2007/2008 Premiership Footy Thread

Wenger tells Coppell: Arsenal helped you stay in Premier League

Arsene Wenger has held up Reading as a prime example of why a quota on foreign players would be bad for English football.

A key reason behind Reading's survival in the Barclays Premier League last season was the midfield pairing of Steve Sidwell and James Harper.

Both players are ex-Arsenal trainees who did not make the grade under Wenger, with the likes of Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit ahead of them.

Reading manager Steve Coppell is one of those managers in favour of a limit to the number of foreign players in the Barclays Premier League.

But Wenger argues a quota system would deny the likes of Reading a chance to snap up high-quality cast-offs, like Sidwell and Harper, who still have a future at the highest level.

"The rule for success is just live around Arsenal and pick off the players who do not make it completely and I promise you will have a very good team," said Wenger.

"There are very good players who will not all make it here but when they drop out they will still make a good team.

"Harper and Sidwell did not get in here because they had Petit and Viera and Edu in front of them. I think to force the clubs in England to have only English players in the side would be detrimental to the smaller clubs."

Sidwell has now moved on to Chelsea but Reading also boast two other former Arsenal players on their books in John Halls and Graham Stack, although both are currently out on loan.

Others players plying their trade in the Premiership having graduated at Arsenal include Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant, Blackburn midfielder David Bentley, West Ham defender Matthew Upson and Sunderland striker Anthony Stokes.

Wenger added: "I am happy if they have a good life. Sidwell was an important player for them because he had a good partnership with Harper.

"Sidwell's aim was to become a professional football player at a top team. He is. "If we have just contributed a little bit we are happy with that. We take the criticism, no problem.

"As a manager you want to have a positive influence on the life of your football players."

Arsenal's current crop of stars head to Reading on Monday night on the back of a 26-game unbeaten run, following the midweek Champions League draw with Slavia Prague.

Reading, conversely, have been consistently inconsistent so far this season.

But they have won four of their six home league games and Wenger is full of respect for the work Coppell has done at the Madejski Stadium.

"The expectation is not exactly the same at Reading as it is at Arsenal," said Wenger.

"If he can manage to keep Reading in the Premier League for 10 years he will certainly be the manager.

"I think what he has done is absolutely exceptional and I rate it at the same level as I do here.

"With less potential you can achieve less. But what is the purpose of every manager? To do the maximum with what he has at his disposal. "If you judge him on that, then he has done very well for Reading."

Wenger is set to recall Cesc Fabregas and Alexander Hleb, who were rested for the midweek Champions League draw, plus Kolo Toure and Tomas Rosicky after they recovered from injury.
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Quotas will be bad for everyone
 
nivek said:
Quotas will be bad for everyone
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Really? so if you had to compete, to keep your job, against 10+ other foreigners, this would be fine? or would you regard yourself as not good enough? forced to move on and accept a lower package elsewhere.

The problem is the foreign managers coming into the English game as they bring along with them, their own country's players. (well that was the case with Wenger in the beginning-now it is just any foreigner will do! it definitely is the case with Benitez. Ferguson has a fair balance as you can see from the youngsters coming through the academy in his time)

what to really do to keep the peace??? :confused:
 
Wenger has alot of youngsters in his academy also, probably better quality than fergie tho, since they still in the carling cup ;)

henri lansbury, theo, gavin hoyte, justin hoyte, kieran gibbs, rhys murphy... probably 60% of the youth team is english..

fergie is as guilty as wenger when it comes to foreign players.. ANYHOW, its sport so yes ofcourse it would be fine to compete to keep your job.. if you not good enough to compete against them then you not good enough to play on the top level and thats the case with most english players.. take away the foreigners and you dont better the quality of the league, you drop the standard and it becomes another PSL.. the failure of the english national team has nothing to do with the foreigners in the premier league.

in sport you fight to keep your place, i bet on the other hand you're against quotas in rugby? and affirmative action? So whats the difference here? as a european citizen they're allowed to work in any country..
English players are just as welcome to step up and go make a name in France, Spain or Italy.. How many of the French national squad actually play in the French League? Same goes for Italy
 
nivek said:
Wenger has alot of youngsters in his academy also, probably better quality than fergie tho, since they still in the carling cup ;)

henri lansbury, theo, gavin hoyte, justin hoyte, kieran gibbs, rhys murphy... probably 60% of the youth team is english..
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True for this season (:)) but not over history ie: giggs, scholes, beckham, etc. - For Arsenal none really seem to make the first team and if they do, they're out as soon as another foreigner joins. I'm not against it, I just think it should be limited. Let's say you support the Lions but all their players are from WP/Bulls and none are from JHB itself, wouldn't you as a fan be disappointed or discouraged in any way?
(England are also not totally part of the EU - they are not politically correct ;)).
And Yes, I am against the Rugby Quota (:mad:) as that is politcal and nothing else.
 
he cant play for england tho so unfortunately in context here he'll be deemed a foreigner :)
 
look at thend of the day if they do make a ruling arsenal and alot of clubs are going to come off second best and we will see united dominate i think

purely because they have alot of english stars
 
killadoob said:
look at thend of the day if they do make a ruling arsenal and alot of clubs are going to come off second best and we will see united dominate i think

purely because they have alot of english stars
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currently, all that will happen is the top 4 will waste more money on over-rated players
 
The team that Man United fielded vs Blackburn today:

Van der Sar, Brown, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Ronaldo, Carrick, Giggs, Hargreaves, Nani, Anderson, Saha, Tevez
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Englishmen in bold.
 
.geek said:
Having played two games more than the previous leaders.
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I'd rather have the points in the bag than the games in hand ;)

Also, after United's terrible start and everyone writing them off after just three games had gone by, I think it's a pretty good position to be in!
 
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