The Irony of English Football

In the next couple of weeks, 4 English clubs ; Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool will be involved in the quarter final stage of the highest club competition tournament in Europe, The European Champions League. A phenomenal feat that would surely make any English natives hold their heads up high with pride and the right to claim, that today, the English Premier League is the best league in Europe and the world.

But, along with the phenomenon, comes an irony regarding English football itself at the very core of its heart. Despite having 4 clubs competing in the European Champions League quarter final, their very own national team failed to qualify for the European summer tournament in Switzerland and Austria, the Euro 2008. The question is why ? Why can't they qualify when they have so many world class players and managers in their league ?

The answer lies within the nationality of those world class players and managers. Take a look at the nationality compositions of the 4 clubs that made it through the quarter final, how many of them can be defined as "English" ?

We have 4 clubs and none of them was managed by an England manager, the closest thing that comes to an England manager is Alex Ferguson and he is Scottish by nationality. Theo Walcott is the only top English player in the Arsenal squad, and he even doesn't have a regular first team football. Liverpool only have 2 English player as a regular starter : Steven Gerrard and Jammie Carragher, the same as Chelsea.

With so many foreigners, I don't think it's fair to say that those who are involved in the quarter final can be called as "English team", they should be called a "Global and EU teams who use England as their base" team&

There has been a lot of criticism about too many foreigners in European clubs for some years. But then again, this is the risk of progress, the risk of going global. European football, especially English football has grown up to be an "International brand" for football since the early 90's. The Bosman rule, globalization,the EU labour policies and laws make it possible for any players to work and play their football in Europe, as long as they have the skills.

In recent years, we have also seen a number of huge investment took place in football clubs made by foreign investors, especially in England. Suddenly we have a Russian oil tycoon, some American sugar daddies, Dubai's crowned prince, etc be the owner of major European clubs. The football clubs were taken out of their real owner, the fans. And to make things worse, most of them invested in football clubs just so they can sell their stocks back to gain profits. Their sincerety to put their money in the long term success of the club is highly questionable&

And with investments, all they want is fast results. There is no time for them to wait for home-grown players to be build into a world class footballer. They want to hire a ready-made players, win some trophies fast, and increase the value of the club before selling it back to another blood thirsty vampire investors&

Football clubs are taken out of their roots everywhere in England. And there's nothing the FA, UEFA or FIFA can do about it. They condemn it, but they can do nothing, cos' the reality that it's all about the money. In a free, global market, anyone who has the money, are allowed to do whatever they please with it as long as it is within the law. And no law can prohibit the buying and selling of clubs.

This is the sad reality of global football, and it will affect the biggest football nations in Europe. Will they have strong clubs ? Definitely. But will they have a strong national teams ? Very doubtful&

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