Work Permits: Football
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many work permits were granted to footballers since 1990; and in what situations they were required. [126045]
Mr. Byrne: The following table shows how many footballers have been granted work permits in each year since 1995. There are no statistics available for the period before 1995.
Prior to the 1999-2000 season the work permit requirements were:
The player had to have played in approximately 75 per cent. of international matches for a national team that regularly engaged in competitive matches at the top level of world football.
Clubs had to provide evidence that they had made genuine efforts to recruit players from the UK and EEA labour market.
The salary offered had to reflect the current market rates and the club had to indicate the position that the overseas player would take in its salary structure.
In 1999 the criteria were changed and the current requirements were put in place. The requirements are:
The player must have played for his country in at least 75per cent. of its competitive ‘A’ team international matches he was available for during the two years preceding the date of the application.
The player's country must also be at or above 70th place in the official FIFA world rankings when averaged over the two years preceding the date of the application.
Where an application does not meet these requirements the club can request a review by an independent panel of the football bodies and three independent experts.
...I hope the policy of the home office is made clearer now ...these people have to explain their actions ...dis eh trinidad you know ...where you know somebody or somebody go talk to he for you !!!!
I see we still swallowing hook line and sinker all de foreigner tell us to this day ...if it was a local who did pull a stunt like dat we woudda sell him to the arab traders long time ...Fenwick is a fraud !!! i was not coinvinced that a primiership team would sign not one but 3 untried, untested local footballers from T&T all in one go , but many were slapping hands and giving high fives as if it was a done deal . The moderators could pull out the comments on the original posts and i suspect now many comments are to justify some jealots who accepted as fact the most ludicrous releases made by fenwick. I class it as the one printed some years ago where a local reporter wrote that Jerron nixon was rated over 9 million pounds ...when he was not even on the starting team for his club in switzerland ! When i asked him how he could write that we simply said ..dais wha de coach say !!
A good poker player will see that fenwick bluffed with a dead hand and when called, he is looking to blame someone, anyone else , the dealer perhaps
just turn it around and play the sympathy card and let the population blame the national coach ...as everyone and knows by now , I hold no brief fot the dutchman and the TTFF but they are not to blame for this one, not by a long shot !!
we are so easily played i wonder if we really arrived as yet ?