Where did anyone say any different?
Nonetheless, you'd be very foolish to ignore the importance of having a homegrown core of players to build the team around. It's been the basis of success at Manchester United for decades.
You didn't say that to be fair, although I did think it wa inferred. You seemed to say that the club shouldn't be going to buy better players elsewhere at the extent of developing home talent.
In any case, I agree that the ideal scenario is a home core. It also helps to do that when the players in question are as good as Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs. That said, if they are only as good as Nicky Butt, for instance, then they should not really be forming the core of the team. Barcelona have a similar model to the one you are encouraging, but they have not compromised on quality control as a result. If we are developing players good enough to start for our first team, of course, I would rather they played than anyone else.
I think Fergie has been good in the sense that, where we don't have the required quality within our ranks, he will try to buy British talent where possible. I agree with this model too, and all I am saying is that the presence of Tom Cleverley does not necessarily mean this model should not be applied again to the midfield area. For arguments sake, if we could get Wilshere, we should - and he'd walk into our team, past Cleverley on the way. I'd prefer Wilshere to Gundogan, largely for the English factor, and I'm sure Fergie would agree. That said, I'd prefer Gundogan to Cleverley, simply for the quality factor.
Essentially, I agree to building the team with homebased players where possible, just not sure whether this should apply to Tom Cleverley or not yet. Not writing him off, just saying I'm not convinced as of yet.
