Rio Ferdinand has urged football fans to ‘join the debate’ on England’s future after the FA revealed their four-point plan – and was met with anger over the commission’s controversial ‘League Three’ proposal.
Ferdinand, a member of the commission, has backed the introduction of Premier League B teams into the Football League pyramid, the development of ‘strategic loan partnerships’ and changes to homegrown player and non-EU players in squads in a bid to tackle the faltering national side’s fortunes.
A ‘lot of interest and enthusiasm’ for the idea has been shown by Manchester pair United and City as well as Merseyside giants Liverpool, according to FA chairman Greg Dyke.
“The gap between the academy and the first team has widened significantly in 20 years. Many of the clubs we spoke to called this the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ or ‘black hole’ of English football,” said Dyke.
And Rio took to Twitter to urge his 5.45million followers to add their voice to the search for solutions to English football’s problems:
5) If you care about English football and it’s players, join the debate #facommission
— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) May 8, 2014
4) We don’t have to agree on everything, but I urge all England fans to read the report. The debate needs to be had…
— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) May 8, 2014
3) … and I was buzzing to be involved. We spoke to lots of people from grassroots to the top level of the European game
— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) May 8, 2014
2) playing regularly in the Premier League. That’s why the work of The FA Chairman’s England Commission matters…
— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) May 8, 2014
1) Anyone who cares about the game in our country knows something needs to be done about the lack of England players..
— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) May 8, 2014
The B team squads would require 20 out of 25 players to qualify for the home-grown rule and no non-EU players would be allowed. Nineteen players would have to be under-21.
The commission also recommended a gradual reduction in the number of non-home-grown players in Premier League squads from 17 to 12 by 2021.
A cap of two non-EU players per squad has also been proposed, plus a ban on non-EU players outside of the Premier League.
A mix of B teams with other clubs is widely-used in Europe with Spain and Germany’s structure cited in the report as a template to follow. However, only England has four fully-professional divisions.
League 3 proposal is a disgrace, talk about destroying our pyramid and non-league structure to aid the rich few Prem sides #facommission
— Tim Taylor (@Tuppers_) May 8, 2014
