Vieira vote sums up foreign takeover in England

French midfielder Patrick Vieira, voted the greatest foreign player ever in English football, sums up the way the game is going in the country that invented the rules of soccer.

The Arsenal captain polled 17 of 20 possible votes from a group of top managers and players including Newcastle United's Bobby Robson, Chelsea's Claudio Ranieri, ex-England manager Graham Taylor and former England winger Tom Finney.

The poll is part of a new book entitled "England, Their England" - a comprehensive new history of the over 1,700 overseas-born players ever to play in England.

Robson paid tribute to the impact of foreign players on the English game but warned it could hurt the chances of success for the national team.

"They've enhanced it and they've been brilliant for us," he says.

"What we have to be careful of is that we don't bring in ordinary players - we bring in players we haven't got the likes of in this country. Bring in ordinary players and it's obviously denying our players the chance of progressing and we mustn't do that.

"If we are denying English players the chance of playing in English football that will ultimately affect the English side. If we shorten the base, that is less players being produced for England."

More than 300 foreigners play in England -- more than any other country -- and at the 2002 World Cup there were more players from English clubs than from any other national league.

Last season Englishmen were in a minority - 253 of the 581 players in the Premiership were born in England while 328 were from elsewhere.

The biggest star in the 1990s was Manchester United's Frenchman Eric Cantona -- the first player to win successive league titles with different clubs -- Leeds and Manchester United.

But for 50 years from 1930 when Arsenal tried to sign an Austrian goalkeeper, foreign players were banned in England.

Tottenham helped break the ban when they signed Argentina's World Cup winners Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricky Villa in 1978.

Six clubs in this year's championship could field an entirely foreign team -- Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur.

Freedom of labour laws written in Brussels mean only the entry of non-European Union players can be controlled.

The international football federation FIFA wants a system whereby each team's starting XI must include six players eligible to play for the national team.

European football union UEFA agrees but talks with the EU have not come to anything so far.

The Premier League began in 1992 with a rule restricting clubs to three non-EU players in any match. Last year the clubs removed it for fear of a legal challenge.

However, a work permit system requires foreigners to have played 75 percent of their country's internationals in the preceding two years.

English football is being further internationalised by the number of foreign club owners and foreign coaches.

Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich paid 200 million pounds for Chelsea while Portsmouth are owned by a Serb, Fulham by an Egyptian and last week an Australian businessman bought a 30 percent stake in Queens Park Rangers so he could stage friendlies involving Australia and New Zealand at Loftus Road.