In a South American inspired thought process, I changed the future of the F.A Cup as we know it in an instant.
Instead of travelling hundreds of miles just to find out that your Wayne Rooney isn’t playing, and has been replaced with a youth player you’ve never heard of, the expectations of the F.A Cup can change. Following similar eligibility rules to the Superclassico, clubs competing in the F.A Cup must only field players that have been developed in this country, under my proposal. To define it clearly, a “home grown” player is defined as someone who has spent at least three years training with an English or Welsh professional club before the age of 21.
By doing this: squad rotation can be achieved whilst satisfying all parties, the development of home-grown talent will be further actively encouraged, which will ultimately lead to an improved national pool, and the problem of the decreasing amount of English players in the Premier League will be addressed. At current, using the Premier League as the example, only 42% of the players are English. If the F.A Cup really has the prestige it claims to have and should do, the enforcement of an essentially truly home-grown Cup, should reap positive externalities throughout the English footballing pyramid.
It may well close the gap between the minnows and the giants and make the “giant killings” more of a success and reward for the dedication to the development of English football, rather than an unexpected minor triumph that almost always ends before the last few rounds. It may also, however, lead to teams such as Manchester City stockpiling on English players to create a separate “cup side,” but the small tournament prize money and a simple rule that states a certain percentage of players in an F.A Cup squad must be in the league’s 25-man squads, should prevent this. Manchester City would be prepared anyway, as a third of Manchester City’s squad are English.
Ultimately, it is highly unlikely that such an approach to the F.A Cup will ever be taken. However, if England seriously wants to improve their national squad to compete for the World Cup and Euro Championships, something such as this proposal could actively ensure that steps are being made to guarantee that more English players are being developed, but most importantly, they are playing.
For my team, it seems to be the case that they may well be naturally taking these steps, “We have a crop of youngsters we believe in and we need to aid their development path through to get experiences – good and bad – so that they can keep developing,” said Southampton manager Nigel Adkins, “Great credit must go to all the staff in our academy and first team because we want to get to a stage where 50% of the youngsters go through into the first team but that takes time.” Naturally, such a proposal would suit certain teams, at least initially: Norwich City’s side is made up 70% by English players, whilst Bolton, Sunderland and Stoke follow closely behind.
In 2008, Sepp Blatter sparked a debate on capping the amount of foreign players by enforcing that a minimum of six home-grown players must start in every match. In response, the Premier League released a statement saying that, “fans want to see the best possible footballers representing their teams and Premier League clubs work extremely hard to develop and acquire the most talented players from home and abroad.” Now it is time for England to sway it towards the domestic: “attracting some of the world’s top footballers has a beneficial effect on the development of young English players, however it’s important that there is a balance between domestic and international talent.” It’s time the balance was weighted in favour of the English: after all, it hasn’t done Spain too badly, has it?
Written by Jordan Florit for www.maycauseoffence.com/ For more articles visit my website or my Twitter @JordanFlorit
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