A British Club

[plymouthranger 3,902]

First of all, the following is probably a view that won't resonate with a lot of our supporters. I accept that, I can completely understand the downsides for such a policy, but hear me out and let's see if we can have an interesting debate.

Would you be for/against it, if Rangers had a policy of only signing British players?

Now before everyone jumps down my throat about such a dream, lets think about it...

We are at a time where all of the home nations, (even the micks, although i'll ignore them as they don't do anything for the identity of our club) are complaining that their leagues aren't filled with quality, British born players. Whilst this is specific to the EPL at the moment, we have a situation whereby many of the Scotland squad are players either sitting on the substitute bench for EPL sides, or are in the lower English leagues.

In Scotland, we have a problem where our clubs sell our best talent for inflated fees before such players can mature and gain the experience they need (see David Goodwillie, Fraser Fyvvie etc.). But we have an advantage that nobody seems to of caught onto north of the border... British players can command higher transfer fees than foreign players at foreign clubs (outwith of those with real money). We've seen it with McGeady, Hutton, McCarthey etc.

Anyways, what i'd like to see is Rangers bring in a policy which says that if your in our youth set up, we don't mind what nationality you are. This avoids us being discriminatory and the whole 5-year British-schooling national rule is also avoided (phew, that's a mess and all). But after the age of say 18-20, we only sign British players. It means we have a starting eleven made up of players who know what it means to play for Rangers, who understand the ins and outs of British football, and allows us to focus our scouting on these shores.

I accept, such a policy would mean that we wouldn't of got the chance to sign Laudrup, or the de Boers. But the money we'd save on not sending scouts abroad (not sure if we do it that much at the moment, but i'm sure its something we'll be looking to do), could help us find the best young Scottish, Northern Irish, Welsh and even English players quickly and snap them up.

It'd be a great PR move, as we'd be seen as the first club in British football, dedicating to improving not only themselves, but also the quality of the home international sides (no matter who you support). And imagine the pride if a bunch of young British boys, from 1-11, went out in our colours, and defeated a team of foreign mercenaries for some other side in Europe.

Pipe dream I know, just wanted to see if anyone else agrees with it

[simplythebest 11,453]

Idealistic but really not possible in modern football.

[the goal machine 7,810]

No, we've had lots of great foreign players. I'm sure that will continue.

[plymouthranger 3,902]

Idealistic but really not possible in modern football.

You say its not possible, but you look at Bilbao (who only pick Basque players, of which there is a far far smaller population), and their still consistently one of the better teams in Spanish football

[there'sonlyoneamoruso 1,724]

Good idea in theory, but why limit ourselves?

[EatDolphins 5,357]

The last thing you should do in modern football is cut your player selection by %90. Apart from that I just don't believe Britain actually has that many quality young players.

[True Azure 1,414]

I'm sure that there will be an EU law regarding such a work setting scenario, eg restriction of trade or some such.

[gmcf 34,484]

I've always preferred British players , there seems to be an aura of solidity about them.

I wouldn't, however, like to deprive ourselves of players out with Britain. Apart from the fact we've had hugely successful foreign players here, I feel limiting ourselves to ' Britain only ' would be a hindrance while every other club can pick world wide.

[legalbeagle 3,734]

Not really interested to be honest. Being British doesn't mean you aren't a mercenary. We wouldn't have been in the UEFA Cup final without Cuellar and Novo, this season would be far poorer without Mohsni, then just look at the contributions from Klos, Amoruso, Albertz, Laudrup and so many others.

[rangersross 6,538]

It's not for me.

Novo, Prso and Papac embodied the 'Rangers mentality' far better than Naismith, MacGregor or Davis.

[simplythebest 11,453]

You say its not possible, but you look at Bilbao (who only pick Basque players, of which there is a far far smaller population), and their still consistently one of the better teams in Spanish football

Spain has much more talent than Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the best English talent will always go to the Premiership or Championship even ahead of us.

[RFC55 109,739]

We've had foreigners over the years show more class and loyalty than British born players even players born rangers fans.

[.Williamson. 83,201]

Not for me.

[simplythebest 11,453]

We've had foreigners over the years show more class and loyalty than British born players even players born rangers fans.

Especially last year.

[Bluepeter9 5,167]

I must admit I always liked the UEFA policy that your players had to be home grown ( Scots or nationalised Scots) but you had a quota of 3 foreign players where you could add quality - I think that's worked for every country - it just fell foul of EU law and now the EPL ( amongst others) would whinge and greet about it.

[Blue Atheist 178]

I would be against an all British team but would support the re-introduction of the 3 foreigner rule. Maybe 5.

(With Brits being considered as non-foreigners, of course)

[North Rd 2,860]

I think the OP is just trying to find an excuse to get rid of Daly

[tannerall 25,935]

During the 90s some of the greatest players in the world were joining Rangers, I would not want to change that.

And there is Nacho Novo, Marvin Andrews, etc totally loyal to Rangers despite being foreign.

[tannerall 25,935]

I do think the opposite needs to be done, in that perhaps in some countries which are lower in the ranks, clubs should have better access to revenue and players which the leading nations have.

Only way I can see this happening though is if the major teams in Europe became franchises like the NFL in America, where the lesser clubs are allowed to draft in the best players, and the club is effectively independent of its location.

I think a select European league will eventually be formed like the NFL due to the TV revenue and will embrace the franchising of clubs and drafting in of stronger players for the weaker teams, but this will be at least 5 or 6 years away.

Funny thing is last year many were suggesting (inspired by Green)that Rangers as a British club , could effectively be franchised in to a league down south, even playing down there. If you think that would be impossible, look at Airdrie's acquisition of Clydebank. or the "Wimbledon" move to Milton Keynes.

[Dutchy 1,200]

Unfortunately, the market place is there for buying/selling players. I see no benefit's in restricting ourselves to only one portion of the market.

[OLE SUPER WILBERT 2,475]

Raci...

Nah shite idea.

[cushynumber 25,178]

a good PR move? on the contrary it would be a PR disaster as it would be twisted and pulled apart until we were all fascists and lumped into the same pot as the EDL.

Proof? You only have to look at jack Wilshires recent, fairly innocuous comments to see how things would go. Also Hodgson made a joke recently about monkey that was deemed by some to be rascist. Never mind it was about an actual monkey based on a real live historical event and there was no double meaning or innuendo. It was simply enough that the word could, in another situation, be deemed offensive.

Sorry mate, its a non starter for me.

[NamibianBear 1,851]

How many superb non Brits have we had? Nah, sign who we want from wherever thanks!

[Tumshie 205]

It's a no from me.

Having said that I do prefer seeing the nucleus of the team being British with a few foreign stars rather than 11 foreigners.

[Falcoholic 1,348]

You would have to include British of ???????? origin in that too.

In a nation of pereptually offended who complain about flag flying and others who are jailed for the singing of certain historical folk ballads I somehow canna see this idea getting off the ground.