The news that FIFA's delegates have backed Sep Blatter's 'six-plus-five' proposals on player quotas will surprise few observers of the beautiful game - FIFA is after all his personal fiefdom.
If the FIFA president get his way by 2012-13, Premier League teams will only be able to field five foreign players.
If the 'six-plus-five' ruling is eventually imposed it could impact massively on Arsenal, with the Gunners often fielding teams without a single Englishman. Contrast this situation with the United team that started the Champions League final, the Red Devils had six Englishmen in their starting line-up - but of that number four were purchased for a total not far off £90m which backs-up Arsene Wenger's argument that English players are too expensive.
The good news is that the European Commission says that FIFA's proposals on imposing quotas is discriminatory and illegal. Vladimir Spidla, Europe's Commissioner for Equal Opportunities says "We're giving red card to the rule".
However, Blatter is determined to push through his latest big idea, but given that the proposal is against Community legislation it appears that for once the FIFA president will not be getting his own way.
Showing posts with label Sepp Blatter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sepp Blatter. Show all posts
Friday, May 30, 2008
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Blathering Blatter wrong over Taylor tackle on Eduardo...
Sepp Blatter went on the offensive earlier this week stating that those who 'deliberately' go out to harm opponents should receive longer bans when players like Arsenal's Eduardo are on the end of career threatening tackles. Immediately after the game that ended with the Croatian striker being rushed to hospital, an emotional Arsene Wenger called for a life-ban for Martin Taylor who had committed the foul, however, the Arsenal manager later retracted that statement when saying he had himself gone over the top when giving his damning judgement on the future of the Birmingham defender.
However, Blatter has reignited the debate on career threatening tackles, the FIFA president has often courted controversy with his forthright views on issues which affect the world game. The big problem with this latest threat is who decides when a player has deliberately gone out to injure an opponent? Take the example of Martin Taylor, most 'expert pundits' have agreed that Taylor's tackle on Eduardo was clumsy rather than malicious.
Call it badly timed, or clumsy no one wants to see a repeat of the type of injuries sustained by the unfortunate Eduardo who could be out for up to 15 long months. But while Blatter will have gained widespread support from the supporters over his staunch opposition to the Premier League's controversial 39th money-grabbing game proposal, the FIFA president will have bewildered fans in equal measure over this latest unworkable threat to dish out extra punishment for those who have been adjudged to have been guilty of reckless tackling.
There is an argument which suggests that players do need some form of greater protection if injuries such as the one sustained by Eduardo are to be avoided in the future, but as supporters will testify, even with the aid of TV replays on too many occasions the FA et al cannot be trusted to get decisions 100% right, and going down the path of issuing lengthy bans for clumsy challenges will only lead to yet more controversy, it is unlikely to solve the problem. For this reason, no doubting many supporters will be hoping that common sense prevails and that this latest edict will be consigned to the seemingly ever growing Blatter junk-pile along with some his previous bad ideas like the "golden" and "silver" goals.
However, Blatter has reignited the debate on career threatening tackles, the FIFA president has often courted controversy with his forthright views on issues which affect the world game. The big problem with this latest threat is who decides when a player has deliberately gone out to injure an opponent? Take the example of Martin Taylor, most 'expert pundits' have agreed that Taylor's tackle on Eduardo was clumsy rather than malicious.
Call it badly timed, or clumsy no one wants to see a repeat of the type of injuries sustained by the unfortunate Eduardo who could be out for up to 15 long months. But while Blatter will have gained widespread support from the supporters over his staunch opposition to the Premier League's controversial 39th money-grabbing game proposal, the FIFA president will have bewildered fans in equal measure over this latest unworkable threat to dish out extra punishment for those who have been adjudged to have been guilty of reckless tackling.
There is an argument which suggests that players do need some form of greater protection if injuries such as the one sustained by Eduardo are to be avoided in the future, but as supporters will testify, even with the aid of TV replays on too many occasions the FA et al cannot be trusted to get decisions 100% right, and going down the path of issuing lengthy bans for clumsy challenges will only lead to yet more controversy, it is unlikely to solve the problem. For this reason, no doubting many supporters will be hoping that common sense prevails and that this latest edict will be consigned to the seemingly ever growing Blatter junk-pile along with some his previous bad ideas like the "golden" and "silver" goals.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Fergie's verbal volley at Wenger and Benitez...we need compromise, not point scoring...
Fergie is at it again, he's stirring it up with rival managers Arsene Wenger of Arsenal and Liverpool's Rafa Benitez, and once again I find myself agreeing with the Knight of the Realm, who says that in principle, Sepp Blatter's proposal to introduce a player quota system is a good thing. Perhaps not surprisingly, few big names from the world of football and those in the media appear to publicly agree with Fergie and Blatter.
The fact of the matter is that anyone and everyone who has a view on the game has allegencies to one club or another, we are all fans of football. So it came as no surprise that many pundits responded negatively towards Blatter's latest big idea. Yet these are the very same people who go looking for answers when our national team fails.
Fergie says that Arsenal will shout the loudest on this thorny issue and he's right, they will. Wenger is a great manager, of that there's no doubt, without his brilliance, no way would the Gunners be playing at the gleaming Emirates stadium, which in the view of some United fans is now the very best in all the land.
The Frenchman is not only brilliant when it comes to finding new players, but he's also no fool when it comes to signing cheques and agreeing to pay over inflated transfer fees.
The Arsenal manager has few weaknesses, save for perhaps his record when it comes to developing young British stars.
Granted the Gunners do have a few former English players that are plying their trade in the Premier League, so it isn't all bad, but the feeling is that a club such as Arsenal should have more home grown English players.
On Benitez, well he's not been at Liverpool for as long as the Frenchman has been at Arsenal and so personally I think Fergie is being a tad harsh on the Spaniard. Fergie could have singled out Harry Redknapp or Sam Allardyce, but they are his mates...
My own view is that United, Arsenal and Liverpool need to do more when it comes to finding and developing young English or British players. Carping on and slagging each other off doesn't solve the problem.
In principle though, both Fergie and Blatter are right in what they are saying about the need to introduce a quota system.
The devil should be in the detail though, and in my view, clubs should be expected to field a minimum of at least three to four home grown stars. United suffered badly due to the old quota system when the manager had to leave out Cantona, Schmeichel and Kanchelskis in a game in which we were trounced by Barcelona 4-0 in 1994-'95. That was before the Bosman case which in part led to the current system.
Back in 1994 by definition a foreigner was anyone who is not eligible to play for the international side of the country in which the club team plays.
Five foreigners could be named on the teamsheet, so long as at least two of them are "assimilated".
An assimilated player would be a foreigner who has played club football in the country of the club iquestion for 5 years. At least three of those years must have been spent playing youth football.
What I'm proposing here would be a compromise whereby at least three to four home grown English players would have to be named on the teamsheet, there's a big difference to the old system which saw United destroyed in the Nou Camp in 1994-'95.
The fact of the matter is that anyone and everyone who has a view on the game has allegencies to one club or another, we are all fans of football. So it came as no surprise that many pundits responded negatively towards Blatter's latest big idea. Yet these are the very same people who go looking for answers when our national team fails.
Fergie says that Arsenal will shout the loudest on this thorny issue and he's right, they will. Wenger is a great manager, of that there's no doubt, without his brilliance, no way would the Gunners be playing at the gleaming Emirates stadium, which in the view of some United fans is now the very best in all the land.
The Frenchman is not only brilliant when it comes to finding new players, but he's also no fool when it comes to signing cheques and agreeing to pay over inflated transfer fees.
The Arsenal manager has few weaknesses, save for perhaps his record when it comes to developing young British stars.
Granted the Gunners do have a few former English players that are plying their trade in the Premier League, so it isn't all bad, but the feeling is that a club such as Arsenal should have more home grown English players.
On Benitez, well he's not been at Liverpool for as long as the Frenchman has been at Arsenal and so personally I think Fergie is being a tad harsh on the Spaniard. Fergie could have singled out Harry Redknapp or Sam Allardyce, but they are his mates...
My own view is that United, Arsenal and Liverpool need to do more when it comes to finding and developing young English or British players. Carping on and slagging each other off doesn't solve the problem.
In principle though, both Fergie and Blatter are right in what they are saying about the need to introduce a quota system.
The devil should be in the detail though, and in my view, clubs should be expected to field a minimum of at least three to four home grown stars. United suffered badly due to the old quota system when the manager had to leave out Cantona, Schmeichel and Kanchelskis in a game in which we were trounced by Barcelona 4-0 in 1994-'95. That was before the Bosman case which in part led to the current system.
Back in 1994 by definition a foreigner was anyone who is not eligible to play for the international side of the country in which the club team plays.
Five foreigners could be named on the teamsheet, so long as at least two of them are "assimilated".
An assimilated player would be a foreigner who has played club football in the country of the club iquestion for 5 years. At least three of those years must have been spent playing youth football.
What I'm proposing here would be a compromise whereby at least three to four home grown English players would have to be named on the teamsheet, there's a big difference to the old system which saw United destroyed in the Nou Camp in 1994-'95.
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