About Those EPL 25-Man Rosters…

Yup. It's true. The guy on the left doesn't have a job

September 1 came and went with few surprises in the 25-man rosters, though we wouldn’t be doing the exceptional work of a third-rate blog if we didn’t make some observations, as well as pick up on an important, but tiny, rule that could benefit some teams during this September-January run.

First up, the rosters themselves.

No really notable omissions, unless you were a huge Riga Mustapha fan. The big absences—Jonathan Woodgate, Michael Kightly, Mamady Sidibe—were hinted at over the past few weeks, as all three have suffered either significant injuries or have endured setbacks in their rehab schedules from injury or surgery.

Ergo, Pulis, Redknapp and McCarthy were never going to gamble on the fitness of those players when space in the 25 is limited. Plus, Rafael van der Vaart’s signing pushed Wooders off the bubble, as did Pletikosa for Ben Alnwick.

So what else is there?

Really, it’s all about the loopholes. The EPL, in their infinite wisdom, decided not only to forgo any meaningful punishment for teams who failed to live up to the 17+8 structure of the homegrown rule, but they made it easy for teams to sidestep the obvious problems of naming less than 25 in two ways:

1. They can throw as many U-21s, homegrown or otherwise, into the mix. No penalty for doing that, which explains the fact that most teams listed all contracted or scholarship players along with their “official” squads. This means an extra 15-20 players in most cases, though obviously, a small percentage of these players would be useful and productive right now in the top flight. This we knew, more or less.

2. They can add free agents whenever they please, if they name less than 25. This is the big one, folks. Teams can augment their squads with players outside the window if they need to. Though they must name a full 25 if they indeed have 25 contracted players on the books, there’s room to add in at any time. This might explain the slew of lesser players shipped out at the end of the transfer window, aka clearing room so they could name less than 25 and give themselves options throughout the season.

How many teams named less than 25? 12 in total.

Arsenal (20), Aston Villa (22), Blackburn Rovers (21), Blackpool (24), Bolton Wanderers (24), Chelsea (19), Everton (21), Liverpool (21), Manchester United (24), Newcastle United (23), Sunderland (24), Wigan Athletic (19)

Granted, it doesn’t mean that any or all of these teams will necessarily be scouring the waiver wires to pad out their teams, as the unlimited U-21s helps there, but they could acquire more players if so compelled.

Also amusing was The Fan’s Attic’s observation on email yesterday, noting that the rules state there cannot be any more than 17 non-homegrown players, but as the rules stand, there’s nothing stopping a team from naming just 17 players total and augmenting with the U-21s. Ahh, homegrown rules. Doing nothing whatsoever since 2010.

Looking at the PFA website—which doesn’t seem 100% up to date—there are quite a few free agents around that could be useful in the coming months:
Jeremie Aliadiere (ex-Arsenal and Middlesbrough striker)
Jay freakin’ Demerit (USMNT center-back, formerly of Watford)
Steve Finnan (ex-LFC, Fulham and Pompey right-back)
Keith Gillespie (ex-Newcastle United midfielder)
Liam Rosenior (ex-Fulham, Reading and Ipswich defender)
Anderson da Silva (ex-Barnsley midfielder)
Simon Whaley (ex-Norwich winger/midfielder)
Darius Vassell (ex-Aston Villa, Manchester City, and Ankaragucu striker, and owner of an excellent, now-defunct blog)

Not a ton of superb talent, granted, but you mean to tell me Jay Demerit isn’t worthy of a squad spot somewhere? Or Aliadiere? Any of these guys would round out a squad nicely, and probably cheaply too.

And this is the beauty of the homegrown rule. It’s not really much of a rule at all, so beaten, battered, and broken as it already is. Teams have flaunted its grave guidelines and don’t seem to be nearly as troubled by it as the pundits thought they would.

Of course, it hasn’t stopped The Sun from making this an issue of national pride, especially with poorly-written garbage like this from Paul Jiggins. Hey there, journo: the clubs didn’t make this a farce. The league did when they tried to implement it.

And so, the EPL enters its “brave new dawn” according to Jiggins, whereas if you ask me, the landscape looks just the same as it did before.