Dyke and Premier League Must Reconsider Home-Grown Quotas

Greg Dyke recently announced plans to increase the amount of home-grown players each Premier League team must include in their squads.

While the Premier League has not whole-heartedly backed these ideas, worryingly they have also failed to come out strongly against them. The transfer window is not yet officially open and yet English players are already having huge price tags placed on them.

And if the bids are accepted and the players move clubs what then becomes of them? If Raheem Sterling really is hell-bent on a move away from Liverpool perhaps he should look at the careers of Jack Rodwell and Scott Sinclair before deciding his next destination.

Greg Dyke, the mastermind behind the idea is clearly a very capable man. He has a very impressive CV, having previously been involved in running the BBC and was also involved in setting up the Premier League. Dyke has said he did not expect the Premier League to become what it has, indicating he did not predict that it would become the money spinning phenomenon that it has become.

It would not be surprising if he said something similar in a decade or so if his home-grown plan comes together. Dyke seems to think this will lead to more English players playing, when in fact it could do the very opposite.

Jack Rodwell and Scott Sinclair were two very good young English players. Rodwell had developed through the Everton academy while Sinclair had moved away from one big club, Chelsea, to help Swansea rise to and then establish themselves in the Premier League.

Although both were talented, to play for a club like Manchester City you often have to be more than a talented player, you have to be an exceptional player. Needless to say both got little game time and their development was stunted. Rodwell is now rebuilding his career with Sunderland and Sinclair now being nurtured by Tim Sherwood at Aston Villa. Both players will now be hoping to catch the eye of Roy Hodgson by playing.

While in theory the home-grown rule will lead to more English player playing, it probably won’t. English talent will be snapped up for excessive fees to sit on the bench at one of the big clubs. And with the biggest clubs stockpiling Englishmen to sit on the bench, less and less home-grown talent will be on the pitch.

Furthermore, English clubs may find themselves hampered in Europe. While Barcelona and Bayern Munich will have squads full of world-class talent, Manchester City and Chelsea may find themselves with eleven very good player, but not much after that.

Developing players can work. Sir Alex Ferguson was a master of it. David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Phil and Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Darren Fletcher were all home-grown players. And yet these developed and made their way into the first team without any special treatment. If the players are good enough, they will play. Arsenal currently have a crop of young Englishmen, with Calum Chambers, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jack Wilshere in their ranks.

However, the chances are Wenger would have signed and developed these players regardless of any quotas. Cesc Fabregas, Alex Song and Gael Clichy all also developed under him, long before anyone mentioned anything about home-grown players. The irony here is the latter three are not English, and yet still qualify as home-grown.

As for the argument that this will help develop national team players, it should be noted England currently have an array of young players coming through. Ross Barkley, John Stones, Harry Kane, Luke Shaw, Raheem Sterling and Jack Butland are among the talent that is currently around the first team. James Ward-Prowse, Danny Ings and Saido Berahino  are yet to even make their debut. All of these players have broken through for their clubs side because they have shown great potential, not because they are English.

There can be no doubt Greg Dyke is doing what he thinks is best for the game. However, he must stop and think of where this could lead to. Every England football fan wants a strong national team, but they also want a league where the best players play. As for players currently thriving at mid-table clubs, they should think long and hard before deciding to join one of the big boys, where they may well end up spending more time on the bench than impressing on the field.