in the Sun as saying:
“I am disturbed by the recent trend whereby players,
representing wealthy clubs in England and elsewhere, are
increasingly just a hotchpotch of nationalities. Many clubs
do not deserve to be regarded as English any more because
they are dominated by foreign legionnaires.
“The players’ allegiance is solely to whichever paymaster
happens to be rewarding them to the tune of £30,000, £50,000
or even £100,000 a week. Over the long term, I believe that
11 foreign nationals playing for an English club will not
captivate and mobilise fans, whose average annual income is
significantly lower than the players’ weekly wage.
“By contrast, any national squad will excite the spectator.
If we are not careful, football may degenerate into a game
of greed — a trend I will vigorously oppose. Billionaire
clubs have to be able to absorb the ludicrously high player
costs that they are now lumbered with as a result of their
own private competition to sign up the biggest stars.
“They don’t seem to realise that the financial distress some
of them are feeling is of their own making.”
Well said, and worthy sentiments perhaps, but bizarre
considering the source.