The English Premier League stands out among football leagues in the world. It is widely known for fast paced football, it has some of the most skillful players from around the world and its clubs are characterized by passion for football. The English Premier League was established when a total of ten clubs split away from the Football League (Exall 2007, 11). Before the split, there were many revenue related problems associated with the Football League Management. Revenue management related misunderstandings prompted the split and eventual formation of the English Premier League.
There was a time when English players also, massively, went abroad as professionals. In the 1980s Serie A of Italy and La Liga of Spain were the most prestigious leagues in the world. It was until the 1990s that the English Premier League started it’s ascending to glory (Exall 2007, 16). Much of its successes could be associated with the aggressive incorporating of internationals into the team. The league clubs enjoy freedom of signing as many players, from anywhere in the world as they deem fit. The clubs are also free to pay their players as much as they wish; there are no squad restrictions of any sort.
The English Premiership currently enjoys a global following (Higham & Hinch 2009, 19). This following results, largely, from the presence of many foreign players in England. Arsenal has a great following in France and many French speaking countries because of the presence of many French men and Africans with a French connection. Chelsea necessarily finds great following in some African states because of the likes of Essien and Drogba. The Russians will closely follow and pride in the exploits of Arshavin at arsenal. The Chinese may easily follow Manchester United because of Park. The presence of foreign players generally have improved the standings of the English premier league.
The phenomenon of foreign players became prominent around the end of 1990s (Exall 2007, 26). It is around such time that many team managers started scouting and bringing in foreign players in droves. The option to scout for foreign players was pegged on the fact that English players had become too overpriced. Clubs keen on saving money found cheap alternatives in countries like Brazil.
Foreign signings continued until recent happenings started to raise eyebrows towards the practice. England, for example, did not qualify for Euro 2008. This angered many fans in England. It is ironical that the country that has the most exciting but also most expensive league in the world cannot play ball to match other boys. Close scrutiny shows that apart from the ageing many, England does not have any young talented professionals in its league.
Some analysts point out the inflation of foreign players in the English Premier League is the reason why the England national team plays dismally. In the recent past, according to Major League Charts (2009), arsenal has stood out as the team with least number of Englishmen. Recently, it is reported on the Major League Charts (2009) that they had a number of outings without any local or English player on the squad. Teams like arsenal no longer have more than three Englishmen in their squad. It is in the face of such like developments that a UEFA is planning to enforce a requirement that each team includes a given number of local or home players in its squad always. According to the Major League Charts (2009), the number of English players in English League games fell below 50% from season 2001 to 2002.
Globalization is put forward as one of the major drivers behind increased foreign signings in the European Leagues (Higham & Hinch 2009, 41). Globalization is driven by New Media technologies and transport (Higham & Hinch 2009, 3). New Media has enabled people in most countries to be able to access English Sporting Events either via cable television or internet. Globalization also means that people can travel around more easily. Therefore, although overpricing of English players was the trigger, easy access to information and places from where players could be found led to foreign player inflation in the English Premier League.
The inflation of foreign players in the English Premier League has also been exacerbated by foreighn ownership (Exall 2007, 22). Recently, the whole world was stunned when a group of Abu Dhabi businessmen bought Manchester City at a whooping two hundred million pounds. Apart from the Abu Dhabi consortium, Chinese, Russian, Nigerian and other international business moguls have continuously maneuvered to have a share in the English premier league clubs. According to Hutton (2008) England has not protected its sovereignty well enough. He explains that sovereignty is more profound than self governance; it has much to do with who controls the corporations or companies in a country (Hutton, 2008). English Club Ownership largely depends on free trade mechanisms. Free trade is one of the basic tenets of capitalism. As a result of free trade mechanisms, Chelsea ended up in the hands of Roman Abramovich, Aston Villa is owned by Randy Lerner, Manchester United is owned by American Malcolm Glazer and recently Manchester city went to a consortium of Abu Dhabi businessmen (Hutton 2008).
Free trade mechanisms provide that those who have control over means of production or economic apparatus continue to amass at the expense of the general public. This kind of culture lead to subverting of national interest to individual’s interests as is the case in football. There is no focus on developing talent but rather putting together the dream team that will bring in fans, fame, and money. The foreign owners are interested in business or profits i.e. the club has to win or play flashy football so as to attract fans. The huge focus on profits is likely to defeat other football concerns like developing talent. The foreign owner has little interest in the future of national teams or the clubs themselves. What they focus on are immediate returns (Stewart 2007, 48). Due to this continued focus on immediate returns, the youthful players are never given a chance in premiership matches. It is the usual ageing but trusted players that are fielded always. There are youth development schemes; however, the youths in the academies are never given a chance (Hutton 2008).
The foreign owners are not to blame for their focus on short term results (Taylor 2008, 66). The British set up is such that all companies can be taken over anytime by anybody. Most football clubs are listed on a stock exchange market where anyone with money buys any shares. There is always a tussle for ownership centered on share trade. The insecurity in ownership makes owners to focus on getting as much money and fame out of the clubs as soon as possible (Taylor 2008, 52). There is pressure on English Club Managers to deliver results in terms of wins or get fired. The pressure translates into overpricing of some players who are considered critical due to their flair and tact. The pressure also leads to shifting focus away from young talented players who may not be of immediate use or help.
The clubs earn from TV rights and the more a league has a global appeal, the higher the returns (Taylor 2008, 39). To gain the global appeal and earn more, foreign players are a crucial ingredient. The foreign owners can not let the opportunity to engage developed talents go for the sake of developing local talent. Even patriotic English managers cannot afford to let the ratings of their teams go down in the name of developing nationals.
In Marxist terminology, the described scenario of foreign ownership and inflation of foreign players leads to a state of alienation. Players no longer play for the enjoyment of the game but rather to win and earn the money. It is for this reason that cases of diving have been on the increase. Players of great import like Christiano Ronaldo are an infamous diver, which does not reflect their quality of game. It is not far fetched to associate his diving with the pressure to deliver.
The upsurge in internationals playing in the English premier league led to the Home Office introducing stringent measures governing work permit issuance to players (Beech & Chadwick 2004, 12). It is required that only players from country that stands at least position 70 in the world rankings promulgated by FIFA can be admitted. The player must have actively contributed to the success of his national team for a minimum two years prior to joining the premier league.
The fact that the English Premier League is swarmed by foreigners cannot be denied (Exall 2007, 14). Every big team in Europe or England is identified by certain famous players who contributed substantially to its success. All over the world, mention names like Ronaldo, Michael Essien, Drogba, Thiery Henry etc, and the names ring sweet bells. These are examples of foreign players who have been legendary in their game. Their contribution to the success of their clubs has been unmatched. To a great extent, it can be argued that foreign players have given the English premier league its coveted position. The challenge is, the number of English men being fielded in the English teams has been dwindling and in some teams, it is not surprising when they are not able to field any Englishman or a player from Europe.
To deal with the challenge of Englishmen not being fielded, some stakeholders have proposed a quota on the number of foreign players fielded by any premiership team (Exall 2007, 54). The proponents of the Quota argue that inflation of foreign players hurts local football. There has been dwindling interest in local talent because managers of clubs have their eyes focused on talents elsewhere around the globe. The access to other already polished talents from a cross the globe makes it difficult for managers to focus on local talent. The result of such like focus on the part of the managers is local talent neither being developed nor exposed.
The focus and access to foreign talent has led to club managers in the English Premier League thinking young Britons lack talent (Nicholson 2007). However, on close scrutiny, it would appear that the managers have developed a sort of attitude towards young Englishmen of talent. Placing a quota on number of foreign players a club can have, Braund (2009) argues would help in ensuring clubs have more players that understand and play the English football fashion. This would mean, many of the young Englishmen are able to fit into the fashion and can thus shine.
The other challenge or reason why managers go foreign players is price. It is observed by Braund (2009) that as soon as a talented Englishman is identified, clubs put a big sum as his price. The effort is to ensure that no other team poaches him. Although the high prices are well intentioned, the response is that the players are overlooked by managers who can access equally or even better talent around the globe at far much cheaper prices.
Nicholson (2007) argues that the argument that English players are expensive no longer holds water. He points out that although that was true a few years ago, many international’s prices have soared substantially to the extent there are fewer marching Englishmen. Everton in 2006 bought Arteta at a very low price compared to Englishman Darren bent’s price (Nicholson, 2007). Looking at the figures, it appears that truly the English players are overpriced. However, each transfer happens in given economic context. There are often instances when high profile players are transferred for free. This should be a clear indicator that player transfers are influenced by more than just money. Sometime back, it is true that English players were overly overvalued; however this has changed considerably over time (Nicholson, 2008). As per the current state of affairs, many foreign players could be considered overpriced. Recent transfers to Man city at voluminous amounts raised questions the idea that English players are overpriced. Robinho was bought from Milan by Manchester city at a staggering thirty two million pounds. According to Nicholson (2008), if Robinho had been an Englishman, the price would have raised extreme attention.
In 2008, Manchester United got Chevchenko but he could not adapt to English premier league. He did not contribute substantially to Manchester’s campaign. In 2007, Liverpool acquired Torres for a whooping 27 million pounds (Nicholson, 2008). At the same time, Everton acquired an Englishman Bent for ten million less what Liverpool paid for Torres. In that season, it could be argued that Bent was more fruitful at Everton than Torres was at Liverpool. Current pricing at the premier league seems to be more focused on a player being international and with a big name (Stewart 2007, 102). It would thus follow that the excuse by some managers that English players are overpriced has slowly but surely lost salt or grounding. Continued buying of overpriced internationals is beginning to raise questions. This means that the problem of overpricing is a general premier problem and should be looked at as such. If English players are valued fairly, against the internationals, there should be no point of not considering them on the pretense that they are over-priced.
Another excuse that is given by managers is that Englishmen lack tact. The challenge or real issue that needs to be addressed is the myth that non English players are of better value (Lonnie 2008). England over time has produced greats such as David Beckham. Manchester United has the likes of Rooney who are doing very well. Therefore it can not be that Britons lack tact. If that were the case, Chelsea would not be stuck with the likes of Lampard and Terry.
In 2008, FIFA pushed for a proposal providing for quotas on foreign players that can be fielded by teams in any game (Lonnie 2008). The proposal aimed at limiting the number of player that could be fielded by any team in a game to five. One of the reasons why a quota on foreign players remains plausible is the increasing economic imbalance between clubs. A lot of money has been pumped into teams like Chelsea and Manchester city in the recent seasons. Due to huge sums of money availed by billionaire Abramovich and Abu Dhabi brother respectively; the two teams could access any player from anywhere (Stewart 2007, 53). Teams like Manchester United have more economic muscle than many other teams in the league. Using their economic capability, they are able to attract any player from any part of the world. The economic imbalance coupled by unlimited access to players from across the globe does not work in favor of the game.
The stakes are against teams that rely heavily on nationals due to lacking economic muscle to attract best players from around the world. The described fact explains why the league has been dominated by a few teams (Exall 2007, 4). Since inception the English Premier League has only been won Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Blackburn. However, the big four teams, Chelsea, arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool, have held to the first four slots since the inception of the League. Manchester United has won the premiership more than 50% times since inception (Exall 2007, 4). The dominance of the league by a few teams that are heavily infiltrated by foreigners plays wrongly on the psyche of young Britons playing in the other teams. To a great extent it feels like they are second rate against the big teams and the foreign players. This scenario does not work in favor of national football. It is one of the reasons cited for the continued failure or poor performances by the English National Team (Lonnie, 2008).
The quota proponents also point out that it is not just the England national team that is affected (Lonnie 2008). Many other national teams around the world are affected when the young and most talented are grabbed by the big teams in England. When young talent is taken away from a country at an early age, the country’s clubs miss or loose the services of such a player. The national teams also only get the player for crucial matches and for very few days. This phenomenon or state of affairs keeps the football in the clubs and nations down. If the talents were retained in the specific countries and thus clubs, football around the world would develop substantially.
The movement of young players to England in itself does not work in their favor. The players earn big money when they move however, most of them move when they are between age 14 and 16 (Braund, 2009). Migrating at such an early stage to start a kind of full fledged career life does not work in the favor of the players. Life is a journey that has to be covered gradually. Change often precipitates crises; for such young player it often means begin to take full responsibility of their own issues.
Despite the arguments put forward by proponents of quotas being worthy of consideration, the question of foreign players in the English premier League requires further thinking. The choosing of foreign players does not necessarily mean the Englishmen lack tact. However, it is a fact that the English Premier League has become a global attraction. As a global phenomenon, it should be able to attract global finesse. The best from England join with the best from around the world in clubs that compete for the most prestigious awards in the world. That should be a dream worthy envisaging by the whole world; more particularly the Britons. The Britons can continue owning the league as their own while enjoying pride that comes with its global appeal.
There is a danger that focusing on foreigner aspect of the issue could create racist or xenophobic attitude among Britons. The feeling that foreigners are taking over and denying Britons opportunities can only but serve to increase partisan sentiments. It is such like sentiments or fears that led to xenophobic attacks in South Africa sometime last year. Such like sentiments are not proper to Africans alone; actually racist sentiments or utterances have often been heard in football stadiums across Europe.
The application or use of the word ‘foreigner’ in itself is questionable. ‘Inflation of foreign players’ in itself is a loaded phrase that would only stimulate certain negative feelings, towards the ‘foreigners’, within a Briton. The issue of tackling the England national team’s failures should not be subsumed into the issue of intolerance. For a very long time, the English Premier League has thrived because of the presence of so called foreigners. Ferguson the Manchester United Coach is a Scot, Wenger is French; actually all coaches that have performed well in the League have been non Englishmen (Exall 2007, 6). Loosing or locking out these foreigners is not the option.
The best solution to the current challenge requires that stakeholders in English national football look beyond the English Premier League clubs in the development of young talent and national team. England has to become creative and devise other ways of ensuring it grows football talent for its national teams. The premier league is a good avenue but it is not the last avenue. The lower leagues for example offer a great opportunity of developing young talent. Definitely, superb talent in those leagues will be noted and picked by managers.
The team managers of the clubs will continue to seek out internationals who promise good immediate results (Beech & Chadwick 2004, 81). Theirs is to work in the interest of the clubs that have employed them. Instituting quotas will only make English players even more overpriced. Demand for English players will increase meaning that their premium also goes high. The likely scenario will be managers hanging on the players they already have until such a time when it is extremely necessary.
In conclusion, it is true that international players have swarmed the English Premier League. This poses a great challenge to the young Britons whose prospects of playing in the most prestigious league in their nations have been dwindling over the years. There is need to address this issue; however, quotas and racist sentiments may not work for the English Premier League. Quotas are likely to kill the vibrant aspect of the league. Instead of relying on the Premier League, English football stakeholders could focus on creating avenues like football academies to parallel those of the clubs. Another option would be to give as much support to teams that pick nationals e.g. tax relief etc. Allowing for the freedom that currently exists is good for the game because English nationals will continue to compete with the best from around the globe. If this positive is appreciated, then focus turns to making the English young talents more competitive so that they are able to stand against the tide of international professionals. Such an approach would not be easy; however, getting the first eleven for the national team from a competitive premier league is a better gamble than getting twenty two out of a league that is luck luster.
Reference List
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