As England face up to the prospect of missing out on next summer’s European Championship finals, Steven Gerrard has deflected attention from Steve McClaren’s future as head coach by giving warning of the bleak future that the national team could expect unless football’s authorities stem the tide of foreign players flooding the Barclays Premier League.

By offering his support for a Fifa proposal to introduce quotas that would require a minimum of six England-qualified players in each team, Gerrard has become the first senior England international to raise concerns about the growing overseas influence in the Premier League.

Significantly, his comments came on the day that Gerry Sutcliffe, the Sports Minister, told The Times that there should be an “independent look” at the effect of the foreign invasion on the national team. However, the plan put forward by Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, and supported by Gerrard, is doomed, according to the European Commission, which yesterday reiterated that sport will not be exempt from the EU Reform Treaty and that footballers will continue to enjoy freedom of movement.

There may not be much sympathy with Gerrard’s comments at a time when England look likely to fail in their bid to qualify for Euro 2008. Not only do they have to beat Croatia at Wembley on Wednesday, they are also relying on either Russia or Croatia slipping up away to Israel or the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia respectively on Saturday. However, the Liverpool captain believes that the public and the Football Association should be looking at issues deeper than those surrounding McClaren’s position.

Of the 220 players who started in last weekend’s ten Premier League fixtures, only 74 were qualified to play for England and the indications are that the number of foreign players will continue to grow. Asked if he was in favour of the quota system, Gerrard said: “Yes, definitely, I am all for there being a rule change.

“Something has got to happen otherwise there will be more and more foreigners and they will take over. There is a big danger that we stop producing quality young kids because of the amount of foreigners in the game. If foreigners do take over completely, it will affect the national team even worse than maybe it is now.

“I can proudly say I am playing in one of the best leagues in the world, but the important thing is to have one of the best national teams as well. It’s pointless having the best league in the world if our national team is going to suffer in the long run, so it’s important to keep bringing quality players in, the likes of Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen. Otherwise the national team will struggle.”

With their qualification hopes hanging by a thread, England travel to Vienna this afternoon to prepare for tomorrow evening’s friendly match against Austria. Gerrard, who will captain the team in the absence of the injured John Terry, admitted that it is an unusual situation, with the greater attention on Russia’s match in Tel Aviv the next evening, and acknowledged that he and his team-mates face a “difficult night” at Wembley if results over the weekend mean that their fate has been all but confirmed.

It would be more than difficult for McClaren, whose position as head coach could be rendered untenable by results in Tel Aviv and Skopje, but he retains the public backing of his senior players, with Gerrard yesterday again offering his support. However, Gerrard and Owen admitted that the players have given no thought to making representations to Brian Barwick, the FA chief executive, in support of their head coach.

McClaren intends to use players such as David Bentley and Ashley Young at some stage against Austria, as well as Scott Carson, who will make his debut in goal even though Paul Robinson is expected to return against Croatia. Owen Hargreaves has been ruled out with a knee injury and Shaun Wright-Phillips missed training yesterday because of an ankle injury.

Joleon Lescott is favourite to beat Wes Brown to the final place in the back four. McClaren is likely to resolve his other two dilemmas by reinstating Frank Lampard in central midfield at Gareth Barry’s expense and giving Peter Crouch the chance to partner Owen in attack in the absence of the injured Rooney.

Explore Football

• Premier League

• Football League

• Scotland

• European Football

• International Football

• TheGame

• Live Match Tracker

• The Fink Tank

• Fantasy Football