It's now more commonly called the "Barclay’s Premier League" and for good reason as well.
I can't think of a single Premiership club on which every single player is English. Clubs that come close are West Ham with players such as Robert Green and Mark Noble; Manchester United with players like Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney and Tottenham Hotspur boasts a whole lot, with Jermain Defoe, Aaron Lennon, Tom Huddlestone, and Jermain Jenas to name just a few.
When English players from all around the Premiership come together as a national team, they allegedly rank as one of the best in the world. Yet, they’ve brought home no trophies since 1966 due to childish fouls and retaliations resulting in red cards, or even reluctance to search hard enough for talented English footballers.
Spain, Italy, and Germany do well enough as national teams with all their homegrown talent. In some respects these players perform better with their national teams than with England, and so really only a handful of them leave home to go elsewhere.
But England has been an “elsewhere” for a lot of them. Arsene Wenger is a notable culprit, responsible for drawing in outside talent. It was only just 10 years ago that we had English players like the legendary David Seaman, Ray Parlour, Ian Wright, and Tony Adams. But now that Wenger’s taken over, he’s turned an English club into a second French national team.
How many English players are now at Arsenal? One. Theo Walcott. Forget me being a Tottenham Hotspur fan for a moment. THAT is what I don’t like about Arsenal.
Teams like Arsenal and Chelsea have relied too heavily on foreign imports like Shevchenko, Drogba, Adebayor, and Fabregas, and played them too much. So much in fact that when Frank Lampard does play, he's no good for England.
It's no wonder England hasn't won any football competitions. None of them are used to playing football with teammates from the same country.
I’m not saying that foreign players are no good at football, because they are undoubtedly some of the best players ever to kick a ball. All I’m saying is that if it’s going to be called the “English Premier League,” the term should be taken literally.
On an additional note; Not only are foreign players dominating the premiership but also there are plans to bring league matches overseas. Somebody tell me what is going on???
14 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Thomas Kent about 1 year ago
On the back of Capello announcing Englands 30 man squad for their upcoming game, Aston Villa should definatley be mentioned as a counter-point. Gabriel Agbonlahor, Gareth Barry, Scott Carson, Curtis Davies and Ashley Young all got call-ups to the squad.
That being said, I do agree to an extent, there is a negative trend with foreign talent and not enough English. Regardless, there is TONS of talent for the national team, they should have no problem contending for trophies, but somehow they do. Blame the players, blame the press, blame the managers, blame the lack of English players in the top flight, blame whoever you want. Unless we back all the players and the manager that are there, we won't win anything.
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choy kwok about 1 year ago
lol... why don't you name this article "blame arsene for england's failure article"
First of all, you go appoint a foreign coach. Then blame arsene.
Second.. you mention all the english players on the spurs side.. well if thats their excuse for being so high up there on the league table, i'm happier with "foreigners"
3... I thought the tagline for football was to kick out racism?... now you want more english players in every club so that England can do well in the Internationals??? what is that all about...
4..English players cost the world...a managers duty is first and foremost his club and managing his finances for the club...Darren Bent cost some 16mill.. do u think its worth it?? is Santa Cruz not more value for money???
5... Blame the FA for not nurturing young talent in england...
The Premier League covers a global audience..where one is not bound by race, culture and nationalities....
You never hear Brazil complaining... even though most of their players do not play in Brazil....
and just so you know.. the best English youth talent is at Arsenal...
So go find someone else to blame...
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Sheikh Zakaria about 1 year ago
I wil not blame Arsene for lining up all foreigners in his first 11. Such has been the demand of football by the fans that they won't bear the patience of growing their home talents (English)-it does take a lot of time.
The owners will rant at you if you dont win mathce sor trophies-So Arsene may have thought that the English footballers are shite...and he wil go for his French-African combination
No only the FA, but i think most of the EPL managers like Redknapp, Arsene shud be blamed for not nurturing their youths. Arsene has recently claimed that his next gen footballers will be maximum English, and i wll be eager to see how lines them up in may b 5 yrs time..
Brazil dont complain, bcoz they are more dedicated to football than the English players, who always run after money.. Football is their religion...it's more than just a game for the Samab boys...
Best youth talent at Arsenal? Who?? Walcott....he's the most overrated and foul player at Arsenal
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dave hart about 1 year ago
arsenal dont have hardly any english youth talent. i think if you look at west ham the best english youth talent , without west ham producing quality players like Rio ferdinand, Joe cole, michael carrick etc england wouldnt even have a good side and west ham has the most english players in the premier league. but you cant blame arsene wenger for the national team not winning.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
OK Einstein, can you tell me how many English players are playing in other top clubs in Europe. I mean if they are good enough to be in Arsenal, and its just because Arsene dosent want them, I am sure they should be playing at some top club playing in UCL instead of Tottenham right? Face it, the FA dosent have enough at the grass roots level to ensure that England has enough depth in its squad.
At this point only 40% of the first team players in the premier league are English, Even if Arsenal gets 2-3 more English players, how much is that going to tip the scales?
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
sook
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David Jacobs about 1 year ago
????
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David Jacobs about 1 year ago
CHOY:
In response to your points:
1) I personally didn't employ a foreign coach seeing as I am only 16 and not on the Tottenham Hotspur Board. I should've mentioned the lack of English managers too.
2) I never said Tottenham Hotspur were doing well in the premier league. They are doing better now, but I am focusing on how many homegrown players there are in premier league squads.
3) I AM NOT A RACIST! IF I WAS RACIST I'D BE SAYING THAT THERE'S NO PLACE FOR AFRICAN/BRAZILIAN PLAYERS IN ANY SPORTS COMPETITION. I WILL NOW ASK YOU TO TAKE THAT POINT BACK!!!
4) I don't think football should be about money. It should just be about the joy and passion of the game. Also, I do think that Darren Bent cost too much for how badly he's doing at Spurs.
5) I do blame the FA but also talent scouts for not nurturing enough homegrown players.
6) How can the best English youth talent be at Arsenal if they dont get the chance to prove themselves in the senior team???
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
I think the English shoul blame themselves for their troubles. Blame any body but leave out team managers as they are not hired by England and they must walk with their club goals.
The Premier league is exciting to viewers across the globe because of the flair brought in by other nationals. Take them out and you will have a dull English Football league. England does not lack players but results. This is because their squads are not teams and do not train or play together offten.
This is likely to remain the case even if each Premier league club fields only English palyers while the English National Teams do not spend enough time together to bond as a team. As individuals, most of them are sensational for their clubs. We suffer from similar problems in Nigeria where the FA does not seem to understand its responsibility for getting teams preapred well ahead of competitions.
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Simon Williams about 1 year ago
''and classic players such as George Best''
George Best was Northern Irish, not English.
How can we take any of the rest seriously if you didn't even know that???????
That is basic football knowledge.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
At david
First of all m sure that u'll be a manc................and arsenal now have 3 english players...........
As long as arsenal play awesome soccer idon't care a fuck about wat you say.
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David Jacobs about 1 year ago
i am a tottenham hotspur fan. not a manc.
fine you've got walcott, name your other 2 players.
finally, it's onl my opinion and if you don't like it, don't read it.
go bother somebody else!
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
are there any white french players in arsenal?
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Russ Ford about 1 year ago
Hey Choy,
You are aware, are you not, that Brazil is practically a 3rd world country? Do you really think that this argument is about every country fielding home-grown talent? The Brazillians aren't complaining because their starting 11 (not to mention their back-up 22!) are ALL PLAYING IN TOP FLIGHT LEAGUES! You can't really wonder why, when the population of Brazil is 186 million while the U.K. (that's not England, but the whole of the U.K.) has only 60 million (about 50 mil of that is England). Add to that the fact that just about every young city-dwelling Brazillian sees pro football as his only way out of a life of poverty, crime, hunger and early death, and you've got a recipe for... well, the Brazillian national football team!
Sure, there are many reasons that come together to make for English football dissapointments over the last several years, but it is categorically undeniable that top teams like Arsenal, Chelsea and Man. United fielding teams with fewer and fewer Englishmen has contributed significantly to the problem. There's a reason English players cost so much: There are so few of them given the opportunity to develop in top leagues and become good enough for the big teams to field along-side the Drogbas, Schevchenkos, Ronaldos, etc. who are nurtured in other leagues, brought to a point where they're top players and then signed to the premiership.
Yes, we need to get better at the grass-roots, invest more of the billions of pounds football earns for its investors every year in developing programs to identify, train, and nurture young English talents. But if the top team in the Premier League isn't even fielding a single English-Born player for the majority of the season, what kind of message does that send to young English players? Where are the English role-models?
Young people are apathetic enough these days, they don't need an excuse like that to stop them trying to realize their dreams.
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