Greg Clarke hopes Brexit will reduce the influx of "journeyman" players.GETTY IMAGES
Serious differences have emerged between the Premier League and the FA "over work permits for European Union players after Brexit," according to Martyn Ziegler of the LONDON TIMES. The Premier League wants any foreign player who is given a contract and included in a 25-man, first-team squad to be eligible for a work permit -- "a change that would also make it much easier for non-EU nationals to join clubs in England's top flight." Club chairs are "fearful that imposing the same rules on European players that non-EU players now face would leave the Premier League at a huge disadvantage compared with European rivals." The FA, and "in particular" its chair, Greg Clarke, "hopes Brexit will increase the opportunities given to English players" and reduce the influx of "journeymen" players. Talks between football's stakeholders are said to have been "constructive without the bitterness that has overshadowed some areas of dispute in the past," but there is still "considerable distance" between their positions. One source said, "On the work-permit issue, they are still poles apart" (LONDON TIMES, 8/14).
'IN PURSUIT OF PROGRESS': In London, Simon Burnton reported the FA published a three-year plan to make itself "as diverse and inclusive as possible" as Clarke said that "football shouldn't just be trying to keep up with the pace of societal change; it should be helping to lead it." The plan, called "In Pursuit of Progress," is part of the FA's commitment, announced in January, to "ensure those running the game reflect those playing it." The FA's focus will be on "increasing the diversity of its workforce." Although just over half of the 23-man senior squad for this summer's World Cup was "black or mixed-background," only 13% of the FA's coaching staff, the same proportion of its staff in general, and 5% of people in leadership roles are from a black or minority ethnic background. By '21, the FA expects this number to rise to 20% of coaches and 11% of those in leadership roles (GUARDIAN, 8/14).
