To think that footballers should only be able to play for the city they're from?

[BrownTrowsers]

I know it would never happen but it would stop football being all about money. It would stop teams like Man Utd dominating the premier league simply because they have money. It would stop the ridiculous £5m a week type wages, it would make cities invest more in young people (currently, why would Hull City bother when they know that anyone decent will bugger off to the premier league once they have the opportunity) - it wouldn't make football be about community, talent, pride and football rather than money.

I mean, how does Man Utd represent Manchester when most of their players (if not not all) are from various parts of the world?

Limiting by location is a silly idea.

But a salary cap could work - they have it in rugby. It does mean that some good players head off to France where they pay more - but the England team will only consider players who play for English teams, which helps keep people at the top of their careers based here.

The money within football has a massive effect to the economy and the money then pumped back into grass roots levels which helps kids develop within sports.
You also have the other of other jobs created from 'big' games, so general day to day staff at grounds, as well as all the additional staff required for games as well as income brought into local areas from hotels and people being in the area for the games.
You also have the tax that footballers have to pay. Bet that counts as a couple of quid.

And should the rest of us be confined to only work in our birth towns too?

Yes, is it to be a fully planned economy or just certain reserved occupations?

You basically want to roll out the Yorkshire birth qualification rule across football? The one that was abandoned 30 years ago? Nuts.

DH is delighted that he finally gets to play for Brazil.

Just the small matter of him being crap at football to fix now.

I know a lad who DS went to school with. Was brought through the local football academy as a kid, got to be a big name and then buggered off to the premier league

How dare he better himself. Cheeky so 'n so.

"Did you hear, Donna was working at check out in Tesco and now she's buggered off tills to be store manager"
Just because you get promoted, doesn't mean you "bugger off" it's called playing at the top of your game.

Why don't we tell Wimbledon players to bugger off with their talent. They should stick to the local tennis club.

P.s what do us bloody village folk do?

I totally agree. Not that everyone should have to be, but I think, for example, that say minimum half of players should be from England for an English team, and half of those should have to be from within a certain catchment area of the club itself.

This year is an exception as I know we're doing quite well but we usually play so badly and you can't help but think it's because not enough is spent on nurturing our own talent. The excellent players we have playing in the clubs go h one to play for their countries in Euro/World cup etc

And completely agree that the amount of money in football is disgusting, the clubs should be made to give back more to their supporters and communities and I think this would be a fab way to do it.

ComeTheFuck0nBridget
Similar rules already exist but based on place of residence (or rather, the football academy attended).

4 players from the 25 man squad have to have spent at least 3 years with the club’s academy before their 21st birthday.

An additional 4 must have trained at a England or Wales academy but not necessarily the particular club’s academy.

It's not.

England have had some of the most talented collections of players in the world in the past 20 years. The reason for winning nothing is because they haven't gelled.

YABU. I grew up in a hamlet. Had any of my family had a gift for football would they have had to restrict their talents to surfleet utd?

OP I’ve always wondered the same myself! Not that I give a flying fuck about football anyway. The teams don’t seem to make any sense regards country of origin.
As far as I’m concerned I just go into the other room anyway 😴

OP, I have actually often wondered this. It amuses me when people staunchly support their home team, and yet few (if any) of the players are even from there.
I really just don't get it.

Absolute madness! It’s a bit like saying that musicians can only play for the orchestra of the City/town they are from (with say, Cardiff, for example, possibly having 42 flutes, 16 tubas and no cellos; tough luck if you’re from a village, you’ll have to play in a banjo and oboe duo or something). It just makes no sense.

It would make more sense to just dissociate all football teams from any geographical association and just require each team to have a name which doesn't include the name of any city or country. So the England team just get called "the lions" and similarly for all other teams.

Some incredibly stoopid comments on here. Thoroughly entertaining. And citycentric.

Imchlibob - only if it’s exclusively animal names and only animals of that particular species can play for the team.

Much simpler to cap wages which used to be the case I believe. But within that you'd still get some clubs able to pay more than others, provide better facilities etc. I also think ticket prices need regulation. A lot of truly loyal fans are priced out of seeing them play live.

"I know a lad who DS went to school with. Was brought through the local football academy as a kid, got to be a big name and then buggered off to the premier league." Heard of career progression op?

Question: are you still in the first job you ever got in your home town? Never gone for a promotion or to work for another company?

As another army brat I too am wondering how the hell it would work for potential players of "no fixed abode". Brother also born in Germany here. I was born in Scotland, sister born in Wales, only me born in a city.

I tell you what I think WOULD be a good idea to borrow from USA - the requirement to get a degree and the encouragement to plan for what they'll do AFTER they retire or if they're forced into retirement due to injury.

This is ridiculous - we'd all be like Royston Vasey (Though in some ways were already getting there).

What would be better is if everyone supported their local team...

because it’s an absolutely wonderful

I mean, how does Man Utd represent Manchester when most of their players (if not not all) are from various parts of the world?

So you’ve pretty much just pulled the name of a big club instead of actually having any knowledge about that club.

You will find that a lot of Utds players through the years will have come through their youth academy and not been “bought” from abroad.

Lingard and Rashford both came through the youth academy.

As for saying Man Utd have dominated the league for years, where have you been since we lost Sir Alex? Our last league title was won in the 2012/2013 season. We finished the 2013/14 season in 7th place - our lowest finish in the leagues since the 89/90 season.

We followed up the 13/14 season being 4th, 5th and 6th respectively. Our 2nd place finish in the 17/18 has been our best in 4 seasons so fail to see how we have “dominated” the league by buying foreign players.

The whole thing you have come up with is a ridiculous notion. It’s like having someone who lives in London who is an astounding surgeon but based on your idea they wouldn’t be able to move anywhere else to work because people should stay in the city they are born in.

By this rationale if Cruz Beckham ever became a footballer he should only play for Spain’s national team and Real Madrid, even though he doesn’t have Spanish citizenship nor speak Spanish.

Indeed bauble. People making comments on how to improve a sport they clearly know very little about. To say nothing of the lack of understanding of free market economics. The OP has been the worst offender but hardly the only one.

So as an example, there's really no excuse for not knowing or googling, if you're sufficiently interested in the topic, that football clubs already do a great deal for their local areas. Manchester City, for example, have regenerated significantly in East Manchester. If you ever went there in the 90s, you'll know how needed that was. Now if you want to see generally higher taxes on successful businesses that's one thing, but otherwise, why exactly do people feel entitled to impose higher standards on one sector than others? If I want to give money to a football club to use towards entertaining me, why should they have fewer rights to that, after the normal taxes etc, than a musician or theatre company might if I gave it to them to do the same?

There are certainly sensible discussions that need having on things like ticket prices, the best ways to nurture local talent and foreign investment, to name but three. But several of the suggestions on this thread have been nonsensical.