As usual, Sepp Blatter wouldn't take no for an answer. Two days after the European Commission denounced his proposed "6+5" scheme, which would force football clubs to field at least six national players in their starting line-ups, as illegal and discriminatory, he put it to a Fifa congress in Sydney anyway. They voted in favour by 155-5.
Support for such a proposal is not hard to come by in this country, especially on the eve of a European Championship in which England will play no part. According to research undertaken by the BBC, just 170 of 498 players who started Premier League games last season were English - 34.1% of the total - and such statistics are regularly cited as explanations for the national side's poor performances. Fans, meanwhile, complain of finding it harder to relate to squads dominated by "foreign mercenaries".
If such concerns are understandable then we must still not allow ourselves to be sucked in by Blatter's rhetoric. For starters his proposals in their current format are simply unworkable. Blatter insisted today that "it is not [Fifa's] intention to go into confrontation with our governmental authorities," yet such a statement only serves to expose his disingenuousness. The EU has been very clear in stating its position on such a ruling, leaving us to infer either that Blatter very much intends to confront them or – more likely – that this morning's resolution was just so much hot air, an empty, populist move that will win him support even if he cannot deliver on it.
In the meantime, supporters may want to stop and consider how desirable such a system would actually be. For all Premier League fans may complain, average attendances jumped by over 1,500 fans per game this season - from 34,459 in 2006-07 to 35,991 in 2007-08. The league is currently the world's most watched because it is perceived to boast the highest quality and most watchable fixtures. There is even some temptation to view the proposals as an attack on its success.
Blatter, for instance, attempted to use the fact two English sides contested the Champions League final as a counter-point to demonstrate that what was good for club sides was not always good for a country's international side. Even he, however, quickly had to acknowledge that the winners – Manchester United – had started the final with six English players (OK what he actually said was "six players eligible for the Great Britain team", but we'll leave the finer details of the Act of Union for another day).
Fans hoping that such a rule change might put an end to the hegemony of the so-called Big Four are also kidding themselves. Arsenal may have fielded an average of 0.34 Englishmen in their starting line-ups this season, and Liverpool just 2.34, but the implementation of such a rule would be staged and there is little doubt that such teams – boasting considerably better infrastructures and greater financial clout than their rivals - would buy up English talent to fit their needs. Inevitably, in the end, the top clubs would simply hoard the most sought-after English talent.
The final issue which must be raised is whether the biggest clubs would even accept such a ruling. The G14 may have disbanded, but its former members will not take kindly to a ruling that potentially reduces the quality, and hence the marketability, of its sides. A European Super League operating outside of Fifa's jurisdiction may sound unthinkable, but it is worth considering that many of the bigger club sides are already aggrieved at the way in which they are forced to cede the players whose wages they pay so regularly to their national sides. If Blatter's not careful, he may find in the end that money speaks even louder than he does.
