by Sutekh »
23 Jul 2014 12:52
From the BBC OS
FA chairman Greg Dyke has told a panel of MPs he still hopes to introduce a controversial B league.
The 67-year-old was criticised when he attempted to introduce a new tier for Premier League second teams between League Two and the Conference in a bid to develop young English talent.
That plan was rejected by the Football League and prompted some protests from supporters.
However, Dyke told politicians: "The game is not over yet."
Dyke believes England are not helped by a lack of English players playing overseas
Dyke made his comments to a Culture Media and Sport (CMS) Select Committee on Tuesday as part of their probe into the bidding process for the 2022 World Cup, which was awarded to Qatar.
It was pointed out to Dyke that many of the Germany side that won the World Cup had played for B teams and he was asked if he felt he "could not win" following the dismissal of his proposal in June.
"I don't rule it out," he said. "A lot of Premier League clubs and particularly managers read the report and were totally in favour of the analysis."
Dyke added that there were too many "bog-standard" foreign players in the Premier League and claimed that in Germany's Bundesliga there was an "unwritten agreement" about the numbers of domestic players that play in it to get around European employment laws.
Dyke added that England are on a four-year journey with manager Roy Hodgson
He was also asked if there had been a review into England manager Roy Hodgson's performance as his side exited the World Cup at the group stage.
"I think he's been on holiday," said Dyke, before adding: "I thought Roy Hodgson did quite a good job."
Dyke was also asked if he thought England would never win another World Cup.
"Never say never," he said. "But it's difficult - 33% of players in the Premier League are qualified to play for England.
"Really in the top six clubs last year it was down to 23%. If you look at transfer activity this year - apart from a couple of Southampton players that have gone to Liverpool or United - everyone else that has come in has come from overseas.
"It's going to get tougher and tougher until we do something about it."
On the subject of world governing body Fifa, Dyke added that England would not bid for another World Cup while Sepp Blatter remained president and jokingly referred to a June meeting of Fifa's congress as "like something out of North Korea - hail to the leader".