These guys have missed the point: money is the point; teams winning is the point; coaches keeping a job is the point. Ergo, kids from the academies dont get the chance because coaches go all over the world seeking players who will help them NOW!

MON gave some academy kids a chance when he wasn't expected to win--credit given: would he do it now that he is expected to win?

chris harris, washington DC, usa

Spot on Patrick. Arsene Wenger, derided for his perceived distrust of English players, has gone a long way to rectifying the academy system at Arsenal. This has led to a whole generation of English youngsters showing flair and skill during play - attributes not found in the Gerrard generation. Bentley, Murphy, Muamba, the Hoyte brothers, Lansbury, Gibbs are a few examples of players brought through by Arsenal. Whilst they might not all get first team opportunities at Arsenal, their impact at other clubs and on the league itself is noticeable.

When he arrived, Wenger expressed concern at the poor development of the academy's players and said it would take 10 years to rectify the situation. His implementations are producing results as he said they would.

The FA would do well to stop criticising foreign players and pour more money into grassroots football and a national academy a la Clairefontaine instead of building expensive new stadia and paying themselves unjustified salaries.

Carys Mathews, Chester, uk

Bloody right too! It is way overdue to do something positive about this. How about putting a limit to the number of foreign players a club can field for a game: maximum 5 per game including subs - the rest must be British.

We cannot allow foreigners (players and owners alike) to just swamp the EPL. Give our own a chance to realize their dream. Or else football means nothing but big money.

Anton Lyn, Guangzhou, China

Manchester City ????????

Paul Fowles, Crewe, UK

When will people give the Mighty Hammers the credit they deserve - we won the World Cup in '66 & it'll be up to us to do it again (whenever that might be). Only when Mark Noble is captain of England do we stand a chance.

Martin Clark, Chelmsford,

English grassroot football is uttter tosh. I am playing at Mens level again after stopping at under 16 level and it's just as bad.

Where in other European countries and Latin America, the emphasis is on skill, technique, possession and overall comfortability on the ball, the culture in England emphasises speed, brute force and physical presence. As a kid, I was never encouraged to keep the ball or dribble, it was always "look up and pass." I believe, this is the culture which is making our kids so bad at this sport - football is an art not a war nor rugby.

We need to adopt the Italian, Spanish, Brazilian and French culture of football. It's no surprise flair players such as Kaka, Ronaldinho, Zidane, Ronaldo win award after award. The closest English player we have to the aforementioned is possibly Joe Cole and perhaps, Scholes, or even David Bentley. Let's not blame wholly the foreign players - I believe they have set the bar for which our future English players should look up to.

Ali, Kent, England

It would be interesting to see how teams might fair if players had to do a return of service of say 4 years following their apprenticeship. West Ham would certainly have a good line up.

However, the harsh reality is that money talks. Poorer clubs will always sell out to release much needed cash and if a team can buy players in already prepared to play top level football rather than wait 4 or 5 years for them (the players) to develop, then they will.

Steve, Devizes, England