Is the English National Squad English Enough?

Article by Nathan Durec

Over the past week, Jack Wilshere, who plays for the other boys in north London, opened his mouth twice. The first time was to put a cigarette in it and the second was to speak his mind on the state of English players on the English national squad. Whether you agree or disagree with his comments, it does bring up an interesting point about the state of English football. Having foreign-born players on a national squad who have gained their citizenship has been taken by Wilshere to mean that a spot is being taken away from a good ‘ole English boy.

When taking a look at my own national team in Canada, the sentiment is different and understandably so. We love it when a foreign-born player decides to play for us! However, the state of football and is popularity between England and Canada cannot even be compared. The sport is growing, especially for the youth, but the hardcore fanaticism is still a long way off.

What has helped Canada in recent years is the inclusion of a Canadian player rule in Major League Soccer for the three Canadian teams. A roster must have Canadian-born players, which is supposed to help increase homegrown talent. This can be equated to the rule that England brought in for the Premiership a few years back that states there must be eight homegrown trained players in a squad of twenty-five. The goal is the same, to increase local talent and, ideally, increase the talent pool for the national squad.

Has this worked for Tottenham in bringing up homegrown youth talent into the first squad? Of the eight English players on the current roster, only one played their youth career as a Hotspur, Harry Kane, and it’s safe to say that Kane has not yet broken into the first squad.

Former England manager Glenn Hoddle and current FA commission member Danny Mills have both come out in favour of some form of limitation to the number of foreigners on the English national squad. There have even been calls for a revamped domestic player quota rule, although there has been no agreement as to what this should be, how it should be applied, and how far down the football pyramid it should go.

Perhaps the problem is entirely different. The BPL is arguably the most watched domestic league in the world. It is available globally and much more accessible than other high profile European clubs. It is the league that players from all over the world want to play in. Naturally, this makes it more difficult for local English boys to break into the top league when the influx of foreign-born players is higher than in other leagues due to the hunt for money and profile.

For clubs with decent sized pockets, they can also buy younger homegrown players from other domestic clubs that need the money. There is no need to be worried about their own youth players because they are able to use small clubs in their leagues as a sort of B-squad or academy.

So, while Wilshere questioned whether the English national side has enough English-born players, the real question should be: If this is the case, how should it be fixed? The current eight player homegrown roster rule just means that clubs are buying foreign players before their eighteenth birthday and taking a risk that it will pay off. The money is negligible in the long run. This is not increasing domestic players’ it’s just created a new loophole.

Honestly, I don’t have a fix or solution. In researching this, it’s easy to find many who don’t even see it as a problem at all. However, the numbers don’t lie. The ration of English players in the BPL has progressively gone down. This affects the talent pool the national side has to choose from. There are no signs the point to this changing any time soon.

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