Since Nani arrived, we have moved on permanently, or with a view to a permanent move, 9 or 10 players; and all bar one, Faubert, are British. During that same period we have brought in 7 or 8, all of them foreign. I am all in favour of following Arsene Wenger’s footballing blueprint, but would you be happy if we ended up with no British players in the team?
“What about all the youth coming through?” I hear you say. Well yes we do seem to have some good kids, but their careers are still embryonic and how many good youngsters push on to be the finished article? Noble is a good footballer, but would he make the squad in a top four team? I’m not sure. Collison has had a great year but next season will be harder for him, second season syndrome applies to players as well as teams. Sears for me has not looked like he is going to be a Premiership player. Tomkins looks the real deal but so did Kevin Lock, the first "next Bobby Moore" when he broke into the team. What about the other kids? Well they’re only just starting out and nobody will be more pleased than me if they make it; statistically the odds are against it. Remember Ade Coker and Johnny Ayris?
And talking of the youth team, since Nani arrived we have seen the likes of Bajnar, Grasser, Montano, Ejolfson, Sanchez, Stech and a few others gracing the youth team. All foreigners. Then there is Savio. Would you be happy to see a West Ham squad made up almost exclusively of foreigners? Would that be OK as long as we’re successful? Or is it important that we maintain a British core to the squad? Zola has said that he is committed to the essential Britishness of the club, but he has learned very quickly to say what is expected or what suits his purpose at the time. Does a British "core" simply mean two players, like at Liverpool and Chelsea, and would you be happy with this?
Personally Marty, I support the plans to force clubs to play home grown players. Mind you, with all the foreign lads in the youth team, that could still result in us fielding a Euro 11. As an England fan, I hate that idea!
ReplyDeleteFirst you say that all the young players brought in, with Non-british heritage are succesful. Then that all the young homegrown kids who are coming through are crap. Counting in Noble, Stanislas, Collison, Tomkins....
ReplyDeleteI can't see that, so for me this is not an issue at all. Just silly speculation - check reality!
But if the issue is if we want to to mix talented people from all over the world, I don't mind. Noone can today... hopefully. We will nurture young talent from (East) London and still be able to find good players from Italy, Hungary and/or Ghana or whatever. I guess that's the idea from Nani, Carr and Zola. Looking forward!
Hall, N'Gala, Payne, Stanislas, Widdowson, Collison, Tomkins, Hines, Sears, Noble....even Terry Dixon
ReplyDeletepretty british future team isn't it??
your always gonna have foreign players and i see your point but we also have Parker, Upson, Green, Collins, Gabbidon, Ashton, Cole who can go on for a few more years
We will be in alot better position if the rules change to 6-5 british-foreign players than most teams in the premiership
but i see your point. kind of
That's a relief Rocky, I wouldn't fancy Marty's chances if it came to a fist fight!
ReplyDeletePrince H, great to have Royalty on board. Is Dad still talking to those plants? Are you still smoking them?
Rocky Dixon is Irish not british.
ReplyDeletePrince H, does this qualify this blog for a "by royal appointment"? Probably not as there's a Major question mark against your credentials. Perhaps your middle eastern escapades have left you a little shell shocked as you have clearly misunderstood my first paragraph!
ReplyDeleteI don't think that the majority of top four supporters could care less about where their players come from as most of them do not hail from the areas of the teams they support. But perhaps it is different for us, we don't have glory hunting supporters and most of us have enjoyed youth coming through over the years.
I'm not suggesting that in a year's time we will be mainly foreign but the tendancy so far under Zola has certainly been biased towards of an overseas flavour.
Rocky those players certainly have potential, but we've seen it before. A dozen or so years ago we had an excellent youth team with at least four players tipped for the top. Danny Williamson was sold to Everton for £3M got injured and was never seen again, Matt Holland had a solid if not spectacular career, Michael Basham became a journeyman pro in the lower leagues and a striker with a name like Slade went on to play for Dagenham. Potential is not uncommon, making the step up to regular top flight performer is historically very hard.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Holligan - another who looked like he might but didn't ever. Then there's David Noble, Chris Cohen, Garcia, Adam Newton, Shaun Byrne, Lee Hodges and Manny Omygodhescuptied!
ReplyDeleteBut the tendancy so far under Zola has certainly been biased towards of an overseas flavour. That's why he has used probably more British players than most teams including 8 from the Academy. Barking up the wrong tree there Fanno, sorry I meant Martillo!
ReplyDeleteAnon 14.54 I know who I am and Marty knows who he is. Who are you exactly? Come on, the Klan will still talk to you if you reveal your name. They're not that childish! Are they?
ReplyDelete