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Main Article
This is my main article for 'The Digital Newsroom' Assignment 2. It is a feature piece discussing the foreign influence in English football and how young English players are affected as a result.
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This month West Ham unveiled Gianluca Nani as the club’s new technical director. However questions still remain about what the appointment really means and how it will affect the English game.
Upon ‘signing’ for West Ham from Serie ‘B’ side Brescia, Nani proclaimed he would "help the club to build a system, to discover in advance the best young players", a claim that Hammers fans welcomed with open arms. But will this move help encourage the unearthing of home grown talent, or will it promote the influx of foreign players into the English game?
It’s an important question to ask considering the current footballing climate and the sheer amount of exterior influence in the Premier League. Whilst there’s no doubt that foreign players and managers have increased the interest and quality of our game, it has also left English players on the sidelines and the national side lacking options.
According to statistics, at the inception of the Premier League in 1992-93, just eleven players outside of the UK and Ireland were named in the starting line-ups for the first round of Premiership matches. But by the 2004–05 season the number of non British and Irish players playing in the Premier League reached 45%. On 26 December 1999, Chelsea became the first Premier League side to field an entirely foreign starting line-up, and on 14 February 2005 Arsenal were the first to name a completely foreign 16-man squad for a match. Combine this with the fact that no English manager has even won the Premier League, and it’s clear that the ‘English’ game might just be a thing of the past.
And so the significance of West Ham’s appointment is clear, especially as the club is world renowned for its youth system and being the home of the ‘Academy of Football’. The academy has long been seen as the pinnacle of young British talent, producing the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard Jr, Sir Trevor Brooking amongst World Cup winners Martin Peters, Bobby Moore and Sir Geoff Hurst. But with Nani at the helm is there a danger of the academy becoming ‘La Academia’?
Not according to the man himself, Nani was well briefed on his arrival to West Ham who were bound to know that the appointment would raise a few eyebrows. When asked about what the club’s policy would be regarding new talent the Italian said:
"I think that we are in a global market, and if we try to find some players from abroad it doesn't mean we have to break the best academy in England."
"We have to follow this tradition. But this does not mean that we should miss out on the chance to get players like Kaka or Adriano. Why not?”
However concerns are already resonating at the highest level. Recently England manager Fabio Capello displayed his worries by telling Rai Radio Anch'io in Italy: "Only 38 per cent of the players are English.”
"The pool is reduced. I have had to reinstate a 37-year-old goalkeeper."
Somewhat ironic coming from an Italian man managing England, however it does show that the problem is a very real one recognised by those at the top of the game.
This view is shared by the Football Association chairman Lord Triesman, who told the Culture, Media and Sport Committee that it is imperative that the amount of English players increases if the national team are to compete with the world’s best.
And the game’s governing body FIFA agree. President Sepp Blatter said only days before the appointment at West Ham that he wants clubs to field a minimum of six players eligible to represent that team's home international side. This '6 plus 5' foreign quota system would build upon the 1999 decision by the Home Office to tighten it’s rules on granting work permits for Non EU players.
But what do fans want? This season an unprecedented four English teams have reached the last eight of Champions League and without the influence of foreign managers and players this surely wouldn’t have been possible.
Wigan fan Greg Farrimond, speaking at FootballFancast.com said: “As much as I want the Premier League to stay British, if we put restrictions on the number of foreigners we would lose so much quality and excitement.”
It seems that finding the balance is key. Many people are hoping to stem the foreign tide, but if losing quality, flair and excitement from the Premiership is the cost, then it might be one not worth taking. However If Nani’s foreign touch can bring success to the very English ‘Academy of Football’ at West Ham, it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the league follow suit.
This map shows how many players from each country play in the Premier League. It shows the wide diversity in current Premiership squads and the influx of foreign talent into the English game. There are currently 66 countries represented in the league and only 56% of the total number of players are English. (All officially submitted squad players have been included).
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Supporting Article -
This is my supporting article for ‘The Digital Newsroom’ Assignment 2. It is a background/feature piece chartering the history of foreign interest in English football and the recent trend of Globalisation.
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The appointment of new Technical Director Gianluca Nani at West Ham may be unique but it’s only the latest development in what is a long history of foreign interest in the Premier League.
Ever since it’s creation in 1992, the Premier League has sought to create money and exploit the potential of English football. Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB won rights to show matches in a remarkable £305 million deal and fans were forced to pay to watch games on television for the first time (excluding BBC’s license fee).
The league was a massive success and with games now accessible worldwide, businessmen saw the potential in investing in the English game and capitalising on its success.
And who can blame them? The Premier League has been consistently the most lucrative football league in the world. Over £1.4 billion was created in total club revenues in 2005–06, a staggering 40% above its nearest competitor, Italy's Serie A.
But it was Russian Billionaire Roman Abramovic whose purchase of Chelsea in 2003 for £140 million opened the floodgates for foreign investment into English clubs. Harrods owner Mohammed Al Fayed had bought Fulham FC some six years earlier, but it was Ambramovich’s subsequent success in the form of back to back titles that has led to the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Portsmouth, Manchester City, Sunderland, West Ham and now Derby to have all come under foreign ownership in recent years.
However it’s not just foreign owners who have flooded the Premier League, top flight clubs now home players from a staggering 66 countries and only 56% of the players in the league are English. This is worrying precedent which has split football and some believe has stunted the growth of young home grown talent.
The globalisation and emphasis on business in the English game is something which also divides fans. Many believe that the sheer amount of money that has been ploughed into the game has harmed the traditional principles of English football. Peter South, writing at the ‘footballthoughts’ blog, says: “It is a sorry state of affairs to say that the driving force is not home bred English talent or tactical nous, but foreign investment and Rupert Murdoch’s handouts.”
However without this investment and the globalisation of English football some feel the game would not be fulfilling its potential in providing the best football available.
Blogger ‘Cow’ argues that there are benefits to be had for all and English football can help unearth talent in more disadvantageous areas: “Globalisation is a win-win situation.”
“Who’d have expected some of the poorer third-world countries to participate in the World Cup? Skilled footballers playing for British clubs gain experience; this benefits their national side.”
The reality is that although football is driven by fans, they are not the ones who control it. That job is reserved for the likes of Premier League chief Richard Scudamore who recently unveiled controversial plans to play Premier League games abroad.
The idea was to play 10 extra games at five different venues, with cities bidding for the right to stage them.
This ‘39th game’ proposal sent shock waves around English football and was the biggest sign yet of the Premier League trying to exploit foreign interest for financial gain.
Scudamore told reporters: "I think it's an idea whose time has come. It's an exciting prospect.”
"When the league does well, other people in the football family do well in terms of redistribution. We feel it is a very positive thing.”
However who the ‘other people in the football family’ were was unclear. Fears surrounded the intentions of the proposal and many felt that additional revenue and exposure were the only motivational factors for the move.
Fans were quick to display their disapproval and the Football Supporters Federation (FSF) set up a government petition and a facebook group “Say NO to overseas Premier League games” in order to win support from fellow fans.
"Absolutely NOT. This is not the NFL. These proposals would make a mockery out of the competition."
"A ridiculous idea, motivated solely by money, and with scant regard for the fans."
Declared both ’TheMightyRover’ and ‘dxgraf’ on the BBC’s online 606 debate.
FSF Chairman Malcolm Clarke seemed confident of stopping the move, he said on fansonline.net:
“The response of supporters at all levels has been loud and clear – that this proposal is wrong and should not be allowed to go ahead,”
Good news was to follow, after weeks of opposition from the fans and the media, in came rejections from the Football Association (F.A.) and the game’s governing body FIFA suggesting that a total globalisation of English football was not a suitable evolution of the game.
However in reality it seems that foreign interest, investment and globalisation are essential in order to sustain the league’s position as the richest, most successful and most watched football ‘product’. And with revenue from the league’s staggering new £2.7 billion TV deal and interest in English football at an all time high it looks like the foreign influence is set to continue.
This week's talking point is surrounding the bombshell from French star Amelie Mauresmo who 'has admitted she is considering retiring from tennis if her struggles with poor form continue. '
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/7260266.stm
With such a high profile player considering her future in the sport at an early age (rather than the predictable retirement of Monica Seles last week) it has got tennis fans talking!
The BBC, who helped break the news, have set up a 606 Discussion Topic at....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A32670164
Whilst at Mauresmo's official forum we get a different reaction with her fans giving messages of support and urging her not to quit....
http://www.ameliemauresmo.fr/interactive/index.php?showforum=7
Au Revoir!
This video was made in my digital newsroom workshop. It uses images from http://www.flickr.com/ and was produced with 'Windows Movie Maker' to show how to use mutlimedia online.
