Are the bigger clubs ruining football

The ethos for small clubs in the Premier League is to essentially do well and develop a style that will help them succeed in the league and the use of key players particularly youngsters has been catching the eye recently. As soon as they make a name for themselves, a bid from a so called 'big club' comes in and then a crucial decision is needed to be made and at such a young age. Recent acquisitions such as Joe Allen and Jack Rodwell, both of Swansea and Everton respectively.

These two talented midfielders have essentially 2/3 years Premier League seasons experience between them so why are they in so much demand.

Fair Play League

There are new rules coming into play illustrating that each club has to have a certain amount of home grown players who have trained in England for a few years this also relates to teams competing in Europe which is probably one of many reasons why British wonderkids are sought after. If you haven't notice look at the fact that British players are more pricier than foreign exports which is why the sellers have the ball firmly in their court. Why would you want to sign a player for 10/20 million when you could steal someone just as good at around half the price because our Spanish counterparts need the money. Most clubs in La Liga are struggling to stay afloat you only have to look at Malaga etc. Swansea sold Allen for 15 and brought in Michu for 2 it just goes to show how much the market has changed recently. Manchester United brought in Nick Powell from Crewe and Man City and Liverpool have brought in these two players.

So What's The Problem?

Well a team can spend plenty of hours making a player come through the ranks and propel him onto the world stage and watch him grow and if he does well then the club yields the results from it. The problem is that if he does well then the vultures of world football will be on hand to snatch him and give him that bumper contract he craves and his chance to win silverware albeit overshadowed by first team guarantees. What can the smaller club do though?, Well the answer is simply nothing and just try and hold out for the best possible deal because more often or not the player will force the move. There seems to be a lack of protection for the smaller clubs despite being paid fees, you can't just simply replace a key player despite the money.

So What Can They Do To Protect Themselves

Well slapping a brand new contract if he has less than two years to run on his existing contract to make it harder for potential suitors so at least they can provide compensation. Or offer him the biggest contract you can because most players are thinking about their future and finance over football and even trophies. There's the obvious idea of not playing the key player but then the team misses out overall. There really isn't much a smaller side can do to prevent the bigger sides from robbing them of their best assets and even the money offered is a poor compromise at best.

So YES! bigger sides are ruining it for smaller ones because they should have much better and established academies on which to push on from so why are they robbing the smaller sides when they have nowhere near the same facilities to advance is sheer astounding. Something needs to be put in place otherwise it will always remain the top 4 and more importantly the top 6 in some cases.

Much Appreciated
D.John