Post by QPR Report on Feb 11, 2009 7:45:46 GMT
Guardian
Premier League agrees to principle of home-grown players quota• Organisation looks to reach accord with Platini
• Liverpool chief praises 'constructive discussions'
Owen Gibson in Geneva
The Guardian, Wednesday 11 February 2009
The Premier League is considering new rules that will require clubs to include a quota of "homegrown" players in their squads, as part of an attempt to stave off more stringent regulation by Uefa of its members' finances.
Rick Parry, the Liverpool chief executive, revealed "constructive discussions" were likely to lead to regulations that would mandate clubs to have a certain proportion of players that had been developed in-house before their 21st birthday.
"We have not agreed a figure, just the principle that some minimum limit makes sense," said Parry, speaking after the general assembly of the European Clubs Association, at which the possible introduction of new financial controls dominated debate. The ECA represents 137 clubs from across the continent and replaced the more elitist G14 last year.
Uefa's president, Michel Platini, will next month bring before his organisation's strategy council proposals to impose financial controls on clubs taking part in European competition. Clubs could be prevented from living beyond their means by keeping their outlay on wages to a fixed proportion of their revenue.
The Premier League opposes those measures and its new rules are likely to be modelled on Uefa Champions League regulations, which compel clubs to have eight players in the squad who have been registered with them or elsewhere under the same national association for at least three years before their 21st birthday.
The issue was raised at last week's Premier League board meeting, where Parry said there was a consensus that clubs should engage with Platini's concerns. He said that a commitment to having a certain number of players within a squad that were developed by that club, allied to a possible ban on international transfers under the age of 18, could provide a more workable solution than the idea of a salary cap.
"Do we want to see financial responsibility and all clubs healthy? Of course we do. What we don't want to see in England is a dumbing down and being penalised for the success of the Premiership."
Parry said it was incumbent on Premier League clubs to engage with Uefa and government concerns about the future of the game. "It's all about dialogue, it's not about confrontation ... It's not about being negative and isolationist," Parry said. The Premier League has been at loggerheads with the Football Association since the FA's chairman, Lord Triesman, gave a speech warning of unsustainable levels of debt in the top flight. The culture secretary, Andy Burnham, has written to the Premier League calling on it to "step up to the challenge" of regulating the game's finances.
The Football League recently voted for four of 16 players out of each matchday squad to have been with the club for at least three years before their 21st birthday.
Parry said: "It's about not being completely negative and isolationist but taking on board the ideas that do have merit and perhaps being in step with Europe rather than being out of step." Parry said that there had been agreement among clubs that a blanket salary cap would be a "blunt instrument" and that "all the debates we're having over young players represent a better long-term approach".
Parry, who ruled himself out of the running for the vacant chief executive's job at the FA and said he was committed to staying at Liverpool, added: "It's a longer road but a rather more proactive road that leaves you in control of your own destiny." Following the inaugural general assembly of the ECA, the organisation appeared to deliver a blow to Platini's hopes of introducing new financial controls. "My philosophy is clear," Platini said in London last week. "I have to give everybody the chance of winning. We want to have financial fair play."
Other attendees from major European clubs said there was agreement that a new financial model must be found in the current economic climate.
"We support all the solutions that can reach a cut of costs. We have to find a new equilibrium," said Ernesto Paolillo, the director general at Internazionale. But he said any solution must be fairly applied across Europe.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/feb/11/premier-league-quotas-rick-parry-michel-platini
Premier League agrees to principle of home-grown players quota• Organisation looks to reach accord with Platini
• Liverpool chief praises 'constructive discussions'
Owen Gibson in Geneva
The Guardian, Wednesday 11 February 2009
The Premier League is considering new rules that will require clubs to include a quota of "homegrown" players in their squads, as part of an attempt to stave off more stringent regulation by Uefa of its members' finances.
Rick Parry, the Liverpool chief executive, revealed "constructive discussions" were likely to lead to regulations that would mandate clubs to have a certain proportion of players that had been developed in-house before their 21st birthday.
"We have not agreed a figure, just the principle that some minimum limit makes sense," said Parry, speaking after the general assembly of the European Clubs Association, at which the possible introduction of new financial controls dominated debate. The ECA represents 137 clubs from across the continent and replaced the more elitist G14 last year.
Uefa's president, Michel Platini, will next month bring before his organisation's strategy council proposals to impose financial controls on clubs taking part in European competition. Clubs could be prevented from living beyond their means by keeping their outlay on wages to a fixed proportion of their revenue.
The Premier League opposes those measures and its new rules are likely to be modelled on Uefa Champions League regulations, which compel clubs to have eight players in the squad who have been registered with them or elsewhere under the same national association for at least three years before their 21st birthday.
The issue was raised at last week's Premier League board meeting, where Parry said there was a consensus that clubs should engage with Platini's concerns. He said that a commitment to having a certain number of players within a squad that were developed by that club, allied to a possible ban on international transfers under the age of 18, could provide a more workable solution than the idea of a salary cap.
"Do we want to see financial responsibility and all clubs healthy? Of course we do. What we don't want to see in England is a dumbing down and being penalised for the success of the Premiership."
Parry said it was incumbent on Premier League clubs to engage with Uefa and government concerns about the future of the game. "It's all about dialogue, it's not about confrontation ... It's not about being negative and isolationist," Parry said. The Premier League has been at loggerheads with the Football Association since the FA's chairman, Lord Triesman, gave a speech warning of unsustainable levels of debt in the top flight. The culture secretary, Andy Burnham, has written to the Premier League calling on it to "step up to the challenge" of regulating the game's finances.
The Football League recently voted for four of 16 players out of each matchday squad to have been with the club for at least three years before their 21st birthday.
Parry said: "It's about not being completely negative and isolationist but taking on board the ideas that do have merit and perhaps being in step with Europe rather than being out of step." Parry said that there had been agreement among clubs that a blanket salary cap would be a "blunt instrument" and that "all the debates we're having over young players represent a better long-term approach".
Parry, who ruled himself out of the running for the vacant chief executive's job at the FA and said he was committed to staying at Liverpool, added: "It's a longer road but a rather more proactive road that leaves you in control of your own destiny." Following the inaugural general assembly of the ECA, the organisation appeared to deliver a blow to Platini's hopes of introducing new financial controls. "My philosophy is clear," Platini said in London last week. "I have to give everybody the chance of winning. We want to have financial fair play."
Other attendees from major European clubs said there was agreement that a new financial model must be found in the current economic climate.
"We support all the solutions that can reach a cut of costs. We have to find a new equilibrium," said Ernesto Paolillo, the director general at Internazionale. But he said any solution must be fairly applied across Europe.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/feb/11/premier-league-quotas-rick-parry-michel-platini