adminHodgson is hoping to guide the Three Lions to the 2014 World Cup final in Brazil, but believes his job is made harder due to the lack of homegrown talent on show in the top flight.
“Quite a few of the games I go to do not have any English players,” he said, speaking to Sky Sports at a League Managers’ Association event.
“So, one has to be very careful these days when talking about the Premier League and talking about the Englishness of it, because more than two thirds of the players in the league are not English.
“We have one of the lowest number of homegrown players to choose from in all the leagues, which, if you are national team manager, is not a great advantage, to be frank.”
The England manager’s sentiments mirror those of his assistant coach and Mail on Sunday columnist Gary Neville. The former Manchester United defender and Three Lions international used a recent column to highlight the danger of allowing the number of English-born players to slip.
He said: “I’ve always been a defender of our globalised Premier League. Foreign owners have invested huge sums to bring top stars from abroad and that has driven standards higher.
“Foreign coaches have brought new ideas and helped us to develop. But there has to be some balance in the equation. I’ve always argued that young English players should have to compete with the best talents from Europe and that the cream will rise to the top. I still think that’s true. Players like Ryan Giggs, David Beckham and Paul Scholes would have stood out in any environment. But what about players like me? Players like my brother, Phil, or Nicky Butt.” — Mailonline.
Online Reporter