Letter to the Editor

Graham bewails the fact that an English Premiership club finally fileds a team without a single English member

Dear Ray,

Well, it's finally happened. An English soccer club has fielded a team, plus substitutes, of sixteen foreign players. This was Arsenal in their St Valentine's massacre of Crystal Palace. It has been threatening for a long time with Chelsea getting close last season with fifteen players from abroad being selected.

What ever happened to the old rule of a maximum of three overseas players being allowed in a team? And how does the FA think that England is ever going to produce a World Cup winning team again when home-grown talent is being given no opportunity to come through. The FA should and could do something to change the rules on overseas players' participation rather like FIFA are proposing doing with European Cup matches.

Well, I will keep my fingers crossed that the FA see reason but with their track record for common sense, and vested interests, I feel that there is little likelihood of changes being made. We will, therefore, continue to have our hopes dashed every four years when I am sure that we have the talent in this country to hit the very top. Let's hope that I am wrong.

Graham Forster