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The referendum and Premier League transfers

June23West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady has  written to club bosses throughout the UK warning them a vote to leave Europe would have “devastating consequences” for the game in the Premier League.

And Premier League boss Richard Scudamore made it clear in a speech to the Institute of Directors last year that his personal view was that Britain should stay in the EU.

However, the Premier League’s public position is that membership is a matter for voters and it always works with “the government of the day”.

A recent article the Guardian revealed that dozens of top European stars playing in the Premier League would not qualify for work permits if Britain quit the EU and treated all overseas footballers the same.

It reported that a study into rules governing working visas for elite players suggests that a so-called “Brexit” indicated that the European contingent in Premier League squads could be decimated if the UK voted to leave the EU and if the visa rules in place for non-EU players were applied across the board. Visa rules are unlikely to apply retroactively, but could threaten future transfers.

There are 161 players from the EU and European Economic Area (EEA)* in the Premier League. A Guardian study has found that around two thirds would not have met the criteria currently used for non-Europeans to get a work visa automatically.

A top West Ham insider told ClaretandHugh: “There would be years of transition, but if we vote out many foreign players will not get work permits to play in PL.”

 

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

9 comments on “The referendum and Premier League transfers

  1. It may take years but perhaps this could mean we will finally give our home grown talent a chance. This will give us a better national side as an added bonus.

  2. More Project Fear.

    In the event of Brexit, the reality is that the British government would have the absolute freedom to allow in, or exclude, as many players as it decides are appropriate. It could decide to allow all, some or none of the players it currently permits to play in UK. It will have the full sovereignty to make that decision itself rather than allow the beauracrats in Brussels to make that decision and set the parameters for them. If any players are not allowed to play here post-Brexit, it will be because the UK government has made that specific decision not because they are excluded as a direct result of Brexit itself. Likewise with all the EU NHS workers that Cameron has been banging on about. The Guardian and Ms. Brady should know that, instead of misleading everyone.

  3. I thought I had clicked the wrong box & I was on Wetpants when I saw this article.

  4. Nah youre safe Rick,definatley ain’t there.Go there if you want to read Cokers managerial/top talent scout assessment of Poyet.Did you know he needs to look for a forward pass quicker.Ffs I hope he is going to feed this information through to Slav 😉

  5. I think the only true thing you can say is that no one has a clue what the effects of leaving the EU will be – all these scare stories are counter-productive and only manage to get the electorate to think of the Political Classes in a lesser light – if that’s possible!

  6. Simple answers Beer will not be cheaper,Fags won’t be cheaper Petrol won’t be cheaper,
    I will become an immigrant,but who cares the 3 above will still be cheap,
    It’s the devil you know or God knows what,
    But English players will become very expensive if we can’t bring in cheap exports,
    Just hope us expats and non British punters on this site will still have the freedom to join the rest of you,
    You all know where I am off too

  7. I could give a good informed guess that’s to the bar bubs.Enjoy buddy.

  8. There is a lot of misinformation on both sides of this argument. Personally I think Lady Brady should separate her political role with her football role.

    Reality is that both the Premier League and the Border Agency would make changes to keep English football as the top 1 sports TV export. Decide what you will on Brexit but don’t make a decision based on whether West Ham could make transfers. the issue is far bigger and complex than that.

    • Exactly how I feel about it too. In fact, the more the ‘Remainers’ come out with this sort of stuff, the more I have gone for leave: I started at 65% stay in, I am now 65% out. If anything, the subtext here is that there is more chance of the German system where the Bundesliga teams have to have 50% German players…(Is that right??)…SO if we did leave the EU, our National team would have more chance of improving, because we would have far more UK players in the PL. IN SUMMARY; If anyone cares about the National team (which with Woy in charge, it is a tough ask!!), then Karren Brady’s comments work as a vote leave, not vote stay!!

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