That particular quote mainly applies to academy players.
However before that I said all English clubs should have British/Irish representation. I can't speak for anyone else but it wouldn't sit right if we didn't meet that because of our proud history of players from these Isles. That coupled with the fact we are an English club. The same ideal applies to Spanish clubs, Italian clubs, French clubs etc. You can't lost that identity.
Of course not every club has the same standard. The level of British and Irish talent is at a low state. Once upon a time United made up most of the England team.
The youth production is something we need to work on. United have the highest percentage of academy boys playing in the English leagues. The club should rightly be proud of that.
But....the main purpose of the academy is to produce players for Manchester United. Not for Burnley, Sunderland and Wolves.
It looks like we are moving in the right direction with the restructuring. Therefore I don't want it to get to a point where the pathway for academy lads to the first team is blocked. That's been the scenario at many other big clubs. It doesn't sit right seeing promising talents being held back because you've assembled a bloated first team squad.
And when it comes to the cream of the crop from other clubs we should be willing to pay. Like we did in the past. I don't think Fergie would have missed out on Dele Alli for £5m.
Because typically these players view United as the pinnacle and form the main-stay. I'm not saying foreign players won't...but there is an element that they see differently (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern). There's also an element that they map out a career differently and are more open to new challenges. British players have been criticised for not testing themselves abroad but we weren't complaining when our contingent stuck around.
Edit: I hope that makes sense. Didn't want to waffle on too long
