Bold EPL tell Platini to shut up........just what he needs.

Zimgooner · Post by **Zimgooner** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 2:57 pm

The Uefa president Michel Platini has been warned by the Premier League to keep out of its affairs, after he claimed that there were not enough homegrown players and coaches in the English top flight.
Platini also accused the Premier League of being "ultra liberal" and claimed that England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008 was damaging the "soul" of the national game.

However, the Premier League's spokesman, Dan Johnson today insisted there was little wrong with the structure at elite level. "He should really mind his own business," he said. "Uefa should look after the Champions League, Uefa Cup and the European Championships. We run the Premier League and we run it successfully, which is beneficial to the English game and that is our business and not Platini's business.

Johnson added that the Premier League's ability to attract some of the world's best talent had actually been beneficial to English players. "I think the foreign influence on the Premier League has pushed it to the very highest level," he said. "We attract the best in the world and when English players are coming up against the best week in, week out we think it is good for them.
"Do you want more average [English] players or more quality players? We want players who are able to compete with the best in the world. If you look at the current crop of players we have a world-class group and the investment that is going in right across Premier League clubs in academy players is high in terms of finance and intellectual commitment.

"I think there are various factors as to why we didn't get through [to Euro 2008] this time but the quality of the players was not one of those factors."

Justin-the-Gooner · Post by **Justin-the-Gooner** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 3:23 pm

Nothing but a tw@t he is. Does not have a clue what he is talking about.

Post by **REB** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 3:29 pm

he's in all the papers today the prick,, this is his second attack in 2 weeks,,

arsene's says his job is to please the arsenal fans first and england second

Red Gunner · Post by **Red Gunner** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 3:50 pm

I hope FA does the same thing but they seem to be blinded by the "too many foreigners" propaganda. Yesterday, Wenger talked about the qoutas:

[quote]â€œI feel that the big debate in England at the moment is how to improve the quality of the national team,â€

donaldo · Post by **donaldo** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 3:55 pm

Platini can never win.It would need a change in European law.And that aint going to happen.Whats his problem does he think the French team would be so good if they all played in France, thats the problem with England none of their players are good enough to play abroad.

Arsene has always said he doesn"t look at the passport just the ability.

Post by **flash gunner** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 4:17 pm

Pleased the Premier league has told him to fuck off

Wayno · Post by **Wayno** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 5:53 pm

Platini is 'BIG Chief Cnuting Bastardhole'

26may1989 · Post by **26may1989** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 6:09 pm

donaldo wrote:Platini can never win.It would need a change in European law.And that aint going to happen.Whats his problem does he think the French team would be so good if they all played in France, thats the problem with England none of their players are good enough to play abroad.

Arsene has always said he doesn"t look at the passport just the ability.

Totally agree that quotas would be a disaster for football, and I'm pleased the EPL said what it did, but (as I keep saying!) an exemption to EU law can be agreed at a political level. The position is clear at the moment, quotas on EU nationals (and the nationals of some non-EU countries; Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) are illegal under existing EU law.

But if the governments of the EU agree, they could carve out an exemption, which would make quotas ok. Since Gordon Brown suggested he might be interested in doing that, and since Blatter and Platini (as well as Gerrard, Ferguson etc) keep going on about it, there is a possibility of a political deal like that being done. It's a long way off, but it is a possibility.

Re Platini, I disagree with much of what he says, but I will always respect him because he was one of the greatest players of his generation, and it's a relief to see a real football person (rather than one of those corrupt leaches) at the helm of European football. Some of his points (e.g. about clubs from outside the big leagues being neglected) are fair, even if some of his solutions are misconceived.

Red Gunner · Post by **Red Gunner** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 6:32 pm

If UEFA tries to threat us with quotas, we will threat them back with European Super League

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.j ... bon102.xml

highburyJD · Post by **highburyJD** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 6:58 pm

26may1989 wrote:Re Platini, I disagree with much of what he says, but I will always respect him because he was one of the greatest players of his generation, and it's a relief to see a real football person (rather than one of those corrupt leaches) at the helm of European football. Some of his points (e.g. about clubs from outside the big leagues being neglected) are fair, even if some of his solutions are misconceived.

I agree with '89
I 2have a lot of sympathy with where Platini is coming from
I'm totally against quotas but football does need a reallignment
the big clubs are ridiculously over favoured to the detriment of small ones

Ben-gooner14 · Post by **Ben-gooner14** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:33 pm

I was chuffed when i saw the news on bbc sport in my business lesson