We've had squad
rotation. But this will be the season when for some Premier League
players the game comes grinding to a halt.
They will still be collecting
pay packets of £40,000, £50,000, or even more every week, but they
will spend match day sat suited in the stand.
That's the bizarre effect of
the League's new 25-man squad rule as it starts to bite at the
clubs who have thrown fortunes at players.
Big names like Owen Hargreaves
at Manchester United and Fulham's record £10.5million signing Andy
Johnson could have their comebacks from injury put on ice until
January because their clubs won't waste a squad space on anybody
who is not fit.
Free-spending Manchester City,
with 33 senior players and plans to buy more, might have no space
for the likes of Craig Bellamy and Roque Santa Cruz.
On Monday night one Premier
League manager warned: 'For years the top boys have been able to
keep lots of players happy by giving them big money and keep
changing the team.
'But what's it going to do to
morale behind the scenes when suddenly two or three are told they
have no chance of even lacing a pair of boots up on match
day?'
Eight have to be 'home grown',
meaning they must have spent at least three years training with an
English or Welsh professional club before they reached the age of
21.
After that the only
players not on that list who can play will be any under the age of
21 on January 1, 2010.
The system was agreed by all
the club chairmen last September but it seems managers are only now
realising the consequences.
Redknapp said of Woodgate,
once hailed by Sir Bobby Robson as 'the best defender in the
country':
'I couldn't put him in my 25.
You can't have somebody in who's never going to play, if he's not
going to be fit. He's got to prove that between now and the start
of the season and he's a long way off.'
So Woodgate may have played
his last Premier League game for the club.
The rule represents a major
change for the League. Last season Portsmouth used 33 players,
while the average top-flight club used 27, picking 12 English
players and seven under the age of 21.
The new rule aims to make room
for younger home-grown talent to come through and prevent the
biggest clubs stockpiling talent. If they buy a player, somebody
else will have to be shown the door.
But players who have years to
run on contracts worth massive money won't give up millions of
pounds to play for other clubs, so big clubs might have to send
them on loan while paying most of their wages.
However, Redknapp said: 'I
think if young players are good enough they'll come through
(anyway). You get some kids who will get in the 25 and don't work
on their game. You've got to deserve to be there, rather than just
having them for the sake of it, token players.'
