The England manager’s supposed bias towards big clubs in the Premier League is a funny old discourse, isn’t it?
‘If he didn’t play for Team X he wouldn’t be in the England squad’ is uttered every time an England team is announced and Thomas Tuchel’s first squad turned out to be no different.
Stan Collymore believes (never a good start to a sentence, that) Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly would not be in the Three Lions senior squad if he played for a team in mid-table or the bottom half of the Premier League. His argument for Nottingham Forest trio Callum Hudson-Odoi, Elliot Anderson and Morgan Gibbs-White – who eventually replaced the injured Cole Palmer – was compelling and there is definitely an argument for certain omissions being striking when you consider Marcus Rashford, Jordan Henderson, Kyle Walker and Jarell Quansah got called up.
Quansah and Curtis Jones certainly got in because they play for Premier League leaders Liverpool, but the idea there is an general and overall ‘big club bias’ is nonsense.
And it has actually been quashed by Tuchel’s first squad. The so-called ‘Big Six’ in the English top flight (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur) fill 30.7% of the German head coach’s 26-man squad. That is a very, very low percentage considering half of Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2024 squad was comprised of players from those clubs alone.
Back in the days under Sven-Goran Eriksson, the best teams in the country had the best English players, so the Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United core were always going to get in. Were there one or two players from those teams lucky to be included? Probably. Is that something that has continued into the Southgate era? Maybe a little. Kalvin Phillips comes to mind, though it was more the player everyone thought he could be that was getting called up, not the fact he warmed the bench for Man City.
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It is hardly a revelation that bigger clubs have better players. Tuchel might well be benefitting from foreign Premier League signings, thus creating a spread of English talent across the division, but that is still the case. Lewis-Skelly breaking into the Arsenal starting XI says a lot more about his ability than it would if he was breaking into the Leicester City or Wolves team, with all due respect.
This isn’t all about Lewis-Skelly though – it’s the bigger picture. Numbers and percentages can be fun; let’s dig into them a little bit more.
To prove that the ‘big club bias’ being pushed by Collymore or anyone else is nothing more than lazy bullsh*t, we have compared Tuchel’s percentage of Big Six players with the squads for major tournaments this century, starting with the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
We have ranked them by how Big Six-influenced they are, starting with the least, which is the only non-tournament squad and that is Tuchel’s first. The further we go back, the less relevant and successful Manchester City become and while Spurs actually won something in the 2000s, they were not one of the juggernauts. There was a classic Big Four consisting of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United. Only they will be accounted for in 2006 and 2004 and there will be no Chelsea in 2002.
Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad – 30.7%
Arsenal x2, Chelsea x2, Liverpool x2, Man City x1, Spurs x1
There is no Manchester United representation in Tuchel’s first England squad, but three inclusions from each of Aston Villa (albeit one is United loanee Rashford), Crystal Palace and Newcastle United, while even Southampton – potentially the worst team in Premier League history and Burnley – a Championship club – have players in the 26-man squad.
Injuries might have reduced the figure, but it is fair to assume Newcastle’s Lewis Hall would have been in over Lewis-Skelly if fit. Elsewhere, Man United’s Kobbie Mainoo would have been in and potentially will have been joined by Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw. Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, Man City’s John Stones and Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka are also injured and all dead-certs. Spurs’ James Maddison and City’s Jack Grealish were simply snubbed.
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Sven-Goran Eriksson’s 2002 World Cup squad – 43.4%
Arsenal x4, Liverpool x2, Man Utd x4
Good ol’ Sven. The apparent ‘big club bias’ only applied to Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United at this point and including the Reds is probably a bit of a stretch. Their players were Michael Owen and Emile Heskey.
Arsenal and United had four each and Liverpool only had two. If you are curious, Spurs had one (Teddy Sheringham), while Chelsea and City had zero.
Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2024 squad – 50%
Arsenal x3, Chelsea x2, Liverpool x3, Man City x3, Man Utd x2 – no Spurs. Four from Palace this time. 50% big club.
The most recent tournament brought a 50/50 split between the Big Six and the rest. There were no Spurs players after Harry Kane moved to Bayern Munich and Crystal Palace had as many as four players included! Former club bias, maybe?
Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Euro 2004 squad – 56.5%
Arsenal x2, Chelsea x4, Liverpool x3, Man Utd x4
Chelsea’s rise and riches helped form the original and better Big Four back in the day before woke. You could not question a call-up for Wayne Bridge, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard or an eight-cap John Terry. Arsenal’s representatives were Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole. United had Gary and Phil Neville, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt, and Liverpool had Owen, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher.
There is a reason this lot were called the Golden Generation. It’s just a shame people seem to forget they were competing against elite Brazil, France, Germany and Italy squads when people question why they won sod all.
Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2020 squad – 53.8%
Arsenal x1, Chelsea x3, Man City x4, Liverpool x1, Man Utd x4, Spurs x1
Wolves, Everton and Brighton were represented alongside all of the big boys. This squad got all the way to the final and were beaten on penalties by Italy. How upsetting (says the Scotsman).
Sven-Goran Eriksson’s 2006 World Cup squad – 60.8%
Arsenal x3, Chelsea x4, Liverpool x4, Man Utd x3
Again, Spurs and their four inclusions can sod off and we don’t care about Man City’s David James getting in – they were both irrelevant back then. But had we included them, this squad would have boasted a ridiculous 82.6% big club bias.
This was the true Golden Generation and really should have won something, you know.
Roy Hodgson’s 2014 World Cup squad – 65.2%
Arsenal x2, Chelsea x2, Liverpool x5, Man City x2, Man Utd x4
The most unforgettable World Cup for a generation of England fans, they did nothing in Brazil except embarrass themselves.
Spurs had no players after a sixth-placed finish in the Premier League. There are no objections from us and it’s worth mentioning that Southampton and Everton also had three players each.
Gareth Southgate’s 2022 World Cup squad – 65.3%
Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd x3, Spurs x2, Man City x5, Liverpool x2
Three Newcastle and two Everton players were in this squad, including Conor Coady. If anything, that is ‘good to have around the place’ bias.
Fabio Capello’s 2010 World Cup squad – 69.5%
Chelsea x4, Liverpool x3, Man City x2, Man Utd x2, Spurs x5
Arsenal’s English contingent were either snubbed or injured (Theo Walcott and presumably Jack Wilshere). Considering this was only the next World Cup after the best England team since 1966 was sent to Germany in 2006, the Three Lions should have done so much more.
Some players were deemed as aging but if there was a World Cup today with John Terry, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Gareth Barry, Peter Crouch all between the age of 29 and 31, they’d be in their prime and contenders for to win the bloody thing. Sports science and all that.
Crouch was one of five Spurs players in the squad, which also included a 24-year-old Wayne Rooney and Aston Villa trio Emile Heskey, Stephen Warnock and James Milner.
Gareth Southgate’s 2018 World Cup squad – 73.9%
Arsenal x1, Chelsea x1, Liverpool x2, Man City x4, Man Utd x4, Spurs x5
Only five clubs outside the Big Six were brought to Southgate’s first tournament as manager, including five Spurs players, just as Fabio Capello’s did.
Football did not come home but this was the start of a wonderful Southgate tenure.
Roy Hodgson’s Euro 2016 squad – 73.9%
Arsenal x1, Chelsea x1, Liverpool x5, Man City x2, Man Utd x3, Spurs x5
Turns out Southgate repeated Hodgson’s blueprint but to a much better effect.
England’s Euro 2016 defeat to Iceland remains one of the worst results in their entire history. It was shameful and Hodgson was soon without a job. Thankfully for him though, Crystal Palace were willing to offer him a job 20 times between then and now.
Roy Hodgson’s Euro 2012 squad – 82.6%
Arsenal x2, Chelsea x2, Liverpool x6, Man City x3, Man Utd x4, Spurs x2
Not only was Hodgson a biased monster, but he was biased towards his old club! Six Liverpool players? That’s insane. Steven Gerrard was his captain and he was joined by club team-mates Martin Kelly, Glen Johnson, Jordan Henderson, Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing. Poor Stevie thought he was getting away from them for a while as well.
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