Should England be welcoming foreign players?
One I’m hoping the mailbox can answer. Why does England (and rest of UK) impose the birth, parental, grand parental or 5 years compulsory education rule? Normally you just need citizenship – which is five years residency for the UK I believe. Other countries, including Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany and Holland – have no problem with allowing ‘foreign’ players who have lived in the country long enough adopt them as a nation. Indeed, Deco, Pepe, Costa, Camoranesi and Klose are few examples of countries adopting real quality players.

In the past it has meant we’ve lost out on players like Arteta, Rangel (for Wales), Almunia and now Leon Bailey have all missed the opportunity due to this stupid rule. Can anyone in the mailbox tell me why we have this stupid rule and if there are any other players who would have/are eligible for England but we could lose to other FAs. Given the Rugby and Cricket teams are made up of foreign ringers I don’t why football should be different.
Joe, Midlands