PL to bring in quotas

Visionary · 14 Sep 2009 at 23:10

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/2009-09-14-3955620172_x.htm

LONDON — The Premier League took steps Monday to rein in clubs' spending by limiting player purchases and approving more strict financial oversight.
Clubs will only be allowed to have to 17 non-homegrown players, and the Premier League will take temporary control of teams that run into money trouble.

The 20 topflight teams will have to include eight players registered with either an English or Welsh club for three years before their 21st birthdays, which could hold down spending sprees financed by debt and improve player development.

The new measures were approved by the clubs at a meeting last week and took effect Monday.

But the regulation, which partly replicates European soccer's current requirements for Champions League clubs, does not discriminate on nationality. That means teams can continue to sign young foreign players.

"It encourages the promotion of young players but -- and we don't apologize for it -- it goes nowhere near a nationality test because we don't believe that's right or legal," -- Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said.

All 20 topflight clubs will have to submit annual financial returns by March 31, and Premier League officials will be able to check that clubs have no debts to other teams or owe taxes.

However, the financial controls fall short of UEFA's planned requirement for Champions League entry starting in 2012 that clubs must break even and spend only what they earn from soccer-related income such as ticket sales, sponsorship and television deals.

Scudamore says that is unfeasible and English clubs would oppose the plans, which were to be discussed further Tuesday at an executive committee meeting of European soccer's governing body.

"They are ratifying concepts at this point, no one has seen the manual that contains any of this," Scudamore said. "I can't imagine our clubs, from the discussions we've had around our table, will be signing up to the detail. They may well be signed up to the principle, or making more noise about the principle, but they won't be signing up to the detail if it comes to an absolute regulation of their income."

m0r94n · 15 Sep 2009 at 00:03

BBC Article

Would debt financed clubs be able to use their chairmen as a source of advertising in order to bypass the 2012 Champions League rules?

I'm all for the development of youth in this country and I do feel a deflation in the value of English players is necessary for progress however these Home Grown rules apply to players that have been trained at an English or Welsh club for 3 years before they turn 21. The lack of restriction on foreign signings means clubs can still bypass good British players. I'm not saying that we should discriminate based on nationality, but perhaps limit the number of foreign players that teams can sign in a season. Its not a perfect idea, and I dare say the cost of English players would rise as a result but I think it would force more clubs in to training British players.

Visionary · 15 Sep 2009 at 00:08

It seems like it's a waste of time to me.

If I've understood it properly then you only need 5 English players in your squad and who hasn't got that?

m0r94n · 15 Sep 2009 at 00:13

Visionary said:
It seems like it's a waste of time to me.

If I've understood it properly then you only need 5 English players in your squad and who hasn't got that?

Trying to find some stats at the minute but having no luck. As I recall, home grown players can be trained at a club before they are 21, move and still be counted as home grown (Not sure about that though). If that is the case, very few teams will be effected in the short term. The long term however will involve clubs investing in youth to bring through new talent. For the richer clubs this is not a problem, however for some PL and newly promoted teams Youth is not often a priority and if they find themselves strapped for funds they may find themselves on a less than level playing field with the rest.

Teaf · 15 Sep 2009 at 00:13

The Sky Sports story stated that home grown counts are having being trained for 3 years in the professional system whilst under the age of 21. I'm not sure if the youth teams that come through the clubs system would count, if they do then yes it's totally pointless. Seemingly you could still get a young talent from overseas that is 18 or under and train him for 3 years at your club, and by the time he's 21 he's classed as home grown.

Gooner14 · 15 Sep 2009 at 00:15

Every club has enough players to fit the criteria. Liverpool and Chelsea have the least at 8 and 9. It won't make any difference.

m0r94n · 15 Sep 2009 at 00:19

Gooner14 said:
Every club has enough players to fit the criteria. Liverpool and Chelsea have the least at 8 and 9. It won't make any difference.

Seems that a squad size rule is coming in to place. Different news outlets are reporting different rules which is helpful. Apparently Liverpool have a squad size of 56 :eek:

that they would have to reduce drastically in order to be compliant with the new rules.

Gooner14 · 15 Sep 2009 at 00:24

And I'm sure out of those 56, 20+ are younger than 21 and so won't count as a member of the squad.

HangTime · 15 Sep 2009 at 00:27

Potentially bad news for budding English talents as the top clubs will now be even more eager than usual to snare foreign stars at a younger age in order to 'nationalise' them. Rather than swooping on 18-21 year old starlets, they may feel like they need to grab 'em at an earlier age depending on what their quotas are like.

That said though I don't expect much impact at all, while the limit of 17 non home-grown players stops some sides building up huge numbers of mercenaries, they can probably pad out their squad with a few players who learnt their trade in England. Even Chelsea and Man City have done that with the likes of Cole, Lampard, Terry, Bridge, Barry, SWP etc.