Foreign Fields

What on earth is the English Premier League coming to? Or, more accurately, where is it going? That’s what they’ll be asking now that news has broken of the latest takeover – at West Ham United.

The problem is that the English have a ‘thing’ about foreigners. So much so that, although they quite like to go abroad for the sunshine (amongst other things) many of them resent the fact that they find foreigners there and doggedly resist the idea of eating the local food or, God forbid, actually attempting to learn another language. And you suspect that it is only with the greatest reluctance that they accept that it is almost impossible to have meaningful international football matches without them.

The whole suspicion thing tends to be exacerbated when they come over here and invade our game. Arsene Wenger’s arrival ten years ago was greeted initially with a mixture of contempt (even from that well known Scot Alex Ferguson) and hostility (in the form of scurrilous rumours about his private life), but he survived and prospered and those who followed (Tigana, Houillier, Jol and Mourinho for instance) owe him a great deal – though by no means as much as Arsenal do.

In much the same way, foreign players have been accused or ruining English football by stifling the development of our own players – but how can the likes of Zola, Bergkamp, Cantona, Henry or Ardiles be anything but inspirational? And if the market was flooded with less talented imports, whose fault is that but the clubs who signed them?

Now that the focus is shifting to takeovers, the point must be made that you would have to work very hard indeed to persuade the supporters of any club concerned that the move has been bad for them. Consider what Milan Mandaric has done for Portsmouth. The massive contribution Roman Abramovic has made to Chelsea’s success. The development of Manchester United since the Glaziers became involved. Or the rapid progress at Aston Villa under Randy Lerner.

And now we have Iceland moving into Upton Park, with Magnusson encouraging Hammers fans by confirming that Alan Pardew’s job is safe and funds will be made available to strengthen the squad in the January transfer window. And there’s even a popular rumour that Liverpool will be next in line.

To those who still harbour suspicions, it is worth suggesting that Arsene Wenger’s point about players – that it is not the passport which matters, but talent and commitment – may apply equally at other levels. Especially as, so far at least, Serbian, Russian and American ownership has been such surprisingly good news.