So, who is behind the Premier League’s plan to play some games outside England? Reading today’s papers it seems the finger of blame is being pointed at the American investors in the English game.

In Friday’s Telegraph, Henry Winter writes: “Now we know why the Premier League is the new Klondike for American franchise-owners; why soccer agnostics like the Glazers are really here: it is to take an English institution and float it on the global market. Our game is now theirs.”

In the Guardian, football business writer David Conn also smells the Yankee Dollar behind this proposal: “It feels like the first dramatic innovation influenced by the US owners and the others who bought Premier League clubs as investments, as ‘global brands’, without truly understanding the football traditions their PRs advise them to acknowledge when they do their first press conferences.”

I’ve also checked out a few fans message boards where people are raging about ‘franchises’ and the ’selling of the soul’ of the English game (see the post by Mitch Phillips below as a response to that).

But, leaving aside the fact that FIFA may stop this happening, does anyone stop to ask themselves why the Americans and others have bought into English football?

Far from wanting to ‘Americanise’ the Premier League, I suspect these businessmen are attracted to English football because it offers a greater freedom to do what you want with your money than the very restricted world of U.S sports.

Think about it – the New York Giants didn’t win the Super Bowl because, like Chelsea or Manchester United, they spent far more on wages and transfer fees than other teams. You can’t do that in the NFL – there are salary caps and there is no transfer market in U.S sports in the sense that you can’ t make a $50 million bid for Tom Brady. The result is that unlike in England there is no such thing as a ‘Big Four’ monopolising success for two decades – power rotates and the game is much more interesting as a result. Money talks much louder in London.

In fact, U.S sports have a system where the weakest team gets the best pick of the next year’s young pros which is positively socialistic compared to the naked, raw, anyone welcome, he-who-spends-wins capitalism of the Premier League.

If there was a signal to the Americans to get involved in the Premier League it was probably the arrival of a certain Russian in London who really showed that (unlike in the NFL with its very strict, ‘members only’, ownership policy) anyone with a few million to spare can join the club.

Remember it was the English who created these conditions, it was the English who have been happy to sell their clubs to the highest bidder.

The Americans (and other foreigners) moved into the Premier League because almost anything goes. The sudden discovery of ‘roots’ and ‘national identity’ by English fans is laughable – particularly coming just 48 hours after they were cheering on ‘Fabio Capello’s England’. Fans have been happy to have three of the big four clubs sold off to foreign owners.

Those now crying about identity should ask themselves what exactly is still English about most of the Premier League clubs. Chelsea are owned by a Russian, coached by an Israeli (who follows a Portuguese, two Italians and a Dutchman) and the players are from all over the world. They wear shirts made by a German company and are sponsored by a South Korean electronics firm.

Compare this state of affairs with the supposedly evil greed of U.S sports where there are no professional teams owned by foreign capitalists, the idea of a team featuring just one or two Americans would be laughed at, players come from University sports programmes (unlike English football where schoolboys are bought and sold) and shirt sponsorship is banned.

English football chose to become the most unregulated, laissez-faire, commercialised sports league in the world and the fans have cheered on every step. Now that the (mostly) Asian fans who have helped pour money into their clubs’ coffers may have a chance to see one game a year, the English suddenly bleat about roots and tradition.

Too late, lads.

Simon Evans, Miami

Arsene Wenger promotes the idea of England calling up Arsenal’s Spanish goalkeeper Manuel Almunia:

The Spanish goalkeeper, who joined the club in July 2004, will be eligible for UK citizenship next year. “I could only advise you to take advantage of it and call him up for the England squad,” said Wenger.

Many of those who supported the appointment of Italian Fabio Capello as England manager made the argument that nationality was irrelevant and what mattered was getting the best man for the job. To play, of course, you need to meet citizenship or nationality criteria but if he becomes a British citizen then Almunia would be an option for Capello.

So would any other Premiership foreigner who gained a British passport and wasn’t ruled out by having previously appeared for another national team. Perhaps all those young foreign-born players in the youth systems of top Premiership clubs might not be undermining the future of the England team at all. Perhaps they are the future of the England team?

On the face of it, an England national team with an Italian coaching staff, a Spanish goalkeeper and a smattering of foreign players across the field sounds absurd but if getting results is all that matters for the FA and most England fans then why not?

It is over a decade since the late, former sports minister in the UK, Tony Banks - a Chelsea fan - floated the idea of England featuring Premiership foreigners. He was roundly mocked for suggesting Gianfranco Zola as an England player (Zola wouldn’t have been eligible as he was already an Italy international) but now, with England so desperate to change their fortunes, his idea doesn’t seem too far fetched.

The counter-argument to the ‘best men for the job’ position is that the England team is supposed to represent the best of English football in the same way that a school team represents a school and a ‘town team’ represents the best kids from a given conurbation. In such a context, signing up non-English players to the team is an admission of defeat.

But what do you think? England fans, would you be happy with a Spanish goalkeeper playing for an Italian coach if it brought success to your country? Or would it dilute the prestige of any success that might come? Non-England fans, should a passport really be all you need to represent a country in international football? If so, who would you like your national team to ’sign’?

PHOTO: Manuel Almunia (L) saves a penalty from Robbie Keane during Arsenal’s English Premier League match against Tottenham at the Emirates Stadium in London, December 22, 2007. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

The media reaction to the impending arrival of Fabio Capello seems rather familiar to the wave of enthusiasm that greeted Sven-Goran Eriksson’s appointment as England manager – a man in a smart suit with a record of success in Italian and European football and someone with a different style to his predecessors (Eriksson was ‘tactically astute’ while Capello is a ‘disciplinarian’).

When Eriksson was appointed I bored friends and colleagues with my rather pessimistic take on the Swede’s likelihood of success at England and I’m afraid I’m going to do the same with Capello. So, as a balance to the euphoria, here are 10 reasons to be sceptical of Don Fabio’s chances with England:

1. The best reason for appointing Capello is his record. Yes, Capello has won league titles with AC Milan, Juventus, Roma and Real Madrid and if he were now the coach of Brazil I would put my money on them winning the next World Cup. Likewise I am sure that he would perform well in England with Chelsea or Manchester United. But Capello has never been in the position of having to win with a mediocre team and no transfer budget which is exactly what the FA are asking him to do. In this respect he is in uncharted waters.

2. I’ve said it before – and I’ll say it again: there is a huge risk in appointing an England manager who doesn’t speak English. As well as dealing with a totally different football culture to England and Spain, Capello will have the handicap of not being able to communicate directly with anyone on the team. Think about it.

3. Not being able to communicate directly with any of the Premier League managers will be a major drawback when it comes to those necessary chats about availability for friendly matches. “Buongiorno Signor Ferguson…”

4. … which is hardly going to be helped by him appointing Italian coaching staff. If the reports are true, this is a move which will surely alienate some potential sources of solid advice and help from, say, the likes of current goalkeeping coach Ray Clemence. Wouldn’t someone like David Platt (an Italian speaker who has been part of the FA coaching set-up) or Italophile ex-England player like Ray Wilkins be more use than a Serie A functionary such as Franco Baldini? (By the way, what on earth is Baldini going to do at the FA? He was a ‘Direttore Sportivo’ at Roma which meant he was in charge of player contracts and transfer dealings along with the various ‘political’ tasks that are considered indispensable at Italian clubs. He has zero coaching experience).

5. Temper, temper. When Capello loses it, he really loses it. England have never had a manager like that and it will be fascinating (and amusing) to see how the players and media react to Capello when he goes all ‘furibondo’ on them. The phrase “hairdryer treatment” doesn’t come close…

6. Tactics. Apart from the spectacular Milan team he inherited from Arrigo Sacchi, Capello’s success has been built around tight defending, a solid and patient midfield and a reliance on sparks of genius up-front. English players grow up bursting to get forward and attack – Capello, like Eriksson, will have to try and restrain that instinct. His teams have always played Italian style football – it will be fascinating (but probably not amusing) to see if this current crop of England players can adapt to Capello’s way of playing. It is another question entirely if the best way to bring success to English footballers is to try to make them play like Italians…

7. Italian coaches don’t travel well. Apart from Giovanni Trapattoni’s brief moment at Bayern Munich can you name an Italian coach who has been truly successful outside of southern Europe?

8. Does he rate English players? Capello has signed players from all over the world in his career – guess how many English players he has signed? That’s right – nulla.

9. There is probably a good reason for the above — He’s not daft, how many English players enjoyed success playing under Italian coaches?

10. The call of ‘Mamma Italia’. Here is a scenario – the patriotic and conservative Italian Capello finds it hard to settle in England. Next summer Italy go out in the first round of Euro 2008 and sack Roberto Donadoni. The favourite for the Azzurri job is…?

Simon Evans was Reuters sports correspondent in Milan from 1999 to February this year, when he moved to Miami

FILE PHOTO: Capello, then at Juventus, looks at his watch during the Italian serie A soccer match against Palermo at the Delle Alpi stadium in Turin, May 7, 2006. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Fabio Capello fancies the England job and he has already won the support of former England manager Terry Venables:

“People like Capello and Marcello Lippi, who won the World Cup with Italy, are tough guys who wouldn’t find it so difficult working here.”

There are signs of a media momentum building behind Capello in a similar fashion to how, a few years ago, the London press convinced themselves that Sven Goran Eriksson was the man to transform England into a sophisticated continental team.

There are, as always with these debates, plenty of fascinating arguments for and against appointing Capello (or Lippi) as manager of the English national side. Let us put Lippi aside for the moment — he has expressed no interest in the job and 18 months ago, when I attended his final press conference as Italy coach, the day after he had won the World Cup, I asked him whether he would ever consider working in England and he replied in the negative. The reason he gave was significant however — he doesn’t speak English and he wouldn’t want to work in a country where he can’t communicate with people. Lippi speaks Italian and French.

Unless he has been hiding his language skills — something a lot of Italians do — or he has been studying hard in the past year or so (something that wouldn’t be so surprising) Fabio Capello doesn’t speak much English, if any at all. He speaks Italian and Spanish.

Oliver Kay in The Times notes this may be a problem:

Capello is 61 and would be the oldest man to be appointed to the job, but his age is far less of an issue than his relatively poor grasp of English. He will probably need an English-speaking assistant if he gets the job.

In most walks of life the fact that you don’t speak the language of your employers or your staff would ruled you out of consideration for a position before you even brought your translator along with you to the job interview. For a job as a football coach — where communicating with your players is a huge part of the role — it seems incredible that a non-English speaker would even be considered for the England job.

Sure, you can always have an English speaking assistant or a translator along side you on the bench but, if you have ever seen coaches work like this, you will understand that it can be a major drawback. You can get the words translated but the emphasis, the passion, the urgency and sometimes the detail, get lost. Try telling a joke through a translator and see if you get a real laugh. Try asking a translator to yell at John Terry in the last five minutes of a crucial game at a packed Wembley.

There are some coaches that have succeeded without speaking the main language of their players and German Otto Rehhagel with Greece at Euro 2004 is probably the best example. There are also, as the Guardian’s Sid Lowe notes here, plenty of good arguments for giving Don Fabio a chance — he has a tremendous record in Italy and Spain having won titles with every club he has been in charge of. On top of that, English football no longer has a problem with having a foreigner in charge of the national side.

But is language going to be the barrier to Capello’s ambition?

PHOTO: Fabio Capello watches the Italian national team train at the Puskas stadium in Budapest August 21, 2007. REUTERS/Karoly Arvai

Can L.A Galaxy get any sexier?

Having brought David Beckham over to Major League Soccer where he promptly posed in his underpants for a fashion magazine, Galaxy general manager Alexi Lalas kept his promise to bring in a “sexy” coach, by appointing Ruud Gullit.

Gullit, who coined the term “sexy football”, is certainly the biggest name coach in the league and with his media skills he will help to keep L.A high-profile.

But while there is no doubt about the glamour of Gullit appointment, the 45-year-old still enjoys more fame for his abilities as a player than a tactician and it remains to be seen whether he can take the Galaxy to the next level and make them real contenders next season.

It is now ten years since he won his only trophy as a manager — the FA Cup with Chelsea in 1997 when he became the first foreign coach to win that competition. After his acrimonous exit from Stamford Bridge he had a brief and unsuccesful (and quite expensive) spell at Newcastle United before returning to the Netherlands where he failed to win a trophy with his former club Feyenoord. Since leaving the Dutch team in 2005 he has worked as a television commentator.

So while there is no doubt about Gullit’s appeal to LA in terms of image there is a big question over whether he has the coaching and managerial ability to succeed with the Galaxy.

But what the MLS badly needs is someone who can bring some excitment and flair to a league where organisation, fitness and tactical discipline dominate often at the expense of intinct and style. Gullit could be just the man to do that.

Is the next stage in the development of Major League Soccer going to be the arrival of big-name international coaches?

This week both the NewYork Red Bulls and LA Galaxy let their coaches go – Frank Yallop is leaving LA for the new San Jose franchise while former U.S coach Bruce Arena has yet to find a new role.

Both New York and L.A have money behind them and have shown their willingness to spend on quality imports via the ‘designated player ruling’ with Colombian Juan Pablo Angel in the Big Apple and former England captain David Beckham in California. Now they may be ready to invest more to bring in a well-known international figure to lead their teams.

Soccer America throws some names into the ring:

The Galaxy, and its Right Coast counterweight New York, are embarking on the tried-and-true “global search” for a megastar international coach.

Fabio Capello, Steve McLaren, Jose Mourinho, Juergen Klinsmann, the beat goes on.

Heck, why not Johan Cruyff? He’s available, and once played in the North American Soccer League.

The only rumored name that makes any sense is that of ex-Metros coach Carlos Queiroz, who won a pair of world youth championships with Portugal and mentioned in September he might be leaving his current post alongside Manchester United legend Alex Ferguson.

It’s great fun of course to play this guessing game and one could easily add other names to the list – how long is Italy’s World Cup winning coach Marcello Lippi going to spend out of work and on his yacht? Would Kevin Keegan fancy another adventure in management within easy reach of some of the finest golf courses in the world? But while the cash may be available to attract top global names, the big question is whether the MLS has the status to lure such coaches?

The current crop of foreign coaches working in the North American league – the Scottish pair of New England’s Steve Nicol and Toronto’s Mo Johnston; the Northern Irishman Steve Morrow of Dallas and Canadian Yallop, all played in British football but none of them had any coaching experience in the Premiership and are unlikely to feature on the shortlists of British or European clubs looking for a fresh face.

So can the Galaxy or New York succeed in attracting a real A-List coach to the MLS?

In a well-argued column on USSoccerPlayers.Com, Ken Pendleton looks at the United States’ performance in the 4-2 defeat to Brazil on Sunday and argues that not much has really improved for the national side in the past decade.

[A}re the Americans really that much better than the generation that came through twelve or so years ago? Tim Howard has not yet reached the same heights as (Brad) Friedel, or Kasey Keller. Are Oguchi Onyewu and Bocanegra better than Alexi Lalas and Eddie Pope? Would Claudio Reyna, Earnie Stewart, Cobi Jones, Ramos and Harkes take a backseat to Landon Donovan, Benny Feilhaber, DaMarcus Beasley and Bradley? And one suspects that, post Brian McBride, coach Bradley would love to be able to call up someone who could score goals as consistently as Eric Wynalda.

He argues that while the U.S has a much better structure to draw from and a deeper pool of players avaliable there is a real lack of flair and individual creativity. It is a fair criticism although perhaps Pendleton overstates the lack of progress. The current U.S team is much better than a dozen years ago on several levels (compare again the midfield of 12 years ago with the current one. Is Beasley v Harkes really a close call?) and the past year has seen a significant improvement on the displays at the World Cup in Germany in terms of a more positive and aggressive approach to the game.

But there is something missing in the current squad and it is that sparkle of creativity, someone capable of the unpredictable and the occassionally brilliant. Well-organised, solid and efficient only get you so far as Sunday’s game showed.

One of the players from the past Pendleton mentions, Wynalda, now works as a television commentator on ESPN and during the Brazil match he was asked would the U.S ever produce a player with the exciting skills of Ronaldinho or Kaka? Wynalda blamed the coaching system in the U.S and said they produced “robots” whereas the Brazilians ensured that individuality survived the maturing process.

Which raises some questions. Firstly, is Wynalda right? If so, why do U.S coaches prefer the robotic to the creative? Is it a result of a sporting culture heavily influenced by the ‘game plans’ and rigid routines of other sports? Is it an over reliance on textbooks at youth level? Is it to do with the U.S’s strange lack of self-confidence in soccer? (More of which another time).

And, to be positive, can the new generation of players coming through from the national youth sides — Freddy Adu and Jozy Altidore in particular — give some fresh zest and style to Bob Bradley’s side?

Simon Evans, Miami

It is silly to try to draw conclusions from the opening day in any league but when the action does begin it at least provides some sort of concrete response to the long weeks of speculating and predicting.

So, in the first 90 minutes of action in England, Liverpool got off to a positive start with a 2-1 victory at Aston Villa. Not an amazing result but the kind of game they may well have lost or drawn in previous campaigns. As Reds skipper and match-winner Steven Gerrard said:

“Over the last couple of seasons we’ve been very frustrated with the starts we’ve made.We’ve dropped silly points and been playing catch up with the big boys early on.”

Every fan tells themselves not to get carried away after the first day but Liverpool supporters must be quietly encouraged by that result.

Less so Tottenham fans, their team have tipped by some as the main challenger to the ‘big four’ this season but lost 1-0 on Saturday at promoted Sunderland. The question raises itself — have Spurs been (yet again) over-hyped — with Jose Mourinho joining in the hyping — or do their fans really think this year is going to be different despite their disappointing opener?

It was a wierd sort of opening day with three of the four most fancied sides, Mourinho’s Chelsea, Arsenal and defending champions Manchester United, not playing — they are all in action on Sunday — but Manchester’s sky blue half had a good begining with their radically changed side, now in the hands of ex-England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson, winning away at West Ham 2-0.

Not surprisingly, given the number of new faces in their side, it was two debutants who were on target for City with Italian striker Rolando Bianchi and Brazilian midfielder Geovanni getting the goals.

The Manchester Evening News describes City’s performance as “stylish” and also carries some sharp comments from Eriksson responding to the reports that he signed some players without actually seeing them play.

Eriksson said: “It can only be stupid people who say I would sign players I did not know anything about.

“Okay, I haven’t seen all of them play nine or 10 times but I have big scouting staff at the club and I have as many videos as I need to watch.

“I’ve always signed good football players. And with these ones, some are young and for the future and some, like (Martin) Petrov and Elano, are more experienced.”

It is going to be a really tough task to gel City’s collection of imports into a genuine team but Eriksson had plenty of experience of doing just that in Italy, especially with Lazio, and one wonders if the Swede’s side might be one of the surprise outfits this season?

A level below, in the Championship, there were a few surprises. Relegated Charlton, tipped by many for an instant return to the top-flight, were held 1-1 at home by Scunthorpe. The city of Sheffield had a disappointing day with United only managing a 2-2 draw at home to Colchester while Wednesday crashed to a 4-1 defeat at Ipswich. Improved Burnley beat one of the promotion favourites, West Brom, 2-1.

And finally, Leeds United, who have endured a painful close season, had a little reason for cheer as they won 2-1 at Tranmere Rovers in their third division game.

So, how was it for you?

David Beckhams debut for LA Galaxy, in a friendly against Chelsea — a 12 minute appearance as a substitute gingerly nursing a sore ankle — at least turned the attention away from the celebrity and business angle of his arrival in Major League Soccer and towards the field of play.

Not entirely, of course, because the television cameras spent a good deal of time celeb spotting in the crowd and ESPN viewers were treated to interviews with the likes of actress Jennifer Love Hewitt and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and constant shots of Victoria Beckham in her sunglasses chatting with Eva Longoria and Katie Holmes.

But that glitz is part of the plan. Galaxy chief Alexi Lalas popped up at half-time in the television coverage bubbling about the glamour but he was smart enough to make sure he thanked the loyal Galaxy fans who were turning up at the Home Depot Center long before ‘Becksmania’. (One of those fans has a few sharp comments here)

What impressed this viewer was the way that the Galaxy approached the game. It was certainly not the tippy-tappy stuff of friendly games (or exhibition matches as they are called in the States).

LA played the game with a lot of passion. I think maybe they waited to show David Beckham they have a team,” Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho told reporters.

“They were highly motivated and they gave us a hard game. I think this is the correct attitude to play football. If they continue doing this, they will get results and they will improve.”

They were indeed fired up but there seemed to be something more about their determination than just wanting to put on a good show for their new team-mate.

Matt Dickinson in The Times (of London) says this: Embarrassed by recent performances, the Galaxy had taken the ‘pub team’ insult to heart and they unexpectedly made a contest of it. Chelsea might have scored three or four on top of John Terrys strike but the Galaxy had their chances.

The pub team comment had come from the British press and a collection of the criticisms was reported by our soccer editor Mike Collett here.

The silliness of an unfit Beckham jogging around for a few minutes aside, it has been a pretty positive week for the image of Major League Soccer. The MLS All Stars (or a league representative side as such outfits are called in the UK) showed plenty of motivation and more as they beat Celtic on Thursday, looking impressively together for a team put together a few days before the match.

Soccer fans over here tell me that the amount of media coverage given to the game in the past week has been unprecedented. The question now is can the momentum be maintained?

With basketball and American football still in close season, this is an ideal chance for the MLS to have a few weeks of prime-time promotion. Can they take the opportunity?

U.S soccer is hoping to benefit from the Beckhamania currently being whipped up in the media as Fridays official presentation of David Beckham at LA Galaxy draws near.

The countrys most prestigious sports magazine Sports Illustrated has a lengthy profile and interview with Beckham (the footballer) this week and media across the States are busy introducing their readers to a sportsman they are going to hear a lot more about.

Reuters correspondent Larry Fine interviewed US Soccer president Sunil Gulati on Tuesday and asked him whether Beckham could transform the status of soccer in America.

“Is Beckham going to be Pele or is Beckham going to be (Magic) Johnson and (Larry) Bird,” Gulati pondered. “The analogy being that Johnson and Bird took (NBA) basketball to another level. Pele took us up but we couldn’t sustain it. Sustaining the higher level, that’s the big issue. It’s not inevitable.”

Pele, of course, played in the old and ill-fated North American Soccer League (NASL) in the late seventies, the last time that the U.S tried imported stars to boost the game — before the league went bust. The big difference, as many in the game here have pointed out, is that this time there is a solid foundation in place before the hype begins.

But so far, much of that hype has focused not on the footballer or his club but on Beckhams wife, Spice Girls singer Victoria, who has been in the headlines over the past few days.

Those headlines are no accident she (or ‘her people’) made sure that America knew she was arriving by hosting a teleconference on Monday five days before her husbands first press conference.

And she will make her debut five days before Beckham takes the field for the first time. David is expected to take to the field against Chelsea in a friendly match on July 21 but on the 16th his wifes one-hour reality show Victoria Beckham Coming to America airs on NBC. (You can get a taste of the series here, as Victoria discusses the size of her breasts with Perez Hilton.)

So, who is going to gain more from the whole Beckhamania — Major League Soccer or the Spice Girls?

Simon Evans, Miami