In England these days, sounds of gnashing of teeth, of wailing and whingeing permeate any discussion of the Premiership, of money in football, of the futility of England’s attempt to be a part of next year’s European Championships. Given a reprieve when Israel beat Russia, England had their feet on their own destiny, but they lost to Croatia at Wembley. For the first time since 1994, the national team failed to qualify for a major tournament. Why? Oh, why? all the voices say. What can we do?

An island people, English folk have a reserved attitude to strangers, and so the first instinct might be to blame the troubles of the national team on foreigners. That is exactly what happened. Football pundits called for a restriction on the number of foreign players on each team in the Premiership. Sepp Blatter, the head of FIFA, called for restrictions; his European counterpart and sometime pet poodle Michel Platini said it was impossible, even though he favors it. He has made the point that “There are 95 registered Brazilian players in the Champions League, 94 French players and 45 English players”, which puts England at a disadvantage.

Even politicians plunged into the fray. George Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and his culture secretary urged protection (from imports) for English players in order to maintain the quality of the national team. But the knowing football people, Arsène Wenger of Arsenal, for instance, did not agree. “Do you really think that if I regularly started with five average English players, England would win the World Cup?” he scoffed. “I have only been here since 1996 but between 1966 (when England won the World Cup) and 1996 you had 30 years without foreign players and you still didn’t win anything.”

It comes down to Brits wanting to protect the national team, and Wenger, a Frenchman, wanting to protect the quality of the game by getting the best players, wherever they are from. And he has the law on his side. Within the European Union since 1995, laws allow players to move freely back and forth, just as any skilled craftsman or professional can. If there are no quotas for plumbers, there can be none for soccer-players.

For many, many years before the sixties and seventies, British clubs foreswore formal coaching of players and youth. There is a telling story of a former manager of England giving his players complex instructions before an international match to “…watch out for the tall blond fellow at corners.” Good advice, since they were playing Norway, but hardly sophisticated tactical planning!

Many observers believe that the fundamental problem with English soccer is that the Football Association has a poor foundation for training players, especially young players. If that be the case, then no amount of restrictions and quotas in the Premiership are going to help the problem. In fact, any English player playing against the best in the world in that competition will benefit from it, and theoretically, so will the national team.

And as for me, if I am going to lay out the money to watch a Premiership game, I want to see the best, not some journeymen struggling. As Wenger says: “The purpose is to push the level up as high as possible and to entertain.” I agree.