Thanks For The Memories, Eden

Robert J Wilson Says The English Game's Poorer Without The Talents Of The Mercurial Belgian.

THE success of English clubs in Europe last season re-en-forced our belief that we possess the best league in the world.

It arguably remains the most competitive with the bottom clubs more than capable of surprising the top clubs in a one-off game - but the final league table rarely lies.

The top six continue to dominate and then there are a clutch of clubs with aspirations of finishing in one of the European places and probably another ten anxiously peering over their shoulders at the three relegation places.

Their first objective has to be 40 points and survival because if they slip into the Championship then financially it is a disaster. Sadly, money has become the main motivator within a lot of Premier League clubs.

As a brand, the Premier League is unbelievably popular around the world and the mass wealth it generates has seen an influx of top foreign players grace our stadiums. The truly great ones have enhanced our football considerably.

Sadly, there have also been a number of foreign mercenaries who have purely come for the cash and offered very little value in return.

All they have done is restrict the number of chances for homegrown talent to come through the Academy structure or for the Premier League clubs to go out and scout talent from the lower leagues.

The likes of Ian Rush, Kevin Keegan, Stuart Peace, Ian Wright, Les Ferdinand, Lee Sharpe and, more recently, Dele Alli are all success stories of proper old school scouting.