Premier League plans quota system to increase number of 'home-grown' players LinkPremier League clubs could receive financial rewards for nurturing English talent and may adopt a quota system ensuring that a minimum number of "home-grown" players feature in squads from next year.
By Paul Kelso, Chief Sports Reporter
Last Updated: 8:43PM BST 12 May 2009
The measures, intended to boost the number of domestic players featuring in Premier League first teams and ultimately further the cause of the England team, have been produced in response to pressure from culture secretary Andy Burnham.
On Monday the League announced new financial regulations in response to Burnham's concerns over the game's relationship with money, and on Tuesday chief executive Richard Scudamore unveiled further moves intended to meet his demands on youth development.
White paper: Premier League cheif executive Richard Scudamore intends to require clubs to produce local players in order to improve the chances of the national side Photo: GETTY IMAGES
The clubs will also be asked to agree to a quota system based on models used by Uefa and the Football League.
The Uefa model requires eight of a squad of 25 to be 'locally produced', with at least four being trained at the club for at least three years between the ages of 16-21. The Football League model specifies that four members of each match-day squad of 16 have to be locally produced on the same terms.Neither measure guarantees that the players make the first team, nor that clubs will produce more English players.
European labour law proscribes that Arsenal's Spanish captain, Cesc Fabregas, is classed as locally produced in the same way as Islington-born team-mate Jack Wilshere.In the past, the Premier League's view has been that quotas were little more than window dressing but a combination of pragmatism, political pressure and evidence has changed that view.
"We are not protectionist and we do not want artificial limits on who can come in. What we do want is to raise standards so that the English talent emerges and negates the need for clubs to bring in foreign talent," Scudamore said. "But I am a pragmatist, and the quotas have clearly not hurt our teams in the Champions League; in fact we have had our most successful run in the competition since they came in."
Scudamore's explanation is instructive. The free-market principles that underpin his stewardship of the League remain, but they are not inviolate in the face of changing political weather. It is an approach that has informed the League's entire response to Burnham, who wrote to the football authorities in October posing questions about competitive balance, debt, home-grown players and financial regulation.
There was a time when Scudamore's private answer would have been unprintable, but a combination of Burnham's standing in the game, a recognition of the changing public mood and a strategic eye on future battles has led to a more conciliatory, if typically dexterous response.
The League's reforms, though welcome, address Burnham's areas of concern without threatening the business model that has driven the League to its heights.
Just as telling is what the League's response does not do. Burnham's intervention was motivated by his belief that football needs to reassess its relationship with money. That is a view rejected by the Premier League and the philosophical divide over football's existential question remains. For that Scudamore is unapologetic.
"Philosophically, there is a gap between us, but I look at the evidence," he said. "I look at attendances, I look at the success of the England team… I look at the interest in English football, and I look at the quality of football that is played. It is better than it has ever been in my lifetime, so I cannot sign up to the idea that things are not better than they have ever been."
