Murphy worried by foreign contingent's effect Nov 11 2005
By Ian Doyle, Daily Post
DANNY MURPHY has revealed his concerns that English football could be hampered by the Premiership's growing foreign contingent.
The 28-year-old has enjoyed a new lease of life at Charlton Athletic since he decided to leave Liverpool last summer after new manager Rafael Benitez bought Xabi Alonso and Luis Garcia, who went on to play integral roles in the European Cup success in May.
And the England World Cup hopeful believes steps must be taken before the top flight is engulfed by such foreign players.
Over the weekend, both Arsenal and Fulham started with just one English player while Liverpool, Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers began with just two.
"There surely has to be some kind of cut off," said Murphy. "Legally, nothing can be done so it has to be down to the game. If I was involved in the hierarchy I would be looking to influence the manager.
There needs to be a blend, like at Chelsea, and it's a worry."
The arrival of Spanish duo Garcia and Alonso played a part in Murphy's departure from Anfield at the beginning of last season, with the player seeking regular first-team football.
And he added: "I could have stayed at Liverpool and probably picked up a Champions League winners medal. I might though have been sitting in the stand that's no good for me.
"My personal satisfaction comes from playing at the end of the week. I like to go into work with a spring in my step, knowing there is a purpose.
"Some players don't mind sitting on the bench. I'll never understand that.
Maybe it's a foreign thing."
Murphy chose to join Charlton Athletic ahead of Tottenham Hotspur, admitting that the impact of foreigners again played an influence in his decision.
"People said I had to go to Spurs instead of Charlton," he said. "'Why?' I said to them. 'Why have I got to go to Spurs?' For a so-called big club they didn't try as hard to sign me as Charlton.
"I knew straight away when I met Jacques Santini I could not play for him.
"It was the language. He hardly spoke English so how could I communicate, relay feelings and talk to him?"
Murphy also claims that English players are becoming "suffocated" in the Anfield dressing room.
"I'm not xenophobic in any way, let's make that clear," he said. "Liverpool, though, signed about 10 players from Spain because that is what the manager knows best.
"Before I left, the English boys told chief executive Rick Parry we had begun to feel suffocated in the dressing room. We asked if it would happen again under another foreign manager and he assured us it wouldn't. But it has.
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Now I'm not in the league of black lawyers or anything but that sounds a bit xenophobic to me, despite that he's stating that its not.
