Where Did Spurs English Policy Go?

Spurs telling porkies and employing them as far as Jolly is concerned.

What would Arsenal know about principles?

i think the whole english thing is in spuds head and not Jol, i personally think Jol plays ~FM07 and he signs anyone that is good on the computer game, thinking they are good in real life !

thank you little dutch. to Sir_Harry, the article wasnt saying you DON'T have that englishness to your tea, it was pointing out the complete and utter b**ll*cks that your backroom staff and board talk, in regards to the english 'whose next up for an autobiography' brigade versus 'johnny foreigner' band of players. As dutch pointed out, how many english players did you sign i the summer? Chimbonda - nope. Assou-Ekotto - nope. Zokora - nope. Berbatov - nope. Leonardo - nope. I count five there, and NONE of them english. Where's your great policy then? C'mon, stand by your principles, berbatov cam from a foreign league, so did zokora, assou ekkoto & leonardo. SURELY you could have found someone equable before resorting to this 'last resort' of signings, to adopt the tone of Comolli??? oh, and as for beatingus to young foreign talent as well as domestic? we already have a youg left sided player - he's english, Theo Walcott? except he can play left right and centre. You'll def knowall about him in a few years when arsene's allowed him to grow into the plyer he'll become. And yeah, nice to see you beat us to merida and denilson too. twonk. »»Arsene Knows««

Firstly Berbatov is Bulgarian which is not French or African. Secondly Defoe wasn't pushed to the bench as he was there already as was Murphy. Jenas, Lennon, Dawson, King and Robinson have not been supplanted by any signings. Commolli said ideally Spurs would PREFER to go for English players, then foreign players playing in England, then foreign players from overseas. He did not say we wouldn't sign foreign players from overseas so I'm not sure where principles have been compromised. I would answer to Little Dutch, how many English players have you signed in the last 3 years then? Its very much a case here of pot calling kettle black with you trying to clutch at any straws to justify your own non-English policy barring the Walcott exception. This is finally demonstrated by the fact that Leonardo cannot even negotiate with anyone until 1st January 2007, meaning this is all press speculation, but nice of you to demonstrate your increasing fear and paranoia about a resurgent Tottenham side.

I was referring to little Dutch who said all our recent signings had been French or African ..

Of the 6 players, 3 were foreigners were playing in England, one was the French U17 captain, one was Assou-Ekotto who Wenger allegedly admired and Berbatov. So 50% followed Commolli's dictat. But what Commolli said was he could never envisage Spurs going into a game with no English players in the matchday 16 like Arsenal have done. He also laid out the preferred route for signing players, but never stated that exceptions could not be made.

The problem is sir harry people are asking the wrong question. The question should be, why are no English players good enough to play for Arsenal? The ones that were (Cole and Campbell) were incredibly selfish and disloyal. You didn't answer my question as to why Spuds don't believe in their youth policy. Saying we are trying to 'justify' having non English players I find a troubling comment. I could not care less where Arsenal players come from, and the word 'justify' implies a tabloidesque vitriol, because you believe the patriation of your squad somehow makes you superior. That is an attitude that, no matter how subtle, is quite xenophobic, to suggest that we have a case to answer because of the diversity of our squad is a regressive attitude which will be ridiculed in twenty years, just as my generation is shocked by Barry Davies saying, "the two colured players combining well there," in the 70s.

Sir_Harry, how many spurs fans were up in arms when Klinsmann signed for spurs? none i bet, because he was a fine striker. So if you could have signed eleven players from abroad who were as good as their english counterparts, yet cost a *fraction* of the price (djourou 250K vs curtis davies 10m), thus keeping your club on a sound financial footing (for whichever way you wish to look at it, clubs run as businesses, and witness leeds to see how close a big club can come to goping out of business and existence...), what would you do? Yes, we arsenal fans would love more englishmen in the team, IF they were as good as their foreign counterparts at the club, but the crucial thing is that we wish to see the best player in that position, regardless of where he is from. And on recent experiences, ie. Campbell and Cole, I think that we have not had too good an experience with english players. Campbell turned into a liability bottler, a shadow of his former self, and even you spuds can appreciate that cole is ********* number one - everyone in football can see what a twerp theguy turned into - an embarrassment, a bloated overfed ego, who raged at only being offered 55k a week. Would you want that kind of player at your club? that's the englsih type we had in our first team, and i for one am glad they've gone. The players we have there now WANT to play for our team, and respect the club and are willing to work for their place, I'd much rather have that type of personality than the cole or campbell type. Plus they are all very composed on the ball, and extremely talented for their tender years and relative inexperience. I'm not askign you to agree with the make-up and multinational basis of our squad, i merely hope that you can appreciate why we are quite happy with the current contruction of it, based on what i have just mentioned... »»Arsene Knows««

Aaron Lennon came from Leeds and Dawson came from Forrest (I think)

For us, Fabregas, Clichy, Cole, Muamba, Bendtner, Stokes (top scorer in the SPL) Bently, Upson, Hoyte.........Seems more of our academey players make it than yours!!

Dean Ashton cost more than Adebayor!

Upson came from Luton, Fabregas from Barcelona, Bendtner from FC Copenhagen ...... for us how about Peter Crouch at Liverpool, Stephen Kelly at Birmingham, Paul McVeigh at Norwich ...

Lennon- Leeds, Huddlestone- Wolves, Dawson- Forest, Dervitte- Lille. We are not saying English players are not good enough, Walcott clearly will be, what is apparent is that English players are subject to much more hype from our press and as such, it is all going to their heads. Lampard is a good player, but really Makelel does his donkey work. Same with Gerrard and Alonso. Arsenal owe nothing to international football, what do we owe to sides who use our players and fatigue/ injure them without playing? The fact is internationals are a joke and the reason FIFA/ UEFA are trying to take these unconstitutional steps is because they cannot improve the waning standard of international football, so they are going to make club football worse. International football has become about corporate networking and endorsements, the players who participate in it, largely, seem to do it out of obligation rather than passion. Compare Rooney's all action displays for Man Utd compared to his insipid England performances. I'm just syaing that as an Arsenal fan, I want the best for this club, and that means having the best players at prices that won't cripple us. That being the case, I can't see any other route than to have a predominantly foreign squad. If that means a few money spinning international friendlies, and a corporate franchise such as a world cup is affected, then so be it. People only support their nations because they are told to, but I doubt anyone feels a tenth of the passion they feel fore their clubs. Club football is a bond, a connection, international football is about politics.

And a number of your players were also nicked including the much vaunted Fabregas. As far as Little Dutch goes, well I think a side who name their new stadium after an airline should be careful making claims of corporate networking and endorsements. And the steps taken by the FIFA/UEFA are NOT Unconstitutional. Certain activities are protected under EC law to protect particular areas. If you are not happy with that then the law can change, Henry or Fabregas or any footballer can give 3 months notice under employment law and walk out for no fee. Decide what you want? Football as it currently is is already unconstitutional and unfair under a raft of existing laws. It breaches what most people consider normal employment law

But surely if they gave three months notice they would be liable for to pay allsorts of costs. Loss of earnings for the club, loss of transfer fee, potentially they could be liable for the club not finishing as high in the league (with a player such as Henry) if that was possible (which I'm sure it isn't) the fee's the the future clubs of the players would have to be would reach the 100's of millions!

I'm not sying that club football is not tainted by corporate endorsements, what I am saying is that international football is held up as this paragon of virtue and cleanliness, when it is just not the case. Personally, I think the whole thing is obsolete and people should stop kidding themselves. The difference with our young players is that we have put something into their development. Cesc, Senderos, Song, Djourou, Aliadiere, Walcott, have all spent some phase of their development in our youth system. Spuds just cherry pick once the hard work is done. I say this a lot, but you also have to question an F.A Law that clubs can only pick English players from within 15 miles of their training ground, so why aren't the F.A taking any flack. It is a rule that harps back to a bygone age when fans demanded local lads in the team, those not geographically efficient were a threat. Of course that attitude looks ridiculously dated now, as this debate will look in twenty years. In a hundred years there will be a big debate because one club will not have a requisite amount of players from earth, and all these fancy dans from Venus and Jupiter are destroying our earth talent. We are having the same old arguments, but as attitudes improve, the geographical parameters just shift. This can be seen in politics as well, fifteen years ago the press were saying Russians were the scum of the earth and that the Taliban were alright. Now, the target has shifted to Islam and the middle east. A lack of perspective means people just blindly follow these arguments. Four hundred years ago, it was vulgar for a poor man to wear purple, sounds ludicrous now doesn't it? Yet we still victimise people who wear hoodies or veils.

Didn't mean to go on a political rant, just providing a paradigm. The fact is the mass media light a blue touch paper, and sit and laugh as people chase the smoke.

The point you make about national associations and youth players. There are more football clubs now than there ever have been. Freedom of movement and trade means that English youngters can move abroad, just as foreigners can move here. Like a merry go round. The fact is, there are enough teams and enough sqauds for players that are good enough to come through.

I'm not so sure that it isn't wrong that a man can wear purple. :)

Rocky 7 - regarding all the deals that AW made - your not forgetting Richard Wright, Francis Jeffers, Reyes etc

Touchez. Personally, I think national identity is a fraud, it's one of those phrases the press drop every now and then to trigger of an indignance in the brain. Like 'political correctness.' It is an advertisement without a product, if you are a living organism, then I can identify with you. (Unless you support Chelsea). The philosopher Thomas Paine once said, "the world is my country, all mankind are my brethren and to do good is my religion." I concur.

33% sorry.

why doesen't this debate about english and foreign players just die down, this is only been made a big issue because we are a successful club. everyone says that this is affecting the national team, even if we had english players like lampard, gerrard, rooney in arsenal, england would still be hopeless like how they are right now and have been in the last few years, and if we find a english player as good as henry, bergkamp, pires and others for the right price, we will sign them, nationality should never be a issue in club football, because the top teams in international football will always remaing the super powers in international football, irrespective of their national players playing in their domestic league or not, and if a player is world class, he will always end up in some big club or the other, and become a better player for his country too..

if spurs do the double, or go unbeaten and be champions, with very few english players in their team, will their fans even care about it? no one will, it's the success for the club that comes above everything else, we all want our team to be successful, so this argument about the players nationality should end for good..

Yes as a Spurs fan and from a family of Spurs fans, I would care if Spurs were able to win all of those titles without English representation. It would tarnish the achievement as while I am a Spurs fan, I am also an England fan. I agree a little in that Arsenal have made the Premiership an attractive league, and when we get in star players in or those with great potential it is excellent, but frequently it also results in the signing of dross by a range of clubs, affecting all young English players. I would want Spurs to have 4-6 English players with maybe a couple of the bench in the XVI. I totally agree that some English players are overpriced and think that the FA should get rid of the 15 mile rule or at least allow Premiership clubs to have 'deals' with lower league teams. Considering Davies and Downing, I have to confess I'd rather Spurs go for Younes Kaboul and Hatem Ben Arfa, as both Davies and Downing are too inflated. However that still would leave Spurs with a core of English players. And the argument about English players not being good enough ... whilst while Fabregas is an exception, unless you give players like Connolly and Randall a proper chance they will never get there. And this argument about not being good enough .... well if your coaching set up is as good as you claim, then there should be more.

BY, I'm not been funny mate, but from your last statement, I believe it's you who needs to jump down from your high horse.

lol sir harry, no wonder spurs havent won anything for decades now, even if you have all the players of the england team in your squad, the best english players, you still wouldn't be champions..