Unsurprisingly, the cash rich clubs Manchester City and Chelsea had the lowest number of English players in their squad (6 and 5, respectively), while one of City’s players never (Scott Sinclair) never made it to the playing roster.
No. of eligible English players for both clubs: 5
However, two of Chelsea’s five English players (previously) occupied the roles of Captain (John Terry) and Vice-Captain (Frank Lampard), while Gary Cahill and Ashley Cole averaged very respectable ratings with fans. Chelsea have fewer English players, but they put a lot of trust in the ones they have. No. of popular English players for Chelsea: 4
By contrast, Man City have a clear English fan favourite in Joe Hart, but after him, none of the other English players feature with fans. No. of popular English players for City: 1
Liverpool had the highest number of English players listed, at 16. However, four of those (Conor Coady, Jerome Sinclair, Jack Robinson, Lloyd Jones) never made it to the playing roster. Liverpool fans have four clear English favourites in Steven Gerrard (who is also LFC’s Captain), Daniel Sturridge, Jordan Henderson, Glen Johnson) while Raheem Sterling and Jon Flanagan also garner reasonable ratings with fans. No. of eligible English players for Liverpool: 12.
No. of popular English players: 6
All 12 of Manchester United’s English players made some appearance in the roster (making them available to be picked by fans) during the 2013/4 season. Of those, Wayne Rooney is the clear fan favourite, followed at a respectable distance by Michael Carrick. After Carrick, there’s a substantial drop in popularity to Phil Jones and Tom Cleverley, with Danny Welbeck and Chris Smalling scraping into the popularity stakes. No. of eligible English players for Manchester United: 12.
No. of popular English players: 6
Arsenal, the club which is perhaps the epitome of continental cultivation was something of a dark horse here, with 12 English players listed in the squad (although 5 of those never appeared on the playing squad roster and were not available for fan selection), throughout the season. Of those English players, Arsenal fans have a clear favourite in each on-field position working from the back, with Kieran Gibbs in defense, Jack Wilshere in midfield and Theo Walcott upfront the three (evenly-spaced) most popular English players. After Walcott, there is a drop to The Ox and none of the other English players feature substantially after that. No. of eligible players for Arsenal: 7.
No. of popular English players: 4
So, Liverpool and Manchester United are jointly the clear leaders in fielding their English players, while Arsenal are much further behind in trusting their local lads, with Manchester City and Chelsea the least interested in acquiring home-grown talent.
Beat Your Manager! Fantasy Football is an app similar to “Football Manager for live football”, where you manage your favourite Club and pick lineups, bench, formations and substitutions, all in real-time. When fans play the game, the Beat Your Manager team can get a picture of the popularity of different players, by looking at how frequently they are selected for the lineup.
