Steven Gerrard

Originally Posted by believe

Thats why we love it.

Not really. Part of the reason Fergie's United teams have been so special is because they've always had a backbone of English players. And in the case of the team in the second half of the 90's, they were local players. That's why I love it. It's worth taking steps to preserve that if you ask me.

I doubt I'd have the same affinity with the team if one day the entire squad was made up of foreign players, and I can think of many people who would feel the same.

Originally Posted by eduardo (no capital at the start)

I know. The Inglunders will use it as a scapegoat and I completely agree with you on that and your post about certain demographics limiting the chances young lads get.

I just think it might take some of the circusesque appeal of the premiership away. Maybe I'm just being a nostalgic hopeful, but all the foreign ownership, fancy crap and moolah that goes with it winds me up.

It's why I'd take a Scholes over an Anderson any day.

Maybe but this day has been coming since the 50's. Its the reason Busby wanted to get his Babes out there. Its the same reason we all watched, Best, Cruyff, Maradona, Zidane, Ronaldo etc (depending how old you are) and dreamed that one day we would see them play. Trust me, at the current state of affairs, watching a championshipesque side week in week out would soon bore us. It wouldn't be long before the crowds dwindled, TV companies stopped ploughing money in and people in general stopped talking about the game.

Originally Posted by Ether

Not really. Part of the reason Fergie's United teams have been so special is because they've always had a backbone of English players. And in the case of the team in the second half of the 90's, they were local players. That's why I love it. It's worth taking steps to preserve that if you ask me.

I doubt I'd have the same affinity with the team if one day the entire squad was made up of foreign players, and I can think of many people who would feel the same.

is the same reason we still sing Steve Bruce and Denis Irwins names game after game years after they left the club? I agree with you in the fact that wee all hold a special place with the home grown lads but lets face it without the likes of Eric, Scmeichel, Ole etc etc we would be looking at our 10th manager in 20 years and after 41 years without a title we would seriously think about £#%&!ing it off i think what is important in this day and age is how the players endear themselves to the club and the fans and not where they where born.

Originally Posted by Serenity Now

And more than a hint of xenophobia in these comments, no? Foreigners "taking over"? £#%&! me.

I agree. But this is a historical attitude to football we have in this country and why the National side remains shit. Blame all the ills of football on foreigners and try to keep their influence out of "our" game. The FA's hostility to the setting up of FIFA, not joining in the World Cup when it first began (and not taking it seriously until '62), getting @#%&!ed 6-2 by Hungary at Wembley, trying to prevent United from entering the European Cup...these are just a few examples.

And in my time following United, the players I've enjoyed watching most have almost all been foreign. Eric, Keane, Ole, Giggs, Ruud, Kanchelskis. I can only think of Scholes and Rooney as English players that I hold dear. Never really mattered to me where they're born, it's what they do in the shirt that counts.

Yep. If England was producing young players of the required quality they would get playing time. I think that's obvious when you look at some of the young players that have been given a shot at United, without question the biggest club in the country, even in recent years with all the extra pressure that now exists to produce immediate results.

Players don't suddenly become good at 20 or 21. Yes, they're still developing at that age, polishing certain technical aspects of their games and improving their tactical understanding, but if the raw material isn't there, no amount of polishing or match experience is going to make a significant difference.

The technical development process is something that starts at 5 or 6, not at 18+. For me, this process at an earlier age is where the biggest problems lie.

If you try to force increased numbers of English players into the top teams without correcting the problems in the player development from a very young age - something which would obviously be a tremendous undertaking and also something which would have have a significant lag time in terms of results at senior level - you're only going to decrease the quality in the league and further drive up the price of English players of decent ability.

someone is looking abit joey deacon on this thread