Soccer

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From: "Bill Thomas" <anfield@me.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 29, 2011 3:35 PM
To: <lfc@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: [lfc] The Cold Light of Day

> It's a pity that British players have become so ordinary, because it would
> be far better if we could load up with those players. That's not meant to
> be xenophobic, in fact if you think about it, it's just the opposite. But
> in reality are you really going to get foreign players hanging around for
> 6/7/8/9 years?

Like Didi, Hyypia? They stuck around for quite some time.

Nowadays it is rare to find many players (regardless of nationality) that
hang around for 6/7/8/9 years - but I think that's as much to do with
injuries and declining with age than with anything else. The game has become
much more physical and players are having to continually operate at 90%+ of
their physical capabilities - which is a far cry from the past.

I don't have a problem with foreign players. I also have no problem with
having an all British / Irish side. But how many really good British or
Irish players are there out there any more? Even mediocre players are far
more expensive than their foreign counterparts.