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Premier League will not sit on commission looking to improve the England team

Former Three Lions manager Glenn Hoddle will be involved however

Martyn Ziegler
Wednesday 09 October 2013 11:59 BST
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Greg Dyke has given the thumbs down to a summer World Cup in Qatar
Greg Dyke has given the thumbs down to a summer World Cup in Qatar (Getty images)

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Football Association chairman Greg Dyke has announced the Premier League will not have a representative on his commission looking at how to improve the England team.

Dyke also confirmed that former England manager Glenn Hoddle, who was sacked by the FA in 1999, will join him and Football League chairman Greg Clarke on the commission, but the Premier League - arguably the organisation best placed to effect change - has turned down a seat.

Dyke said: "The Premier League decided they didn't want to be on it. They will help us all they can and give access to any figures and statistics but they decided they didn't want to be on it and I can understand that."

Dyke announced Hoddle's inclusion on the commission at the Leaders in Football conference in London and again expressed concerns about the lack of English players breaking in to the top flight, saying 70 per cent of those starting top-flight matches last season were from overseas.

The FA chairman said: "The truth is we have become a finishing school for the rest of the world at the expense of our own players.

"I have been pleased with the collective response to the game and there is now a lot of work to be done."

Hoddle said he was "delighted and honoured" to be involved.

He told BT Sport: "I have my ideas on how the issues can be tackled, but the question is whether the Premier League and the clubs themselves will buy into it, and changing the way the game is played in this country from the early days of youth development.

"I have already spoken to Greg Dyke a couple of times now and at last I have a sense that there is someone in charge who is genuinely trying to change things.

"If he wants my help in and around these issues then I am willing to give it. It hurts me to see promising young English players being overlooked for average foreign players."

Dyke, who took over as chairman in July, believes action is needed to address what he described as a "frightening trend" of the reduction in the number of English players in the Premier League.

PA

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