Muzzy_Larsson

We were heavily linked with him while Rodgers and Congerton were at Celtc so maybe something in it or equally maybe lazy journalism.

Don't get me wrong there are plenty of teams I hate, purely for footballing reasons of course but equally there are tons of teams I'm just meh about and tons others that I probably forget even exist! Was just quite a funny observation my original post, wasn't having a pop or anything.

There's some folk on here that seem to hate absolutely every single other club with a passion, no matter how big or small weird

I don't think 2. is ever a possible option, Rodgers will know more than most what is required at PL level given he's managed most of his career there and almost won the league. 1. is closest to the truth imo, the first statement was made when Benkovic was fit, flying and was playing every week. He's barely played since he was at Celtic and has spent pretty much all the time since on the treatment table so physically he's obviously going to be nowhere near ready to play premier league football. If his ability was seriously in question then the club would have cut their losses by now and probably sold him to us. The big question mark over Benkovic and whether he makes it or not is fitness, nothing to do with ability. Like most things context is key here.

Good to hear and makes sense, I thought this would have been the case.

That's a fair point I guess.

Yeah agree entirely.

I'm not talking about banning foreigners but having some sort of restriction on the amount you can have in a squad would lead to positive results long term imo. Like I said I don't think it would reduce the quality of English players, English sides dominated in Europe way before the influx of foreign players. Furthermore, the best ones would still be in the league, all it would do would be to remove the plethora of average foreign journeymen in the EPL, of which there are probably 5 or 6 of for every exceptional foreign player. I think they are yes and winning world cups and european championships at youth level suggests exactly this. The problem with EPL clubs is they don't give them the chance though. Other nations can identify how good they are, look at Jadon Sancho for example, he'd still be being nursed into first team football at Man City like Foden whereas he left and tore up the Bundesliga in his teens and he's now one of the best young players on the planet. The problem is as we've seen with Sancho, Bellngham, Hudson-Odoi and others is that German clubs spot the potential easier than EPL clubs.

Yeah the amount and variation in training gear in the Celtic range since we moved to Adidas has been insane.

I'm so glad this seems to have died on it's @rse. Really shameful approach from a league that is already awash with money at a time when the ordinary man on the street has less money than ever.

I'd love to see the days again where English sides had a core of English players, Scottish, German, French and Spanish the same. Sides play to their national identity again and you see real contrasting styles coming up against one another again, that's what makes football really interesting imo. Everyone trying to pass out from the back or previously trying to copy tiki-taka makes it pretty vanilla and you lose some of the rawness and edge from bygone years imo.

I don't think it's about that, the financial aspect, I think the rules, well initially anyway were designed so that home grown players weren't stifled by cheap foreign imports. Hence the existing criteria, in most cases anyway of 75% of your countries international appearances in the last two years and from a nation in the top 100 or something like that.

Aah that makes sense then. We had/have a fairly successful academy in terms of supplying players to the first team, but Rodgers gutted other aspects of the coaching side when he arrived (for the better) that's why I assumed he'd have done similar at Leicester.

They get the pick of the talent at the moment already tbf, nothing will change in that respect. If the top 6 were interested in guys like Castagne, Fofana for example they would have went there, as bitter a pill as it may be to swallow.

I assumed Rodgers would have sorted that by now.

Tbf you are already doing that with your training ground. The best way to invest in your academy is via infrastructure and top coaches which you seem to be on point with already. Identifying good young players is easy, developing them and turning them into first team players is the hard part.

Look at the Leicester side the last few years. Vardy Barnes Maddison Chilwell Evans Using the the 6+5 rule in my OP that would stand up to pretty much all the other sides in the EPL’s home nations players. If teams like Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal were forced to similarly play 5 or 6 home nations players every week, guys like Shaw, Stones, etc, etc it would undoubtedly bring Leicester closer to them. These clubs are propped up by the fact they can go out and spend millions on top foreign talent at any moment. If they were forced to field home grown players it would of course narrow the gap as there would be more focus on coaching and youth development in developing home nations players than simply going out and throwing money at foreign players all the time.

It would for a while but English clubs would soon re-aclimitise. English clubs dominated Europe long before there even was an EPL. Anything to bring the rawness and the authenticity of the game back is a good thing imo. If money and generating as much of it as possible is the sole driver then of course it wouldn’t be a good thing.

If it’s all about money then your correct but my point from the start is I’d like to think football could return to somewhere where it’s more than just that.

Yes again that is my point, it has long crossed the rubicon hence a change such as this could help bring it back a tad. Monetisation is a terrible thing long term in football as ultimately it reaches saturation point and then the bigger clubs run the risk of letting football eat itself, like with the machiavellian tactics they are currently employing to complete a power grab and more money for themselves with these self serving reforms that they proposed. Do you really need me to answer the last question? The EPL is by far the richest most financially lucrative league in the world, teams like Barcelona are struggling to get teams like Everton to sell them players these days.

Yeah totally agree, like I said EPL teams spend millions as it is on youth development and you ultimately reach a saturation point in terms of how much money you throw at it. Youth development is far from an exact science.

Fully agree, do away with these nonsense international appearances based criteria and from particular countries and restrict it on how many such players you can have in the squad and starting XI.

I'm not saying it's the reason either, I only mentioned it to disprove your point about English players learning from them which I think is a fallacy and I used the national teams recent record to illustrate that. You've said yourself Englan's record has hardly improved so that disproves your own point, they can't be learning much at all. EPL clubs spend more on youth, far more than any other league in the world already. The problem isn't investment in youth, the problem that blocks the pathway of a lot of young players in EPL academies is how easily clubs can go and pick up an off the shelf ready made European player for millions as most are so terrified of being relegated from the league and the riches participation brings evaporating. The best way for English players to improve is by having a pathway to play lots of games in the EPL before the age of 23 and restrictions on overseas signings would undoubtedly force clubs into doing that.

That's pretty much the point I'm making, the positive aspect of it would be things become less driven by money and more like how they used to be and less commercialised. I don't really buy into the English players learning off foreign players thing as bar one decent tournament (the last world cup) England have performed more poorly than ever at major tournaments since the influx of predominantly foreign players in the premier league. The best thing for the national team is simply more young English players getting games at the top level and at a younger age.

Although initially painful, restrictions on transfers in terms of overseas players would be great for the English game imo, not only would more English players be forced to get more games which would help the national team but it would also help narrow the gap between the top clubs and the rest. No longer would they be able to simply fill their sides up with foreign players, spending an obscene amount of money to speed away from the chasing pack. Man City being the worst example of that. I'd love to see a 6+5 rule introduced across Europe as I think it would A: level the playing field a good bit and B: see some authenticity and national identity return to football but I can't see it happening, the franchise type clubs would simply set their lawyers on it and say it restricts trade and goes against the free market or something like that.