Quote: Jack Massey @ July 29 2010, 7:47 PM BSTf he was good enough, then he'd be in the Spurs team. He's not good enough, simple as that, so you're saying we just limit foreign players so 'average' footballers from England can make it into teams. No, it would be disastrous for football. A manager should be able to pick whoever he wants, he should be able to pick his best team, not be forced into picking players due to their nationality.
But you have to ask yourself WHY isn't he good enough. To get to a peak of performance you have to play in competitive fixtures regularly not just in the 4th round of the League Cup because the first team is rested.
The pundits are always banging on how friendlies don't mean anything because there isn't the intensity of the performance. How can a player fully exploit their potential if they don't get the chance to develop in meaningful games.
OK, so a manager can pick anyone he likes so the 30% of squads that are English in 2010 ends up becoming 25% in 2014 to maybe 20% in 2018 when we could be hosting the World Cup. If our 'golden generation' fail to get to Euro2008 and then limp to the last 16 where they get thumped 4-1 by Germany I seriously fear for the future.
My team is Lincoln and I live in Peterborough so I don't put club success over national team success as followers of big city Premier League teams might do. I just want my country to do well and clubs playing mediocre foreigners in place of arguably mediocre English players just hampers its chances. As it stands it's the overseas players who are benefitting from playing with and against the top internationals.