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Genuine question lads (obviously there are no right or wrong answers)- Did abolishing the foreigner rule have a positive or detrimental affect on European competition? I know it was a long, long time ago, and I'm not for a second suggesting bringing anything like it back. Just curious as to what people think.

streaker (Galway) - Posts: 598 - 13/10/2026 13:24:38    2697146

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Replying To streaker:  "Gullit was dead right. I don't want to go all "jumpers for goalposts" on it, but I think the game peaked in the early years of the Premier League just after the backpass was outlawed and just before the big money owners and obsession with European qualification came in.
On the subject of squad sizes/substitutes etc - I was watching bits from the early 90's recently and even seeing both teams wearing 1-11 just looked better. Maybe I'm just getting old..."
Some would say it started to go downhill with the introduction of the premier league when clubs split away from the football league and a sky super league was created.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 12292 - 13/10/2026 13:32:08    2697151

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Replying To streaker:  "Genuine question lads (obviously there are no right or wrong answers)- Did abolishing the foreigner rule have a positive or detrimental affect on European competition? I know it was a long, long time ago, and I'm not for a second suggesting bringing anything like it back. Just curious as to what people think."
Yeah the trouble is it goes against EU law, freedom of movement etc. Football is a profession so why can't a footballer move from Ireland to Spain and ply his trade the same way an accountant would for example. You also had the fall of the Iron Curtain. Up until the 90s, most countries in the east prevented their players from leaving until they were 27 or 28. It meant that big Eastern European clubs like Steaua Bucharest, Dynamo Kiev and Red Star Belgrade were very competitive.

Now that Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia etc are in the EU, big western clubs snap up emerging talent as soon as they can.

I'd propose only league & cup winners get to play Champions League. In the event that a team wins the double, then the Cup final runner up gets the CL spot. Up until FA Cup quarter finals, all PL teams play Cup matches away.
Top 32 leagues by coeffcient in Europe compete. Home and away legs, open draw!
64 -> 32 -> 16 -> 8 -> 4 -> 2 -> Champion

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 10506 - 13/10/2026 14:13:33    2697162

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Replying To streaker:  "Genuine question lads (obviously there are no right or wrong answers)- Did abolishing the foreigner rule have a positive or detrimental affect on European competition? I know it was a long, long time ago, and I'm not for a second suggesting bringing anything like it back. Just curious as to what people think."
I think it was negative to a degree, in a way it was some sort of curb on clubs winning just through buying every global super star. You also took away any advantage the smaller clubs had to compete like the Eastern European teams, the Portuguese, the Dutch and the French. Even if the limit was raised from 3 to 5.
The playing field was never even but there was less of a gap between the big and the small at least.

FullOfPorter (Roscommon) - Posts: 614 - 13/10/2026 14:28:44    2697164

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Replying To streaker:  "Gullit was dead right. I don't want to go all "jumpers for goalposts" on it, but I think the game peaked in the early years of the Premier League just after the backpass was outlawed and just before the big money owners and obsession with European qualification came in.
On the subject of squad sizes/substitutes etc - I was watching bits from the early 90's recently and even seeing both teams wearing 1-11 just looked better. Maybe I'm just getting old..."
Id agree really. Like did anyone ever sit down and think about how utterly ridiculous it was for teams to consider finishing top 4 in a 20 team competition as some sort of tremendous achievement, its top 6 now,it may not be too long before finishing in the top HALF will be considered worthy of celebration.

Seniorleague (Galway) - Posts: 372 - 13/10/2026 14:36:53    2697166

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Replying To Lockjaw:  "Yeah the trouble is it goes against EU law, freedom of movement etc. Football is a profession so why can't a footballer move from Ireland to Spain and ply his trade the same way an accountant would for example. You also had the fall of the Iron Curtain. Up until the 90s, most countries in the east prevented their players from leaving until they were 27 or 28. It meant that big Eastern European clubs like Steaua Bucharest, Dynamo Kiev and Red Star Belgrade were very competitive.

Now that Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia etc are in the EU, big western clubs snap up emerging talent as soon as they can.

I'd propose only league & cup winners get to play Champions League. In the event that a team wins the double, then the Cup final runner up gets the CL spot. Up until FA Cup quarter finals, all PL teams play Cup matches away.
Top 32 leagues by coeffcient in Europe compete. Home and away legs, open draw!
64 -> 32 -> 16 -> 8 -> 4 -> 2 -> Champion"
And the biggest winner in all that change from the mid 90s was R Madrid. When you consider they didn't win any European cup between 66 and 98 (rarely even getting to finals) and then win something like 10 since 98 through hoovering up the best players.

That format brings back a bit of allure to the domestic cups. Won't be any going back to the three foreigner limit ...and the Gary Walsh gamble United used to find themselves in when trying to juggle who made the squad.

FullOfPorter (Roscommon) - Posts: 614 - 13/10/2026 20:04:36    2697217

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Replying To FullOfPorter:  "And the biggest winner in all that change from the mid 90s was R Madrid. When you consider they didn't win any European cup between 66 and 98 (rarely even getting to finals) and then win something like 10 since 98 through hoovering up the best players.

That format brings back a bit of allure to the domestic cups. Won't be any going back to the three foreigner limit ...and the Gary Walsh gamble United used to find themselves in when trying to juggle who made the squad."
Yeah that game in Barcelona in 94 was a harsh lesson for Man Utd. They did have to play Gary Walsh instead of Peter Schmeichel that night, and I think Cantona was suspended.

But Barcelona had to leave Gheorghe Hagi out of their squad that night too. Probably one of the best midfielders/playmakers in the world in the early to mid 90s.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 10506 - 13/10/2026 20:53:06    2697221

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