FIFA loan limits proposal – could this be the death of the Football League?

That might seem like a sensational headline, but I’m beginning to worry about the state of our lower league structure.

On October 26th, FIFA are going to propose that clubs be limited on the number of players that they send out on loan. their aim is to prevent stockpiling, something we see increasingly in our own top flight, but also to restrict sides such as Chelsea or Liverpool charging extortionate loan fees for players and making money.

The loan market has changed significantly in the last few years. When I was a young man, a short-term loan was a month and we saw future managers such as Chris Wilder, Michael Appleton and David Flitcroft come through Sincil Bank on such loans. Three-month was a long-term switch, right up until a season or two ago.

Now, six-months is classed as a short-term loan and borrowing players is an acceptable part of any squad builder process, certainly in our division. Sam Surridge, third highest scorer in our division, is borrowed. Last season, Jorge Grant helped fire Notts County to the play off spots. Borrowing players is an accepted and, in my opinion, acceptable facet to the modern game. I don’t like the big clubs hoarding the young players, but it seems a necessary ill that we have to bear.

If we scratch the surface of the situation, we’re perhaps at the bottom of the food chain, so to speak. Chelsea, who have a whopping 40 players out on loan, give Derby County a helping hand with Mason Mount. Derby then loan us Kellan Gordon. Maybe we’re merely another link in the chain as we loan Joan Luque to Bromley. At the top, loans are plentiful but as we trickle down the divisions they get less so. 

According to transfermrkt.com, there are just under 100 players on loan in our division this season, of which approximately 60 come from either the Premier League, Championship or the Under 23 versions of teams at that level. There are a further 76 in League One, meaning 136 players currently plying their trade in the basement divisions are out on loan from 44 different clubs. With the Championship clubs also borrowing 77 players either from teams of the same level or above, it means our top 44 teams are supply a total of 193 players to other clubs. Those figures may be one or two out, but the information has been farmed from soccerbase and transfermrkt. 

The numbers get bigger when you look at the top clubs outgoing players. Chelsea have 40 players out on loan, of which 18 are abroad and one in Scotland. Manchester City have 26 out with other clubs, 21 of which are not in England. Liverpool have 17 out on loan, nine of which are not in England. Even Leeds in the Championship have 18 players out on loan. This is big business and more worryingly, those big clubs might soon be told to stop.

What happens then? Do Chelsea just release Mason Mount, Jamal Blackman and Izzy Brown? Of course they don’t, these are players who will likely be stars of the future.

What happens then? Do Chelsea just release Mason Mount, Jamal Blackman and Izzy Brown? Of course they don’t, these are players who will likely be stars of the future. They won’t play them every week either, so what is the next option?

I’ve been an advocate of the Checkatrade Trophy because I didn’t feel it was a precursor to the whole ‘B’ team debate. That was voted out and in a democracy such as ours, I firmly believed that would be that. There are signs however that have started to get me worried. very worried.

Firstly, the iFollow debate has become very clouded. Andy Holt, the Accrington chairman, summed it up in a series of tweets recently, but the upshot is that the member clubs of the EFL did not approve iFollow coverage to include Saturday afternoon games. The EFL have acknowledged this, but have vowed to carry on streaming games when there’s an international break to ‘gather data’, but with no intent on implementing their test. Crucially, they won’t allow clubs to vote on it either. Essentially, they’re doing what they want without mandate from the clubs they claim to represent.

What they have done is changed the parameters of an agreement, moving for Saturday afternoon coverage without consultation of the member clubs. It sets a worrying precedent and if that is ported over to the B team debate, the fear of changes to our structure grow further. There’s a sub-lot here that clubs in League One and Two do not matter, that these trials take place during the international break, when the top two divisions are not playing. Still, what do we matter, right? 

Even if the B team debate had been put on the back burner, shelved under ‘rejected’ and merely the thing of fan’s groups baseless fears and scaremongering, how long do you think it will remain there if Chelsea are told they can’t loan out 34 of the 40 players they’ve got out at the minute? How do you think our big clubs will react? I’ll tell you how.

They’ll want to be able to put them into a competition where they play every week, not the Premier League 2 or whatever the kids play in, a proper competition. They’ll point to Spain, winners of international tournaments in recent years and say ‘it works over there’. Whenever our teams fail to win a Champions League and Madrid or Barcelona do, they’ll point to the B team argument again. If they can only loan six out, they’ll claim there’s not enough competitive football to keep our young players sharp.

What is it the armchair fan wants to see more of? Burton against Bradford, or Manchester United against Bayern Munich? Who holds the power here?

Where does the money come from in football? Is it generated on the turnstiles at Lincoln City or Accrington Stanley? Or is it the lazy armchair viewer, flicking between channels watching the big names beamed into his living room. What is it he wants to see more of? Burton against Bradford, or Manchester United against Bayern Munich? Who holds the power here?

This FIFA vote is dangerous. If our big clubs are restricted in such a way, it could lead to a complete collapse of our Football League structure, at the very least it brings a serious threat our way. A vote in favour is a mandate for our big clubs to start jumping up and down, demanding help and support from the EFL. My fear is, given how reliant we are on both their funding and their players, how long before the pendulum starts to swing?

And you thought MK Dons were a threat to our culture?