Much has changed in football since February 1972, when Bobby Bell arrived on a month’s loan from Crystal Palace and became the first loanee to wear the Canary yellow.
Over 100 players have since joined the Canaries on loan with, it has to be said, varying degrees of success.
For every loan success – Darren Huckerby, back in September 2003, being my personal favourite – there are numerous who have contributed very little to the Canary cause. Who can forget – actually, most of us probably have – the fifteen (yes fifteen, and I challenge anyone to name them all) loan players signed by Glenn Roeder and Bryan Gunn, back in 2008-09, during our slide to relegation to League One.
The present emergency loan system, which is unique to England – no other country operates a loan system outside the usual international transfer windows – was introduced back in 2002-03 following agreement between FIFA and the European Commission. It operates for the benefit of Football League and Conference clubs only, supposedly to help ease the financial pressure on lower division teams with smaller squads.
Emergency loans enable clubs to sign players for a maximum of 93 days.
What is perhaps unappreciated by many is that FIFA is seeking to cease the current arrangement at the end of the 2014-15 season. Whether the FA can negotiate a further season’s extension – and discussions are currently on-going – remains to be seen.
Whilst English clubs maintain that the emergency loan system is absolutely essential (and there have been over 300 loan deals so far this season) is that argument really valid when every other country seems to manage perfectly well without the arrangement?
Who actually really benefits from the current arrangements? The players’ agents undoubtedly – as they get paid on each transaction – and that’s money going out of the game.
The big four or five Premier League clubs? Another, “yes” I would suggest. These clubs, due to their huge turnovers, can afford to ‘hoard’ huge squads.
To prove the point, in addition to the named 25 man squads of players aged over 21, it’s not uncommon for clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and United, to have 50 plus youngsters aged 21 or under.
With the benefit of the present loan system, these clubs can loan out their players to other Premier League, Football League or Conference clubs, supposedly in the name of player development. Chelsea, at one stage earlier this season, actually had twenty six players out on loan!
In reality, whilst a handful may eventually progress to play first-team football at their parent club, the vast majority of loanees are nowhere near being first-team regulars, either before going out on loan or afterwards upon their return.
At first sight that may seem somewhat a harsh comment. However, take a quick look closer to home and ask the same question of our own players who have gone out on loan, both this season and last. Some have undoubtedly returned as better players, but are any really any closer to being first-team regulars?
Football is notoriously short-term and always looking for quick fixes. An emergency loan is often perceived as the only answer to a sudden injury or loss of form of a star striker. However, arguably, its mere existence prevents clubs using their own academy resources. It’s too easy to opt for the loan rather than use one of their own.
Would clubs actually suffer if the emergency loan system disappeared?
Take Southampton for example. Under the guidance of Les Reed, youth players are rarely permitted to go out on loan to other clubs. The youngsters train regularly with the first team squad and, as a consequence, the number of players making the transition from the academy to the first-team is exceptionally high in comparison to other clubs.
If it can work there so well at Southampton, why not elsewhere?
All things considered, personally, I view the emergency loan system as an obstacle to youth development. Other countries manage perfectly well without such a system.
Can the FA realistically argue in favour if extending the current system that restricts the development of young players and seems to operate primarily for the benefit of top Premier League clubs?
Football, in general, is bemoaning the lack of English qualified youngsters progressing through to first-team level in the Premier League, yet it persists with a loan system that, in reality, does little to assist that progression.
Time for a change? Personally, I think so.
Emergency loans are fine when it is used for genuine emergencies but the system has become bloated and exploited both by clubs looking to loan out players and clubs reliant on short term loans coming in, our 15 loans being a perfect example:
– 2 Scottish
– 1 French
– 1 Irish
– 1 New Zealander
– 2 Australians
– 1 Italian
– 6 English
– 1 Gambian…whose only goals in England at any level have been scored at Dulwich Hamlet…cheers Harry!
Excellent article Gary but I would go even further and abolish the loan system altogether thus preventing top clubs ‘hoarding’ all of the young English talent. I have always hated the loan system however lest we forget that Hucks would never have joined us if it didn’t exist I suppose.
Gary – welcome on board.
The desperate (sorry, I mean emergency) loan system is surely just one facet of the English game that is linked with the continual slide of our national team down the rankings and the ever poorer showing in Europe of the PL top sides?
To a large degree, this is all a consequence of the lack of a winter break in this country. The ridiculous TV/festive time schedule results in injury/fatigue which then requires the cover of the loan systems. The other European leagues don’t require it because their players are recharging or in light training while ours are flogging themselves twice a week in competitive action.
As more and more SKY money (and reliance on it) washes into the game, the state of the English league deteriorates – it’s no coincidence. We might have the most exciting (as in fast and furious) football to watch but probably the 5th or 6th best in quality.
“Time for a change”? Definitely, but at a much deeper level than just getting rid of the loan system.
Couldn’t agree more with Paul, Smiffy and Russell. The only time an emergency loan should be allowed is in exceptional circumstances, such as the Munich air disaster or if a team has serious injuries to both or all three of their goalkeepers (being the only really specialist position).
Ok, so 15 loanees under Roeder and Gunn…
Minus the safety net of Google, and as a starter for ten…
Antoine Sibierski
David Mooney
Alan Gow
Leroy Lita
Over to you…..
@1 Paul, I’m impressed with your speed of response to the question posed and I have little doubt you could add the names!
@2 Smiffy, personally, I have no issue with the concept of either season long or half season loans, as are common in the Premier League and elsewhere in Europe.
@3 Russell, you’re right, the definition of an “emergency loan” is a joke in itself. It should, in my opinion, be restricted to goalkeeping injuries only. I also agree with your comments in relation to the scope of change required. However, I suspect, like most things in football, the pace of change is likely to be slow. Amending the loan system would be a good step in the right direction
Killen, Bertrand, Lupoli, Grounds, Lee, Leijer. That’s 10..
Very interesting article. What amuses me, amongst all of the clamour for us to sign a Jordan Rhodes or similar as an emergency loan, is that we actually have two strikers out on loan ourselves at the moment. Lafferty has only recently been allowed out on loan and Van Wolfswinkel is away for the season. While we may discuss their relative merits at length, and we do, Lafferty has just had another call up for Ireland and the Wolf was (I know, I know) a £20m rated striker when we signed him. Maybe if the safety blanket of the emergency loan window wasn’t there, at least Lafferty would still be here and available?
Can I lob in the name Maceo Rigters?
Huckerby was an exception – an experienced PL player – a no-brainer. 99% of the loans we’ve had were not (and are still not) household names in the ‘twilight’ of their career.
What ever happened to that lad Harry Kane?
Sibierski
Mooney
Gow
Lita
Omar Koroma
Ian Murray
John Kennedy
Lupoli
Bertrand
Leijer
Alan Lee
Chris Killen
Elliott Omozusi
Missing two…
Marco Rigters loaned in the previous (2007-08) season and Ian Murray was a signing, rather than a loan.
Gazza – I just wanted to lob it in whether it was right or wrong! His time in the yellow and green was as brief as a solar eclipse.
Seems to be confusion over what an emergency loan is – some of the names popping up were signed in the summer (not emergency) i.e. Koroma – the Gambian who was a season-long loan but got a serious injury and so went back to his parent club.
@12 – Cosmo P. It’s a fair question and, to be honest, given the passage of time, I couldn’t actually split them between season loans and emergency loans.
When I posed the question originally, I did (inadvertently) not distinguish between the two and was covering all loan players that season.
Gary Field
Nice debut, Gary. Thirteen replies (now 14) can’t be bad.
The list of our 2008-09 loans is truly depressing, and surely linked to the outcome of that season. Interesting to see that while Alex Neil isn’t ruling out loans, he’s clearly not a big fan.
Despite the wonder of the Huckerby loan (and don’t forget Crouch at the same time), I can’t feel any general enthusiasm for the system. It’s good for the top clubs – like most things in football these days – but I can’t see that it helps in the bigger picture. The Southampton point is well made.
Wouldn’t mind that Jordan Rhodes, though…
The full list of of loan signings is actually:-
1. John Kennedy
2. Anntoine Sibierski
3. Chris Killen
4. David Carney
5. Jonathan Grounds
6. Alan Gow
7. Arturo Lupoli
8. David Mooney
9. Ryan Bertrand
10. Elliot Omozusi
11. Adrian Leijer
12. Omar Koroma
13. Allan Lee
14. Leroy Lita
15. Troy Archibald-Henville (who never actually played).
At least Troy had an impressive name. Not surpassed until Ricky van Wolfswinkel.
Only 3 of those 15 were emergency loans – Mooney, Lee and Lita.
That’s the past – today it’s Forest – let’s hope our current emergency loan Dorrans gets the winner!
Cosmo (17): yes, those three were emergency loans. The others were just panic.
As you say, now on to the present. OTBC
Interesting also to remember that Huckerby, Crouch and Harper were all signed on loan from Premier League teams at a time when no loans were permitted in the PL between their own clubs.
This would never happen now as those sort of players would now be loaned to other PL teams rather than being loaned down to the Championship
On a different loan note, can anyone remember the 7 players paraded together on the pitch at the start of the Bryan Hamilton reign after all being signed around the old transfer deadline day of the last Thursday in March, most being loans?
I’ll throw in Des Hamilton for starters…
The gang of 7! As well as Hamilton, I think it was Fernando Derveld, Raymond De Waard, Paul Hughes, Giallanza, Garry Brady and Paul McVeigh (cos he was cheap).
Incidentally, my favourite loan player (other than Hucks) was Neale Fenn