New Home Grown Rule

[johntheclaret]

This will have far reaching ramifications imo.

Here's the story.

Home-grown rule introduced Premier League clubs must limit squad sizes to 25

The Premier League have introduced a home-grown player rule which will come into effect from next season, alongside a limit on squad sizes.

From the 2010/11 campaign, the 20 Premier League clubs have voted to introduce measures which will see all teams required to have eight home-grown players out of a squad of 25.

Chief executive Richard Scudamore confirmed the changes, with clubs only able to make alterations to their squads during the two transfer windows. "As of next season clubs will be required to have a squad named of up to 25 players, of which no more than 17 can be over the age of 21 and not home grown," Scudamore said. "The definition of home grown is trained for three years under the age of 21 by somebody in the English and Welsh professional system. Clubs will have to declare their 25 at the end of August when the window shuts and then again at the end of January."

Players who are aged under 21 are eligible over and above the limit of 25 players per squad.

Incentive

Scudamore does not believe the move will encourage clubs to hoard young foreign players and claims the England team will ultimately reap the reward. "It's not in the club's interests to stockpile players. It will make buying home-grown talent more attractive," he said. "We're not going down the route of a nationality test but what this will mean is that you just can't buy a team from abroad. We think it will give clubs an extra incentive to invest in youth. We think that one of the benefits will be that it will help the England team."

All 20 Premier League members also agreed to adhere to a set of financial reporting rules designed to protect the viability and sustainability of the clubs.


Finances

"They will all have to annually submit accounts and future financial information," said Scudamore. "At all times the board of the Premier League will be applying a test which basically says this: can the club fulfil its fixtures, pay off its creditors when they are due and also to meet obligations to the Premier League's contracts and partners? If the board believe a club is at risk of not meeting those obligations, it has to then step in and agree a budget for the running of that club. Any transfers can be embargoed. It's absolutely crucial that these clubs are run as ongoing viable concerns. These financial rules apply immediately. This is tied in, and we passed the rule during the summer, to a 'fit and proper person test'. At our club meeting last week, the clubs absolutely endorsed our position of not linking expenditure to income."

[johntheclaret]

OK, here are a few things that immediately spring to mind.

1) EPL clubs will poach young players more than ever in a bid to get thier hands on the potential future stars, which will in turn lead to the bigger clubs having junior squads of dozens of players. They will be cheap to keep and lets face it, any 11 year old would jump at the chance of getting on an EPL clubs books.

2) This will drain a valuable income stream from the lower league sides as more and more juniors are snaffled before they actually sign for thier local side. In addition, smaller clubs will find it more difficult to recruit juniors, who no doubt will hold out hoping for the call.

3) The gap between EPL will widen further as the skill level will fall in the lower legues. Less young talent will enter the system at lower league level.

4) A further blow to the lower leagues will come in the domestic cup competitions. As it is now most EPL clubs a weakened side in the early rounds, but with a squad cap, the top sides won't risk potential injuries to key players which in turn will reduce crowd interest.

Strange thingis, this could prove to be a poison challis for the EPL too. As the home grown rule starts to take effect, EPL side will find themselves unable to attract the top foreign players, leaving the door open for a resurgent Serie A to join La Liga as the top premier leagues in Europe. The EPL will have to settle for a bit part along with the French and German leagues.

The other disaster looming for the premier league is the 25 player squad cap. The success of the EPL sides in Europe is based on two things. a) Thier ability to sign the best players in the world game and b) the depth of thier squad. consider that the EPL does not have a winter break and play more domestic games than any other European league, and it is only due to the depth of squads that enable top EPL side to compete on 4 cup fronts as well as the domestic league.

Taking this decision unilateraly would be like the USA scrapping nuclear warheads during the cold war and has always been one of the magor sticking points in world football. Unless all world leagues agree then no one should do it.

finally, I have to ask.......Is Scudamore Platini's love bitch?