Ed999
New Member
Having watched the fairly dull nil-nil draw, and seen England pipped for top place in the opening group, I'm going to risk controversy by asking if I'm the only England fan who thinks the team's performance is suffering due to the now quite limited pool of eligible players who are regularly playing in the Premiership?
Twenty years ago, in 1995, a European court imposed a new law that caused a revolution in football. Previously, clubs were limited in the number of foreign players they could sign, but the so-called 'Bosman ruling' created a free-for-all, by banning the F.A. and the Football League from restricting the number of foreigners who play in the leagues. This has meant fewer and fewer home-born players playing in the English and Scottish leagues, so the prospects for the national teams get worse and worse.
Bosman was a foreign player, who wanted to move from a Belgian club to a French one: so it had absolutely nothing to do with British football.
By ruling the old transfer system illegal, the European court granted footballers freedom of movement.The players naturally went where the money was. Medium-sized clubs could no longer afford to keep their best players, and so the talent began an inexorable flow into the hands of the two or three biggest clubs. Foreign players began to be preferred over British ones, and the game began a long trek towards a state where the National teams had a smaller and smaller pool of players to draw on who were experienced at the top level.
My impression is no one who supports any of the other 89 clubs in the professional leagues wants to continue with a system that gives three or four big-money clubs a financial stranglehold on the English game. In Scotland the position is even worse, with their league traditionally in the financial grip of only two clubs.
This week the opportunity has come up to take back control of our own leagues, and shake off the shackles of the Bosman ruling. We would be free to run our game ourselves, in whatever manner we wish, without the interference of foreign courts, and improve the prospects of the national team, if we vote to leave the EU. Quite a thought!
Twenty years ago, in 1995, a European court imposed a new law that caused a revolution in football. Previously, clubs were limited in the number of foreign players they could sign, but the so-called 'Bosman ruling' created a free-for-all, by banning the F.A. and the Football League from restricting the number of foreigners who play in the leagues. This has meant fewer and fewer home-born players playing in the English and Scottish leagues, so the prospects for the national teams get worse and worse.
Bosman was a foreign player, who wanted to move from a Belgian club to a French one: so it had absolutely nothing to do with British football.
By ruling the old transfer system illegal, the European court granted footballers freedom of movement.The players naturally went where the money was. Medium-sized clubs could no longer afford to keep their best players, and so the talent began an inexorable flow into the hands of the two or three biggest clubs. Foreign players began to be preferred over British ones, and the game began a long trek towards a state where the National teams had a smaller and smaller pool of players to draw on who were experienced at the top level.
My impression is no one who supports any of the other 89 clubs in the professional leagues wants to continue with a system that gives three or four big-money clubs a financial stranglehold on the English game. In Scotland the position is even worse, with their league traditionally in the financial grip of only two clubs.
This week the opportunity has come up to take back control of our own leagues, and shake off the shackles of the Bosman ruling. We would be free to run our game ourselves, in whatever manner we wish, without the interference of foreign courts, and improve the prospects of the national team, if we vote to leave the EU. Quite a thought!
