“They think it’s all over. It is now.” These are the
immortal words of Kenneth Wolstenholme that symbolise the greatest moment in
English football history - the day we won the World Cup on home soil and beat
the Germans (again). England were truly the best team in the world.
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| 1966 World Cup Winners |
46 years on and the achievement of the team of 66’ has yet
to be emulated by any England team, with semi-final appearances at Italia 90’
and Euro 96 being the best showings from an England team. 14 different managers
(well 13 different managers and 1 Steve McLaren, whatever the hell he was) have
taken the helm since the great Sir Alf Ramsey but not one of them has been able
to find a winning formula.
England have always had the individual players to go all the
way. When you think of the likes of Gary Lineker, Stuart Pearce, John Barnes,
and the legend that is Gazza. Even the so called ‘Golden Generation’ of the
likes of Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham, Scholes, Ferdinand and Owen were and still
are fantastic players. But even when these players were in the team, there was
always something that went wrong. More often than not it goes wrong from 12
yards. England have lost on penalties more times than Katie Price has sold
herself to Heat Magazine. In more recent times there was the disaster that was
the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, and the stale 4-4-2 of 2010. And even now,
England have struggled to even obtain a single point from Ukraine and Poland in
the current qualifying group for Rio 2014. There is always something that
messes it all up. Always. Although it pains me to do so, I’m going to come out
and say what I’m sure many England fans have been thinking. England will never
win the World Cup again.
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| 94% of Brazilian League players are Brazilian |
Consider this. Last season in the Premier league,
approximately 36% of the players who played in the league were English. Compare
this to the La Liga where the percentage of Spaniards in the league was
approximately 63%. In Serie A, the percentage of Italians was around 54%. In
the German Bundesliga, the percentage of Germans was around 51%. In France the
percentage was around 60%, Holland was around 64%, Argentina was around 90% and
Brazil was around 94%.
Sorry to bombard you with statistics but it helps make my
point. Out of all the major nations, England has the lowest percentage of its
own players playing. It is no coincidence that these teams generally do better
than England in major competitions. The gulf in class between England and these
teams is the biggest it has been. This was evident when England played Germany
in the World Cup in South America. Lampard disallowed goal aside, England were
roundly beaten.
The solution to closing the gap seems obvious.
There seems
to be a strong correlation between the amount of home grown players in a nation
and how well said nation does in major competitions. So the seemingly logical
thing to do is limit the number of foreign players in the Premier League. It
will enable England to develop a unique style of play instead of trying to
incorporate the best bits of all countries, and judging by other nations
England will perform better in major tournaments, and there will be a greater
emphasis on the development of youth. (This has been introduced slowly through
the home-grown player rule, but I think that if someone like Cesc Fabregas is
classed as home grown then it defeats the purpose.) It would be better for
everyone wouldn’t it?
No. The foreign players are what help make the Premier
League what it is. They add an exciting dimension to the English game and give
fans something to cheer about. Imagine if we had never seen the likes of
Cristiano Ronaldo grace the Premier League? Or we never heard chants as
brilliant albeit slightly stereotypical as the ‘Park Park’ chant used to
profile Koreans and offend Scousers? The Premier League would be a lot more
boring without Luis Suarez. Joey Barton and John Terry can’t carry the burden
of hatred by themselves. They need help being racist to players across the league
and Suarez fits that cuntish description.
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| What an awful, awful man |
So by limiting the foreigners, the quality of the league is
also limited and the Premier League would cease to be the greatest in the
world. (And the members of the BNP would all jizz themselves) But doing so seems to be a way to bridge the chasm between England and
the world’s top nations. Seems like a pretty difficult decision needs to be
made. Do we sacrifice the standard of the English game in order to achieve
international glory?
In my opinion, no way in hell. Most English football fans
would put their clubs before the national team every day of the week and I am among
this majority.
I think people need to accept the fact that England
will disappoint. So that when they inevitably do, it won’t come as such a kick
in the nether regions. I would rather that the Premier League retains its status as the best league in the world week in week out rather than go for
international glory that will end in bitter disappointment every two years. But
that’s just me. It looks clear that if we are to compete with the best, then we
have to try and match other nations in terms of the figures above. But I really
do believe that if that does happen, the Premier League will suffer. So a
choice has to be made. An exciting, more entertaining Premier League, or a
thriving national team. It seems that like John Terry and controversy, one
cannot exist without the other.
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