The new squad rules for Premiership Clubs seem quite well thought out in my view since they encourage home-grown talent as well as youth. And generally, anything which Arsene Wenger disagrees with is usually fine with me, and to be honest, to most British football fans. I have been sad to see some of Wenger’s Arsenal teams without any English players at all. It is as if Wenger sees the proximity of London to the Channel Tunnel as its most important feature - the train to Paris from St. Pancras is now really close to the Emirates Stadium. The rules say that 8 of the 25 man squad to be named at the end of each transfer window have to be home-grown players. The good news for Sunderland fans is that our club with 12 players defined as home-grown, qualifies with ease.

I like to think that Steve Bruce, being the proud Englishman he is, and a gifted guy at bringing on young talent, has been planning ahead for this deadline. The “rules” are summarised as follows:

- Clubs register a squad of up to 25 players, which must include at least eight 'home-grown' players, at the end of each transfer window.

- Home-grown players do not have to be English; home-grown players are defined as those who "irrespective of nationality or age, have been affiliated to the FA or Welsh FA for a period of three seasons or 36 months prior to 21st birthday"

- Clubs can supplement the squad with unlimited number of players under the age of 21.

- Changes can be made only during transfer windows, although in exceptional circumstances (e.g. goalkeeping injury crisis) moves could be allowed.

- Players loaned to Football League clubs cannot be replaced, but can regain their spot on return to parent club.

- Rules apply only to Premier League matches, not European, FA Cup or League Cup action.

- The first deadline is 5.00 PM on 1 September (24 hours after end of August transfer window).

There is quite a good explanation on the SAFC.com website, see
http://www.safc.com/news/20100730/new-squad-rules-explained_2256213_2106350

So our home-grown players are: Phil Bardsley, Darren Bent, Titus Bramble, Fraizer Campbell, Trevor Carson, Lee Cattermole, Anton Ferdinand, Matt Kilgallon, George McCartney, Andy Reid
Michael Turner, Kieran Richardson

The under-21s are: Jack Colback, Jordan Henderson, David Meyler, Ryan Noble, Adam Reed, Martyn Waghorn

The non-home-grown players are: Ahmed Al Muhammadi, Marcos Angeleri, Paulo Da Silva, Graig Gordon, Kenwyne Jones, Steed Malbranque, Simon Mignolet, Cristian Riveros, Teemu Tainio, Boudewijn Zenden.

I want to record my thanks to Sunderland legend Kevin Ball for his part in bringing on so much young talent at our club. The Black Cats have some great prospects coming through, we can field a full team of Brits, but we still have some flair and excitement in the form of overseas players, who have brought a lot of pleasure to the fans. Players like Zenden, aside from his two great finishes as sub last season, has been an inspiration to the younger players in the squad, such as Henderson and David Meyler.

I tip Kenwyne Jones, Cristian Riveros, Fraizer Campbell and Martyn Waghorn to make a huge impression going forward next season.
©Lars J.S. Knutsen