Foreigners in English Football.
I was pretty horrified to find out that none of Arsenal's players this afternoon were English, or British, or even from the UK/Rep Ireland. So I decided to check out stats from all West Ham's Premiership matches this season to date to see how 'British' the top division in English football is.


West Ham v Manchester City on August 11th 2007.


Mark Noble (England)                                         Michael Johnson (England)
Luis Boa Morte (Portugal)                                  Martin Petrov (Bulgaria)
Bobby Zamora (England)                                   Stephen Ireland (Rep Ireland)
Craig Bellamy (Wales)                                        Rolando Bianchi (Italy)

Substitutes

Daniel Gabbidon (Wales)                                  Nedum Onuoha (Nigeria)
Richard Wright (England)                                   Joe Hart (England)
Matthew Etherington (England)                        Deiberson Geovanni (Brazil)
Hayden Mullins (England)                                  Fernandes Gelson (Cape Verde)
Dean Ashton (England)                                      Valeri Bojinov (Bulgaria)

13 UK, 3 foreign.                                                  5 (UK + Ireland), 11 foreign.

Birmingham v West Ham on August 18th 2007

Birmingham City                                                 West Ham

Colin Doyle (Rep Ireland)                                 Robert Green
Stuart Parnaby (England)                                 Jonathan Spector
Radhi Jaidi (Tunisia)                                         Anton Ferdinand
Liam Ridgewell (England)                               Matthew Upson
Stephen Kelly (Rep Ireland)                             George McCartney
Sebastian Larsson (Sweden)                         Kieron Dyer (England)
Fabrice Muamba (England)                             Mark Noble
Mehdi Nafti (Tunisia)                                         Hayden Mullins
Olivier Kapo (France)                                        Matthew Etherington
Garry O'Connor (Scotland)                               Craig Bellamy
Mikael Forssell (Finland)                                  Bobby Zamora

Substitutes

Mathew Sadler (England)                                 Daniel Gabbidon
Maik Taylor (N. Ireland)                                     James Walker (England)
Gary McSheffrey (England)                               Lee Bowyer
Cameron Jerome (England)                           Dean Ashton
Rowan Vine (England)                                      Luis Boa Morte

11 UK+I 5 foreign.                                              14 UK, 2 foreign.

West Ham v Wigan Athletic on August 25th 2007

West Ham                                                            Wigan

Robert Green                                                      Chris Kirkland (England)
Lucas Neill (Australia)                                       Paul Scharner (Austria)
Anton Ferdinand                                                 Mario Melchiot (Holland)
Matthew Upson                                                   Titus Bramble (England)
George McCartney                                              Andreas Granqvist (Sweden)
Matthew Etherington                                          Kevin Kilbane (Rep Ireland)
Hayden Mullins                                                   Antonio Valencia (Ecuador)
Mark Noble                                                           Denny Landzaat (Holland)
Kieron Dyer                                                          Jason Koumas (Wales)
Craig Bellamy                                                      Antoine Sibierski (France)
Bobby Zamora                                                     Emile Heskey (England)

Substitutes

Jonathan Spector                                               Fitz Hall (England)
James Walker                                                    Michael Pollitt (England)
Lee Bowyer                                                         Michael Brown (England)
Luis Boa Morte                                                   Julius Aghahowa (Nigeria)
Dean Ashton                                                       Caleb Folan (???)

13 UK, 3 foreign.                                                8 UK + I, 8 foreign (assuming that Folan is foreign).

Reading v West Ham on September 1st 2007

Reading                                                              West Ham

Marcus Hahnemann (USA)                             Robert Green
Graeme Murty (England)                                  Lucas Neill
Ivar Ingimarsson (Iceland)                               Anton Ferdinand
Michael Duberry (England)                              Matthew Upson
Nicky Shorey (England)                                    George McCartney
Emerse Fae (Ivory Coast)                                Lee Bowyer
James Harper (England)                                 Mark Noble
Brynjar Gunnarsson (Iceland)                        Hayden Mullins
Stephen Hunt (Rep Ireland)                            Matthew Etherington
Leroy Lita (England)                                         Dean Ashton
Kevin Doyle (Rep Ireland)                               Craig Bellamy

Substitutes

Andre Bikey (Cameroon)                                Daniel Gabbidon
Adam Federici (Australia)                              Jonathan Spector
Kalifa Cisse (Mali)                                           Richard Wright
Bobby Convey (USA)                                       Carlton Cole (England)
Dave Kitson (England)                                   Luis Boa Morte

8 UK + I, 8 foreign.                                           13 UK, 3 foreign

West Ham V Middlesbrough on September 15th

West Ham                                                        Middlesbrough

Robert Green                                                   Mark Schwarzer (Australian)
Lucas Neill                                                       Luke Young (England)
George McCartney                                          Jonathan Woodgate (England)
James Collins                                                 David Wheater (England)
Matthew Upson                                               Andrew Taylor (England)
Lee Bowyer                                                      George Boateng (Holland)
Hayden Mullins                                                Fabio Rochemback (Brazil)
Mark Noble                                                       Julio Arca (Argentina)
Matthew Etherington                                      Stewart Downing (England)
Craig Bellamy                                                  Jeremie Aliadiere (France)
Dean Ashton                                                    Mido (Egypt)

Substitutes

Daniel Gabbidon                                           Andrew Davies (England)
Richard Wright                                               Brad Jones (Australia)
Fredrik Ljungberg                                         Gary O'Neil (England)
Luis Boa Morte                                              Dong-Gook Lee (S. Korea)
Carlton Cole                                                  Tuncay Sanli (Turkey)

13 UK, 3 foreign                                           7 UK, 9 foreign.

Newcastle v West Ham on September 23rd

Newcastle                                                    West Ham

Steve Harper (England)                             Robert Green
Habib Beye (Senegal)                               George McCartney
Claudio Cacapa (Brazil)                            Lucas Neill
David Rozehnal (Czech Rep)                   Matthew Upson
Charles N'Zogbia (France)                      Anton Ferdinand
Geremi (Cameroon)                                  Lee Bowyer
Nicky Butt (England)                                 Mark Noble
James Milner (England)                          Hayden Mullins
Mark Viduka (Australia)                            Matthew Etherington
Michael Owen (England)                         Dean Ashton
Alan Smith (England)                               Carlton Cole

Substitutes

Steven Taylor (English)                          Jonathan Spector
Sanchez Jose Enrique (Spain)            James Collins
Shay Given (Rep Ireland)                      Richard Wright
Abdoulaye Faye (Senegal)                    Fredrik Ljungberg
Obafemi Martins (Nigeria)                    Henri Camara (Senegal)

7 UK + I, 9 foreign.                                 12 UK, 4 foreign.

West Ham v Arsenal on September 29th

West Ham                                               Arsenal

Robert Green                                         Manuel Almunia (Spain)
Lucas Neill                                              Gael Clichy (France)
Anton Ferdinand                                    Bacary Sagna (France)
Matthew Upson                                      Kolo Toure (Ivory Coast)
George McCartney                                 Philippe Senderos (Switzerland)
Fredrik Ljungberg                                  Alexander Hleb (Belarus)
Mark Noble                                             Francesc Fabregas (Spain)
Scott Parker (England)                         Mathieu Flamini (France)
Lee Bowyer                                            Vassiriki Diaby France)
Henri Camara                                       Robin Van Persie (Holland)
Dean Ashton                                         Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo)

Substitutes

Daniel Gabbidon                                 Emmanuel Eboue (Ivory Coast)
Richard Wright                                     Lukasz Fabianski (Poland)
Hayden Mullins                                    Neves Denilson (Brazil)
Luis Boa Morte                                    Gilberto Silva (Brazil)
Carlton Cole                                        Nicklas Bendtner (Holland)

12 UK, 4 foreign.                                0 UK, 16 foreign.


I do have some thoughts to add to the above stats but I'll leave them for another time, when I'm not so tired!