English Premier League - Part 2: F.A’s new rules face a tough test
One of the greatest challenges that these new rules propose is regarding squad management. Gone are the days when managers could just sign players and then shuffle them around to their pleasure. Such privileges have been taken away through these new laws and rightly so.
Before the 2010-2011 season, managers were not pushed into such situations, situations which demanded them to re-consider signing fragile players who could prove to be fatal if included in the squad of 25. The problem that these new rules bring is that if any of the 25 five players is injured, then that player cannot be replaced by any other despite the extent of his injury.
A similar rule is already in place in the European competitions which limits the managers’ selection options. For example, under Rafael Benitez, Liverpool included Martin Skrtel in their squad rather than the leggy Sami Hyypia. This decision was taken by their Spanish manager due to the fact that Hyypia being older would be susceptible to more fatigue and injury problems rather than Skrtel. Despite the Slovakian’s in-experience he was preferred over the Hyypia. What happened after wards was a lesson to all club football managers.
Martin damaged his knee ligaments in one of the opening few matches of the Champions League and Liverpool were forced to compete in the rest of the tournament with depleted defensive possibilities. Such unfortunate injuries will now have to be kept in mind by the English club managers before making theirs squad decisions. Wolverhampton Wanderer’s manager, Mick McCarthy has omitted Michael Kightly from his club’s squad of 25 players due to his injury troubles and now Kightly will have to be content with cup football after he recovers from his knocks.
These rules have also made things more difficult for lower tier clubs in the English Premier League i.e. clubs such as Stoke, Wigan and West Ham. If one of these clubs lose their marquee signing of the summer transfer window through injury then it makes the rest of the season quite tough for them as well. These clubs usually have a very tight budget both in terms of wages and transfer money and therefore only opt for a single relatively big name signing to bolster their squad with goals.
For example, if Stoke lose Kenwyne Jones through injury in the following months then it will be quite hazardous for them as they have spent a lot of money and have also injured the striker in their 25 player squad for the league. An injury like this one will rule Jones out for the rest of the season and thus hurt Stoke off-the-field in financial terms as well as on the field, performance wise.
Recent regulations have also brought about resurgence on buying young players and nurturing youth at the academic level of football. It will prompt English clubs to pay more attention to their youth academies and give more chances to their under-21s. The 8-player-rule along with unlimited number of under-21s and their usage will be a crucial element in years to come. This fresh system forces the manager’s hand in bringing in U-21s to replace any injured first team players, something that can only be beneficial for the English football.
These set of laws will also push the clubs towards self sustainability as in the long run, it will not be financially prudent for all clubs to buy foreign footballers due to the limited number of foreigners they can include in their squads, and therefore local talent will be promoted to new heights. The likes of Wayne Rooney have already voiced their support for the new laws of the English game; he said that as he himself is an academy graduate from Everton’s youth system, the English international striker will like to see more English players come through the system.
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