David Gold, the Birmingham City chairman, would welcome a limit on squad sizes in the Premier League but fears the big four clubs are intent on preventing the rule being introduced.
"I welcome squad size reduction," Gold said, "but I honestly can't see how it is going to get supported by the bigger clubs, because it's the bigger clubs who ultimately will be hurt by any kind of control. The smaller clubs by very nature have smaller squad sizes."
The issue is up for debate today at the league's annual meeting, when the chairmen and chief executives of the 20 clubs will discuss how best to implement the promise to adopt, from the 2010-11 season, quotas of "homegrown" players brought through a club's youth system.
They will consider whether the quota should apply to a matchday squad or a first‑team squad named for the whole season, with the latter option potentially limiting the number of players to no more than 36, regardless of injuries and suspensions. Of the big four, Liverpool's 62-player squad is the largest, followed by those of Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea.
Phil Gartside, the Bolton Wanderers chairman, is known to support the measure, alongside Barry Kilby of Burnley, one of the clubs promoted alongside Birmingham City. The Premier League hierarchy, led by the chief executive, Richard Scudamore, has an open mind.
Uefa already has a limit of 25 players in its club competitions and would support the implementation of a similar rule here and across all Europe's 52 domestic leagues, a stance Gold believes is vital to maintain the competitiveness of the Premier League.
"This has to be a European situation. You can't have controlled squad sizes in the Premier League and not in the Spanish and Italian and German leagues – how would that work? We'd control squad sizes in effect to reduce the competitiveness of our big clubs playing Europe."
Any rule change would need 14 votes from the clubs to be carried, and Gold identifies a band beyond the big four who "always vote with the big clubs because they think they're big clubs. Newcastle and Leeds used to be one of those, which is interesting, isn't it? They thought they could never be relegated, they thought that they would sign up alongside all of the big clubs – so there are many in the Premier League that still believe and still would vote as a big club.
"To change it [the rule] you would need 14. That still leaves only seven to lose it – we know that four definitely won't want to change so you're only looking for three clubs. Well, even Tottenham who struggled this season, perceive themselves as a large club. Everton perceive themselves as a large club. You don't have to go very far and this won't get carried."
Gold added that a limit on squad size would be supported by his manager, Alex McLeish. "You've got to understand why the manager goes for it – he is thinking it can weaken the clubs above him at no impact on him so he will [have] the same structure. I would support him in that. But it's the large clubs this is all about."
