The FA is determined that this month will be the "last transfer window in which clubs will be able to use a discredited appeals process" to sign the non-European Union players who, the governing body fears, "block the progress of young English footballers into Premier League squads," according to Sam Wallace of the London INDEPENDENT. FA Chair Greg Dyke's FA Commission "hopes to change the rules ahead of the summer transfer window so that clubs will no longer be able to go to appeal in order to gain Home Office work permits" for players who do not meet the criteria. Currently, the work permit requirement for players without an EU passport is that they have to be an int'l from a country ranked within FIFA's top 70 and have played 75% of their country's int'l matches in the last two years. However, the biggest concern for Dyke "has been the ease with which those who have failed to meet those criteria have been waved through" in an appeals process run by the FA on behalf of the Home Office. Dyke has described the current appeal system as "a bit of a farce." He "bemoaned the awarding of Home Office work permits" to players whom the panel approved "because the manager shows up at appeal with a video saying, 'He will be a good player.'" Under tougher new rules proposed by Dyke, "the subjective panel hearings would be scrapped." The criteria would be changed with the threshold of int'l appearances brought down to 30%, to allow for "players from top nations like Brazil" where the competition to play int'l football is "that much greater" (INDEPENDENT, 1/13).
