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.