Bravo2zero_sps

Merry Christmas Spurs fans

Bravo2zero_sps

Don't care 3 points against the enemy no matter how they come are always gratefully received

As for that age old argument of no English players, there is good reason for that which has been covered many a time. When the massively over priced English players actually fall in price and in line with their skill then they may be worth purchasing. Look at the prices Wenger has paid for his players and then compare the price/valuations of the top English players in those positions. Foreign players all the way for me.

Bravo2zero_sps

Sorry that has nothing to do with Arsenal and everything to do with the FA.

Football is a business and guess what, all the teams with English players are the ones not doing very well in the Premiership. The top four all have a very high number of foreign players and are very successful businesses because of it. Funnily enough the ones all spouting about how many English players they have are the ones not doing very well as a club or as a business simply because the successful business has to come from the football trophies.

Arsenal used to have the entire England back four as well as midfield players and strikers in the England set up. Once those players ended their careers at Arsenal there were no English players good enough to replace them who came at similar cost to foreign players.

Wenger's first priority is Arsenal football club, not playing/buying English players. He has bought a very good prospect in Theo Walcott and he will buy again if similar opportunities come up. However Wenger will never pay the outrageous prices for players such as Frank Lampard or Wayne Rooney because the same quality players can be had from abroad for a lot less money. Vieira, Petit, Fabregas, Flamini are prime examples of cheap buys turned into World class players in midfield. I don't know of any English midfielders with similar talent bought for the same money.

Football is a business first and foremost, something that Leeds Utd forgot about and looked what happened to them.

Bravo2zero_sps

guess what? I'm an England fan! Guess what again? That's right Arsenal having more English players will have no effect on how well the England team performs.

I tell you who is to blame apart from the FA. The Government. Not just Labour but all political parties because who ever has been in power has not invested in sport in schools. 30 years ago I was at primary school and I did sports 1 afternoon a week for a couple of hours. My 10 year old son 30 years later does games one afternoon a week. In 30 years nothing has changed, there has been no investment in sport and encouragement at school to play sport. This is the reason why the UK does **** at the Olympics, at cricket, at football and just about any other sport.

The only time I played sport regularly was at public school and then it was rugby, hockey and cricket. Football was not an option. Even then it was only 3 afternoons a week including Saturdays for matches.

If the UK wants to produce sports stars then they better start making sport an integral and important part of schooling. 5 afternoons a week and sports clubs after school and at weekends is needed. A lot more academys are needed.

Look at Australia. They have an academy for everything and then look at their results at the Olympics and other sports such as cricket and rugby. They produce some of the best sports stars in the World along with the US and Russia. All down to sport being an important part of those countries education system.

Bravo2zero_sps

OK can you please explain to me how Arsenal or any other English team not fielding a majority of English players is to blame? If the players were good enough and priced according to their ability then the top teams would buy them.

'Grass roots' is to blame. Its not just blaming anyone, the bare fact is this country does not invest in sport in schools where as the top sporting countries in the World do. I can't see how you can argue against that fact?

As for supporting France next Summer, no chance. I'll be supporting the Czech Republic and Holland because I like how both those teams play their football

Bravo2zero_sps

But the problem is those 'home grown' lads have extortionate price tags from the lower league clubs compared to what you can pay for an equally or more talented player from abroad.

If you wanted to buy a new car and you could buy that same car in England and in say Spain but if you bought it from Spain it was 25% cheaper but exactly the same car are you telling me you would buy it from England just because you are buying it from an English company?

I'd buy it from the Spanish company because I wont pay over the odds for something. To me thats the same as a football club buying foreign players.

Bravo2zero_sps

The over priced thing comes from comparing what's available in the English leagues and their valuations to what players you can buy from abroad in the same positions. Wenger bought African players that have turned out to be very good for absolute peanuts. Players in the English Leagues would have cost far more to buy.

In fact if you look through the Arsenal squad most of them were all cheap buys with Walcott being one of the most expensive and he is the 'unproved' English talent. That really proves the point i'm trying to make. In fact another example was the price tag of Darren Bent when he joined Spurs. To me that was a ridiculous price after Henry had just sold for only 1/2 a million more.

The fact is English players are massively over priced compared to the foreign players with more skill.