The Inevitable Summer Transfer Market Topic

[Guest Ringmaster]

Apparantly we are after Mathias Fernandez. Now he is a god on football manager, but in real life he has not been doing too well recently. But I still think he would be an awesome signing.

He's fantastic when it comes to international games, though. I think Villareal's system really doesn't help him because he has to run on the wings, whereas on the international level he has the freedom to go from wing to centre and tends to playmake in the mold of a Deco. The guy absolutely wreaked havoc against Argentina recently, and if Blackburn do get him, IMO, he could come good.

Also, Zhirkov is a wonderful player, though I don't see him fitting at Chelsea, his runs would be limited and I doubt he'd be played at wing-back.

[hugobomb]

Birmingham are after Kris Boyd again

AND Barry Ferguson . I would have been so happy if the article had ended after linking us with Boyd.

[METALMAN]

TAKE BOYD TAKE BOYD TAKE BOYD.

And pay lots and lots for him cause we get 15% or something.

P.S. he's actually shit though. but i'll be laughing if you buy him.

Edited May 30, 2009 by metalman

[therockbox]

I love the 6+5 rule, the sooner more English players start being used the better.

I don't get this. The reason they're not playing at the moment is because they aren't good enough, the problem with English footballers runs a lot deeper than dem foriners coming over here. All the 6+5 rule is going to do is mean more average English players are going to play simply because they're English. It isn't going to make them or the national team any better, just make the league and the quality of football people pay to watch worse.

I'd much rather watch Xabi Alonso control a game from midfield than have him sat on the bench because Danny fucking Guthrie has got to play just because he happened to be born in England.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Well the Italians have used it for years and it has meant that Italian players have had to get good and quickly. More money has been pumped into their lower levels too in order to encourage improvement.....And it's worked.

As an Englishman the question is, am I happier with a better product (i.e. the Premier League) or a better national team?

[Zaz]

But these English players will get better from playing in a higher standard of competition than they would be in if it weren't for the rule. And you can argue that the standard of competition will decrease, but I don't think it'd have too dramatic of an effect and it'd still be higher than what the English lads would be playing in if they weren't getting a chance.

It'll also mean better foreigners will be brought in instead of just going 'Hey, he's Brazilian, he must be good! and turning out to be Gilberto.

[therockbox]

I doubt they'll get much better, they'll get a bit more experience but playing in the Premier League, next to a handful of other players who aren't really good enough and are only playing because they're English, isn't going to make up for years of poor training from the age of 5 or 6.

You've also got the problem of transfer prices, English players are overpriced anyway so if this rule does come in any English player that comes through at, say Fulham, is probably going to be snapped up by one of the top three for far more than they're actually worth.

[Crybaby Bunting]

So Bayern want £100m for Ribery? Looks like he's gonna have to hand in a transfer request or go to City

Seems to me that Ribery is only going to stand so much of this 'lol offers' before he gets sick of propping up a squad in decline.

[METALMAN]

The Scottish Leagues have a similar thing in place. We have a rule where there must be three (I think) Scottish players under 21 in the match squad. And its hardly worked wonders for the national team. :/

Edited May 30, 2009 by metalman

[Crybaby Bunting]

Now that sort of restriction seems kinda odd, I mean with regards to the youth system it's just sheer luck that you get a person good enough to be going into the first team. So for there to be a certain amount of youngsters you can play, either you're forced to play players not good enough for the first team (which could be one of the reasons that Scottish football is so one sided, Celtic and Rangers can get the best youngsters and then pick holes in other teams squads)

I mean three Scottish players would be fine right? What happens when the star youngster grows old? It's madness!

[Adam]

I'm with therockbox, its not gonna improve the english players a great amount. Why can't they just put more money into local youth development anyway? I admire the teams that play with majorly english squads-like West Ham and Everton, but these teams do have very good english youngsters.

And I'd much rather watch a very entertaining Premier League than have a good national team, I stopped caring about England a long time ago tbh, and I'm only used to failure from the national team anyway. It'd be great to win the World Cup, but I think we've already got a squad capable of achieving that.

[METALMAN]

Now that sort of restriction seems kinda odd, I mean with regards to the youth system it's just sheer luck that you get a person good enough to be going into the first team. So for there to be a certain amount of youngsters you can play, either you're forced to play players not good enough for the first team (which could be one of the reasons that Scottish football is so one sided, Celtic and Rangers can get the best youngsters and then pick holes in other teams squads)

I mean three Scottish players would be fine right? What happens when the star youngster grows old? It's madness!

Match squad. Not starting XI.

And the reason Rangers and Celtic dominate is because that's how it's always been and always will be because they have a much bigger fanbase, get much more TV money etc. If they went away we'd have an excellent competitive league.

[IAceI]

Aberdeen didn't used to be too shabby.

[9 to 5]

Well, they did have the best manager Britain has probably seen at the time.

[Thrilla]

The 6+5 rule will basically turn every team into Middlesbrough and we all saw how well that worked this season.

[IAceI]

Well, they did have the best manager Britain has probably seen at the time.

..yeah.

But it also means it hasn't "always been that way" in regards to Celtic and Rangers domination.

I'd say it's a bit closer these days, while it's still them two fighting it out. Teams like Hearts, Dundee United, Motherwell and Hibernian have been closer to stopping their domination than I can remember say a handful of years ago.

[METALMAN]

Aberdeen still weren't the dominant team during Ferguson's era though. Rangers still one more than them.

[therockbox]

Well, they did have the best manager Britain has probably seen at the time.

Bob Paisley never managed Aberdeen

[Matt]

Why the 6+5 rule?

1) It'll spread money through the lower leagues which is something we're desperately in need of right now.

2) The higher quality international players will be more spread out, there'll be more of a level playing field.

3) It'll make clubs focus on bringing young English players through their academy rather than discarding them and going for a Portuguese wizkid from Lisbon.

4) You only get better by playing the best players, the "average" younger players will get better, which will push on the rest of the England squad and also create more competition in the England squad.

So yes, boo hoo, the big 4 won't get to play all their mega stars, you won't find me crying, the sooner the Premier League becomes a more even playing field, the better.

[therockbox]

It won't make anything a level playing field. The big four will still be able to buy the best players, they'll just be the best of an average and overpriced English bunch. The young players won't get better just by virtue of being in the first team, it's naive to assume so. Firstly because they WON'T be playing with the best players, because they'll all have to be fucked off to make way for Average Joe Bloggs just because he happens to be English.

If this country was really serious about producing better English footballers then there would be a complete overhaul of the football system from the grass roots level. The 6+5 rule is only going to be brought in to appease the Daily Mail readers that only watch the odd England game, but see us not doing particularly well and hear the idiot pundits going on about our good old English lads who are well passionate and that being kept out by Johnny Foreigner. Forget the fact that the majority of our kids are so tactically and technically inept that putting them in any first team would be a massive step backwards, it's those fucking foreigners coming over here, taking our jobs!

If the 6+5 rule comes in all it will do is mean the big clubs still hog all the talent, it'll just be the top English talent.