A majority of EPL clubs have agreed to a new rule which means that the players selected for each EPL game (including those on the bench) must include a set number of “home-grown” players.
Uefa already requires that clubs must have eight homegrown players in their squads of 25 nominated for the tournament. The Football League requires four homegrown players in the matchday squad.
Sepp Blatter, president of Bribary-Fifa (the world’s governing body) wants a 6+5 rule which is against European Union law. (“We’ve never complied with government laws before,” he said in an exclusive made up interview with Untold Arsenal, “I don’t see why we should start now.”)
The culture secretary, Andy Burnham, has (honestly) asked for action on this, while wondering how to spend the (and I am not making this up) £16,500 expenses claim he has got from the Commons supposedly to renovate a new London flat. He was last seen wearing at £19.99 bath robe be bought from Ikea in 2007 that was also claimed for at the tax payer’s expense. (It’s all true). (The Committee of Public Safety which is investigating the matter has suggested he boil the robe in oil, with him still inside it).
Homegrown means players who have trained at a club for three years between 16 and 21. So that means Cesc Fábregas, Clichy, and other Englishmen like that. Wilshere doesn’t qualify because you have to be 19 to be counted. Ramsey who is Welsh, will be counted in two years. Denilson qualifies. Pat Rice would qualify if he felt like it.
Would you like to write an Untold Arsenal article? I’d be happy to hand over the column for a day if you would. There’s no restriction on what you can say except that obviously it needs to be legal, and it must not be bland or boring or dull.
The bland bit is important – I have had a number of items submitted to me, but they often read like overviews of Arsenal for the general reader, rather than cutting edge insight for the well-informed and highly articulate Arsenal fanatic. (Yeah, well, you know, I try).
If you would like to do a piece, please email me to Tony at hamilton-house.com (not on the comments section) with a very brief outline of what you want to say.
(c) Tony Attwood 2009
It is about time that The Premier League got off their collective backsides and did something proactive in the face of the ever-growing cold war campaign being waged by Sepp Bladder and Michelle Platini.
Anybody who doesn’t get that these proposed new rules are designed to handicap the Premier League and english football in general so that UEFA’s beloved league in Italy can get a much needed advantage transplant.
I’m fairly certain that this new proposal fromthe Premier League is cosmetic at best and would require almost no changes from any of the primary players in the league. However, it will be seen by the EU as a non-nationalist, legal template for compromise and compromise is at the heart of everything the EU does.
(unless they are dealing with Ireland saying ‘no’ to the Lisbon Treaty.)
All in all a clever move and my estimation of Scudamore has just gone up albeit from an initial low starting position and not very far hehe.
You’re not planning retirement anytime soon I hope Tony?;-)
Given the high level of intelligent comment and retort here, I suspect that you will have a queue forming in your inbox.
I am still trying to work out Terrance: are you Irish, or anti-Irish?
Tony
It is high time the powers that be relinquish their positions on their high horses. For too long now they have been trying to find a way to make their poor domestic national teams better. The Prem in particular has realized that England has “underachieved” (arguably). It is the fault of the FA that England has been such a terrible national team. Their inability to adapt to the changing styles and trends in continental football has put most English players on the middle rung of favourability for top level football. The FA’s inability to establish an English version of the Clairefontaine academy has put England in a sort of footballing void for the last 30 or 40 years. I think Blatter and Platini are trying to be politically correct in using the term “home grown” when in reality they mean “English”. It is no secret that they have a resentment towards English teams dominating football with a large roster of foreign players. This is just one measure they’ve been planning for a long time to break the recent status quo and it is quite a disgusting move on their part.
Irish mate!
Posting to you from Limerick city no less.
I should point out that having traveled extensively I don’t think that I could ever be described as anti any particular people but anti an individual I would excell at hehe!
Michel Platini for example. I love France, the french, their women, their food, their wine, the riviera and the list goes on but on a bad day,I would happily set Michel Platini on fire and toss him over The Cliffs of Moher! On a good day I’d just ducktape him to the front of the TGV* from Paris to London.
He did say some very nasty things about Arsene however and that is a big no-no for me.
(*Train a Grande Vitesse.)
By the by, have you seen that the first blow has been struck in the Arsenal billionaire Director edition of CELEBRITY DEATHMATCH!!
Alisher sneakily offered to reduce some of the club debt and stated that raising ticket prices was not the way.
1 The board cannot accept any money this way.
2 Nothing is for nothing
3 it is cheap mob-appeasing at its very worst
4 He knows that the board wont accept it so it costs him nothing.
In a way it is actually diabolically clever because to the great unwashed mob of malcontents currently out there, who think only in trophy terms, it will seem like a genuine offer and I’ll bet there will be certain blogs(not very good ones) that will call for the board to take the offer etc.
The problem for Stan is that now there will be pressure for him to respond in some manner because now it is becoming a political game. Anybody who is interested should look up a guy by the name of Anschutz who is an associate of Stan’s and of equal stature both financially and within the sports franchise world.
Do not be surprised if you see him purchase Lady Nina Bracewell’s shares or possibly an option on them(given she claims she isn’t selling) This would be a very good thing and would effectively guarantee the plural nature of ownership at Arsenal.