Conventional wisdom asserts that with two-thirds of starting players in the Premier League coming from outside England, few English players can develop. However, this view has been challenged by Stefan Szymanski, the football economics guru from the University of Michigan.
Conventional wisdom asserts that with two-thirds of starting players in the Premier League coming from outside England, few English players can develop. However, this view has been challenged by Stefan Szymanski, the football economics guru from the University of Michigan.
He argues that England’s international performances have improved since the Premier League became more international from the mid-1990s. If we disregard the 1966 World Cup as an anomaly because England were playing at home, then from 1968 to 1992, when English clubs used almost only British players, England reached the quarter finals of major tournaments four times in 13 attempts, a hit rate of 30 per cent.
By contrast in the period since 1998 England have reached four quarter finals in just eight attempts, a hit rate of fifty per cent (although the ratio may go down after this World Cup). Moreover, their win percentage rose from 52 per cent in 1968-92 to 62 per cent in the ‘international’ period.