football is so results based only the top clubs can bring players like this through. Kane had one of his first chances here but missed a chance and some people went as far to say he was the worst player to ever wear a Norwich shirt. Surrounded by top players you have time and confidence to bed in as you are not necessarily going to lose as you play kids and therefore not have to worry about getting sacked for playing kids if at a big club.

[Tetteys Jig 851]

Take your pick then. Only Bundesliga compares in depth.

[Katie Borkins 1]

[quote user="julian hudson"]... that with Britain in the EU ‘mediocre overseas footballers, especially

from Europe (are) crowding out young English and British talent’.He''s right. Isn''t he?[/quote]

No, he has an anti-Europe agenda in line to become a Tory MP.

He has clearly been advised that Tories love a bit of Europhobia, and as he knows football so well, why not bring the two together in a clusterf*ck of stupidity?