The '6 and 5' rule

May 30, 2008, 6:12 PM

It's still only a plan, but now it has never looked more than likely that teams will be forced to field home grown players in the coming years. FIFA's plans for teams to have a minimum of 6 home-nationality players is getting support from FA's around the world, and could be introduced in as little as two years.

Now, I understand the reasoning behind it, but that's more than half the team. Why not start with just three home players, and slowly build it up over the years? That gives the youth team players much more time to mature into quality players without the pressure being thrust upon them. It'll be interesting to see how this affects the English game if it happens, and not in the good interesting way. =/

May 30, 2008, 6:47 PM

It's a stupid idea trying for 5/6 straight away, some teams have hardly any English players anyway. But like yourself I can see the reasoning behind it, it wouldn't affect us really because we've had 19 England internationals in one season (U21/Senior) and we have the joint top most English players in the league.

Also, with Skippy gone then Turnbull may be in goal which leads to us having around 6 already in our starting XI:
Turnbull/Young/Wheater/Taylor/Downing and O'Neil or Jinky.

However, what he's trying to accomplish is near mission impossible, I mean this season we averaged something like 5.34 English starters per game as well as being joint top...so if we are on the border line of 5 per game then it is going to affect the other 17/18 clubs massively.

May 30, 2008, 7:19 PM

Actually this rule is nowhere near being implemented yet, the EU has pointed out it flies in the face of their laws regarding employment.

As an Arsenal fan I'm very biased but I think it's a stupid idea. I couldn't give two hoots about the nationality of the players in the team I support, I just want to see them win. I don't see why we should be forced to field a certain number of English players to satisfy Sepp Blatter's whims.

May 30, 2008, 7:23 PM

I couldn't give a damn, what was more harrowing to me is that the Champions League final was more like Russia (Abbramovich) vs USA (Glazers).

I think more should be done to ensure that clubs spend plenty money on their youth systems rather than attempting to magic up 5 - 6 homegrown players from nowhere.

May 30, 2008, 9:29 PM

I think more than anything this new rule will help to strengthen football around the world.

It will be forcing clubs to put their low-level national players on the field and improve their skills as footballers, this will make national sides a hell of a lot stronger.

It will also help stop national sides like England, Holland and Spain from fading out of the picture.

I'm all for this rule if it helps to fortify English football at national level.

May 30, 2008, 9:37 PM

It will make little to no difference to the England national side, and it's nonsense to think otherwise. As has been pointed out repeatedly England didn't have many foreign players in the 1970s and 1980s and the team then was even worse then than it is now, failing to qualify for successive World Cups amongst other things. Foreign players in the Premiership has nothing to do with England's current failings.

May 30, 2008, 9:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by charliepanayi

As an Arsenal fan I'm very biased but I think it's a stupid idea. I couldn't give two hoots about the nationality of the players in the team I support, I just want to see them win. I don't see why we should be forced to field a certain number of English players to satisfy Sepp Blatter's whims.

That's pretty much my huge concern. The rest of the top 4 can probably just about cope with that rule, but Arsenal only have Walcott who sees regular action, though we could stretch as far as playing Justin Hoyte... =/

Quote:

Originally Posted by Casanova

I think more than anything this new rule will help to strengthen football around the world.

It will be forcing clubs to put their low-level national players on the field and improve their skills as footballers, this will make national sides a hell of a lot stronger.

It will also help stop national sides like England, Holland and Spain from fading out of the picture.

I'm all for this rule if it helps to fortify English football at national level.

I think it'll do the total opposite. Clubs are going to be forced to not play their strongest team, and it's probably just going to mean that any decent English players that do come through will be over-priced even more so than they already are. Over time it might work out, but for now it's the stupidest thing that Sepp Blatter has ever proposed.

May 30, 2008, 9:58 PM

And considering the stuff Sepp Blatter has come up with in the past, that's saying something!

May 31, 2008, 6:15 PM

I'm just trying to be a little more optimistic about it, assessing the probable long-term effects - if you will.

Over time this rule could prove to be useful but I think the unpredictability factor will play a big part in this rule not being implemented, because I honestly don't think it will be implemented.