As the English Premier League season "builds to a climax on the field," club owners are "fretting over Britain’s looming exit from Europe," according to Peter Berlin of POLITICO. The EPL is a "dominant global brand, one whose income dwarfs that of its main European rivals." But with Brexit "comes a risk: losing access to the luxury end" of the int'l player market that has allowed the EPL to claim to be "the best league in the world." Stoke City Chair Peter Coates said, "I'm pessimistic about leaving. We shall all look back in five years' time and think, 'What the hell have we done this for? We're worse off.' And in 10 years' time we'll still be saying the same thing." The Premier League "has already had a taste" of what is to come. The "sharp fall in sterling since Brexit means English clubs need to pay more" to match clubs across the Channel. Premier League clubs "are already hard at work lobbying the government to exempt EU players from post-Brexit labor restrictions." But it is a "hard sell." Where the EPL is "most vulnerable is its coaching." Only nine of the 20 current Premier League managers are British, and, "as a group, they are underperforming." When it comes to players, British football "runs a staggering trade deficit." Joe Hart, currently on loan from Man City to Torino in Italy, is the "only top-level English player on the Continent." By comparison, among the 647 players who appeared in the Premier League last season, "more than half were classified as non-British." The majority, 208, were from the EU. Player agent Rachel Anderson said, "We're talking about half of the Premier League needing work permits." FA Chair Greg Clarke said in April, "What we want to do is have a few less journeyman international players. There has to be a sensible center ground where world-class players are welcomed in the Premier League but not journeymen who are displacing the young English talent" (POLITICO, 5/10).
