Wenger refutes report believes quota system won't work

English Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has again attacked the calls for a quota system.

Wenger said quotas would not improve England's national team, countering a Professional Football Association report and the opinion of professional rival Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager.

And Wenger, who has fielded lineups strongly flavoured with foreign talent, said he has tried to groom English players, but they have not reached expectations.

Ferguson said quotas are mandatory for the survival of the game in England. Wenger disagrees, and said such a system will not work.

"I was at the centre of an experience (in France) where we had to play three players in the squad who were under 21," Wenger told the Telegraph. "You know what these people became? Professional bench players. Every week they sat next to the manager, not only did more French players not play but they did not even play in the reserves or practice enough, and in the end we cut the rule and we opened it up completely again because what happens is you produce professional substitutes."

The PFA document 'Meltdown' was commissioned before the EURO 2008 disaster. It shows that 15 years ago, 71 percent top-tier players in the nation were English. Last season, that number was 38 percent. The PFA has asked for a rule that would require three English-bred players on the pitch for each club at all times.

That moved PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor to term it a crisis.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.