Brexit Repurcussions

[BenLynch29]

Okay, being American Brexit doesn’t really bother me in the same way as it does those of you in Scotland and the rest of the U.K. & Ireland (both Republic and the 6 Counties).

BUT... has there been any discussion in Parliament about how the government is potentially going to deal with work permits for football players and managers? I imagine this is a MUCH bigger deal down in England, but there are consequences for Scottish clubs too, and the hard Brexit date is fast approaching.

• Will this potentially impact the summer transfer window?
• Will existing European players need new work permits after Brexit, and what would happen to those under contract should visas be denied?
• Will there be quotas for homegrown players - or put another way a quota limit for foreign players?

I don’t want this to turn into a general Brexit thread - there’s enough of that around the interwebs already. But as someone not closely following the day by day drama, I’m curious if the government in London has passed or even discussed what will happen regarding immigration and work laws as they apply to the business of football.

 

[michael duffy]

like every other aspect of brexit Ben,football's approach is wait and see,my opinion,there will be some sort of work permit work around,the u.k clubs are still members of uefa,so it'll be their rules which will apply!

 

[Spherical Planet]

Okay, being American Brexit doesn’t really bother me in the same way as it does those of you in Scotland and the rest of the U.K. & Ireland (both Republic and the 6 Counties).

BUT... has there been any discussion in Parliament about how the government is potentially going to deal with work permits for football players and managers? I imagine this is a MUCH bigger deal down in England, but there are consequences for Scottish clubs too, and the hard Brexit date is fast approaching.

• Will this potentially impact the summer transfer window?
• Will existing European players need new work permits after Brexit, and what would happen to those under contract should visas be denied?
• Will there be quotas for homegrown players - or put another way a quota limit for foreign players?

I don’t want this to turn into a general Brexit thread - there’s enough of that around the interwebs already. But as someone not closely following the day by day drama, I’m curious if the government in London has passed or even discussed what will happen regarding immigration and work laws as they apply to the business of football.

Very much like "The Wall" in The States, BL, much of the early debate regarding brexit was based initially upon xenophobia and migration diluting and endangering the indigenous population.

As a consequence, a no-deal brexit will undoubtedly have major ramifications on trade and transfer of employment in the UK. However, It's not a major issue in other non EU member countries and football appears to have avoided the other problems associated with migration in the workplace.

The truth is, that we are as much in the dark as the rest of the world regarding the final outcome of any type of departure and there, in itself, is the biggest flaw when idiots start flying with a half-cocked plan in the first place.

Perhaps our PM should declare a national emergency???

 

[boab1916]

Okay, being American Brexit doesn’t really bother me in the same way as it does those of you in Scotland and the rest of the U.K. & Ireland (both Republic and the 6 Counties).

BUT... has there been any discussion in Parliament about how the government is potentially going to deal with work permits for football players and managers? I imagine this is a MUCH bigger deal down in England, but there are consequences for Scottish clubs too, and the hard Brexit date is fast approaching.

• Will this potentially impact the summer transfer window?
• Will existing European players need new work permits after Brexit, and what would happen to those under contract should visas be denied?
• Will there be quotas for homegrown players - or put another way a quota limit for foreign players?

I don’t want this to turn into a general Brexit thread - there’s enough of that around the interwebs already. But as someone not closely following the day by day drama, I’m curious if the government in London has passed or even discussed what will happen regarding immigration and work laws as they apply to the business of football.

Great Scottish legend name you have and one of Glasgows finest boxers who succumbed to the demons.

 

[The Shamrock]

Noooooooooo

No more Brexshit.

The Noise should be s a Brexshit-free zone.

 

[BenLynch29]

like every other aspect of brexit Ben,football's approach is wait and see,my opinion,there will be some sort of work permit work around,the u.k clubs are still members of uefa,so it'll be their rules which will apply!

That’s an interesting take Michael.

My understanding is that UEFA is silent regarding this issue though. Every nation can apply its own immigration laws, and as long as the laws aren’t specific to football (ie politicians meddling and politicizing domestic leagues & football associations), UEFA basically has no voice one way or the other. Remember, there are laws even now restricting employment of footballers in the UK from nations outside of the EU. It’s the reason why Manny Perez and Andrew Gutman are on loan in the semi-pro League USL in the USA rather than being loaned out to other Scottish (or low level English) teams.

Seems to me that if Parliament passed a law that restricted foreign workers generally, UEFA would be powerless to intervene. Indeed, other non-EU countries within the sphere of UEFA already have such laws (Russia being one example).

 

[BenLynch29]

Noooooooooo

No more Brexshit.

The Noise should be s a Brexshit-free zone.

LOL. Fair enough sentiment.

I personally don’t care about the politics of Brexit, and feel that’s it’s not my place as an American to preach one way or the other.

But I do think a discussion on the implications to Celtic and Scottish football generally is relevent. Although, I would personally prefer comments to be more fact-based and less opinion/ranting.

With Hard Brexit approximately 6 weeks away, there could be a lot of turmoil before the next transfer window opens up.

But I remain naively hopeful that MP’s of all political persuasions will find a solution to not disrupt the transfer window and general work visa process from where it exists today as it relates to footballers. As this issue impactes every major
club up and down the country, I would think this would be a great starting point for MP’s from the Conservative side to Labour to UKIP to SNP and others to find common ground. There will be no winners here - other than Spanish, German, Italian, and French clubs - for failure to find some sort of solution. And maybe I am naive about UK politics (though I do think this transcends cultures), but I don’t think any politician wants to go home and have 50,000+ football supporters protesting against them because a political decision allowed Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, or Juventus to win the Champions League again! I may be wrong, but this may be a case where ordinary politics goes out the window.

We can only hope!

 

[michael duffy]

Ben,the government have a special status work permit for "essential worker" status " loophole" HH

 

[BenLynch29]

Ben,the government have a special status work permit for "essential worker" status " loophole" HH

Interesting Michael.

I did a Google search to see what this ‘essential worker’ status was, and I found this:

https://www.gov.uk/tier-2-sportsperson-worker-visa

So it looks like this is a non-issue unless there are new laws. The FA (England) and SFA (Scotland) will be a lot busier as they’ll have to endorse each application for EU nationals now, just as they currently do for non-EU nationals, but the existing framework is already there and it doesn’t appear like there are any quotas or limits.

Interestingly, Celtic could get Gutman and Manny Perez - our two new young American defenders - work visas if the SFA were to endorse them. And given that they must have done so for at least one other player of comparable skill, I would be knocking down the door at Hampden to get this over the line if I was PL. No reason to have these guys wasting away in the USL in America playing against MLS reserve sides and guys who aren’t even good enough to be has-beens! Get them to Scotland and loan them out over here!!!

For the record, the player I’m referring to is Ian Harkes of Dundee United. Like Gutman, he won the Hermann Award as the best collegiate player in the USA but has no other meaningful professional experience that would qualify him for a Visa. If the SFA sponsored Harkes’ Visa application (which they 100% must have), they should be applying the same criteria and must sponsor Gutman’s and Perez’s Visa applications as well.

There’s a legal case to be made if certain individuals wish to do so at Celtic Park. Applying different standards in these matters is not a grey area legally.

 

[michael duffy]

newsnight bbc 2 the rise of the far right in britain.

 

[boab1916]

Okay, being American Brexit doesn’t really bother me in the same way as it does those of you in Scotland and the rest of the U.K. & Ireland (both Republic and the 6 Counties).

BUT... has there been any discussion in Parliament about how the government is potentially going to deal with work permits for football players and managers? I imagine this is a MUCH bigger deal down in England, but there are consequences for Scottish clubs too, and the hard Brexit date is fast approaching.

• Will this potentially impact the summer transfer window?
• Will existing European players need new work permits after Brexit, and what would happen to those under contract should visas be denied?
• Will there be quotas for homegrown players - or put another way a quota limit for foreign players?

I don’t want this to turn into a general Brexit thread - there’s enough of that around the interwebs already. But as someone not closely following the day by day drama, I’m curious if the government in London has passed or even discussed what will happen regarding immigration and work laws as they apply to the business of football.

There will not be a problem most EPL teams are owned by foreigners and they pay taxes, UK get rid of a player who is taxed on 500K a week so that his place can be taking by johnny no mark 3K a week. Brexit is designed for cooking the books, the nonsense about johnny foreigner having to leave so billy bulldog can gave a job is shite, no one will pick the poataoes or berries for UK companies therefore they will bring in still the foreign graft, Brexit is a lot of shite.

 

[boab1916]

This is what Nigel farrage drives an EU made volvo, buy british my fucking arse.

 

[michael duffy]

BREXIT!!!!FFS! GGGRRR!

 

[Shadow2]

Okay, being American Brexit doesn’t really bother me in the same way as it does those of you in Scotland and the rest of the U.K. & Ireland (both Republic and the 6 Counties).

BUT... has there been any discussion in Parliament about how the government is potentially going to deal with work permits for football players and managers? I imagine this is a MUCH bigger deal down in England, but there are consequences for Scottish clubs too, and the hard Brexit date is fast approaching.

• Will this potentially impact the summer transfer window?
• Will existing European players need new work permits after Brexit, and what would happen to those under contract should visas be denied?
• Will there be quotas for homegrown players - or put another way a quota limit for foreign players?

I don’t want this to turn into a general Brexit thread - there’s enough of that around the interwebs already. But as someone not closely following the day by day drama, I’m curious if the government in London has passed or even discussed what will happen regarding immigration and work laws as they apply to the business of football.

Short answer is no they haven't discussed it Ben, which really isn't that surprising since that fucking circus of a parliament is overrun with dimwitted clownheads who barely gave a second thought to how Brexit will affect the importation of essentials like medicines, food, manufacturing goods etc before they triggered Article 50.

 

[lcafiero]

the nonsense about johnny foreigner having to leave so billy bulldog can gave a job is shite, no one will pick the poataoes or berries for UK companies therefore they will bring in still the foreign graft, Brexit is a lot of shite.

Not to derail the discussion here, but as an aside this is a very valid point. Ask any farmer in the Central Valley of California whether they're pro-immigration, and they'll tell you that they are. They need the labour from the south to harvest the fields (paying them a decent wage is another issue, of course). The folks coming from over the border are not taking jobs from Americans because Americans, generally speaking, aren't going to do those jobs.

which really isn't that surprising since that fucking circus of a parliament is overrun with dimwitted clownheads who barely gave a second thought to how Brexit will affect the importation of essentials like medicines, food, manufacturing goods etc before they triggered Article 50.

It's unfortunate that you share the same affliction in political leadership there that we suffer from here: an infestation of idiots. Hopefully we can change this on both sides of the Atlantic.

One more thing: Someone posted world-class wanker Nigel Farage earlier. He drives a Volvo? What a hypocrite.

 

[BenLynch29]

Not to derail the discussion here, but as an aside this is a very valid point. Ask any farmer in the Central Valley of California whether they're pro-immigration, and they'll tell you that they are. They need the labour from the south to harvest the fields (paying them a decent wage is another issue, of course). The folks coming from over the border are not taking jobs from Americans because Americans, generally speaking, aren't going to do those jobs.



It's unfortunate that you share the same affliction in political leadership there that we suffer from here: an infestation of idiots. Hopefully we can change this on both sides of the Atlantic.

One more thing: Someone posted world-class wanker Nigel Farage earlier. He drives a Volvo? What a hypocrite.

That’s a good point Icafiero. It gets lost sometimes, but the immigration debate in America has a lot of facets to it, but one thing that is strikingly absent the last 5-10 years is any sort of arguement that immigrants are taking jobs away from citizens. Nobody is even pretending to make that arguement (even Trump!), and that’s a good thing. I’m going to stop there as I don’t want this to turn into a general Trump/Republican/Tory/Immigrant bashing discussion. There’s enough places on the web for that...

As it relates to Soccer/Football though, there was a great article in The Athletic a while back about the abuse some American Outlaw members (the ‘Ultra’ group for the US Men’s National Team) have been getting, particularly in Mexico, for supporting the American team. The abuse now has a big political component to it since Trump was elected which is entirely new. But what makes it such a fascinating article is that it focuses not on ordinary members of AO, but specifically the Mexican-Americans in the group who love and support the team just like any other Americans.

https://theathletic.com/792802/2019/01/30/mexican-american-usa-soccer-fans/

 

[lcafiero]

Thanks, Ben! Good article, and was not aware of American Outlaw until now . . . .

 

[Shadow2]

Not to derail the discussion here, but as an aside this is a very valid point. Ask any farmer in the Central Valley of California whether they're pro-immigration, and they'll tell you that they are. They need the labour from the south to harvest the fields (paying them a decent wage is another issue, of course). The folks coming from over the border are not taking jobs from Americans because Americans, generally speaking, aren't going to do those jobs.



It's unfortunate that you share the same affliction in political leadership there that we suffer from here: an infestation of idiots. Hopefully we can change this on both sides of the Atlantic.

One more thing: Someone posted world-class wanker Nigel Farage earlier. He drives a Volvo? What a hypocrite.

We've entered the 'Age of Morons' lcafiero!

An age where ignorant swivel-eyed boneheads with sociopathic tendencies spout endless rivers of fact free, dog whistle shite based on nothing more than what they've been told by other ignorant swivel-eyed boneheaded sociopaths, who incidentally have been given prominence and manoeuvred into positions of power to act as a lightening rod to mobilise these dangerously stupid people!

The real problem is the people setting the elected moron's agenda!

HH lcafiero.