Don't panic about or 'home grown' quota!

The arrival of three players at St James' Park has been welcomed, but it's also raised a few concerns.

One of those concerns is about how the arrival of these three foreigners plus the departure of an Englishman in the shape of Kevin Nolan will impact on our ability to comply with the home grown ruling that came into force at the start of last season. The message from me is to not worry.

Why? Well we are covered basically and will have no concerns staying within the rules, even after our continental shopping trip draws to a close. You all know what the definition of home grown is by now surely? Well if you don't here is the rule according to the Premier League handbook:

A home-grown player will be defined as one who, irrespective of his nationality or age, has been registered with a club affiliated to the Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months prior to his 21st birthday (or the end of the Season during which he turns 21).

Basically we have to name a squad of up to 25 players. Those players can be any age but if they are under the age of 21 then they don't have to be named in the squad but can still be eligible to play for the first team. A recent example I guess would be Andy Carroll. He wasn't named in our original 25-man squad but the gypsy still played for us.

Out of the squad of 25 there must be eight home grown players included. Home grown doesn't mean that they have to be English or anything like that - it merely means that a player must have been registered with a club in either England or Wales for three years before they turn 21. Tim Krul is a good example of non-English home grown player.

So who do we have on the book at the moment that can fill the spaces? Well, let's take a look.

NUFC home grown players.

Steve Harper
Fraser Forster
Tim Krul
Danny Simpson
Tamas Kadar
Mike Williamson
Steven Taylor
James Perch
Joey Barton
Dan Gosling
Danny Guthrie
Alan Smith
Wayne Routledge
Ryan Taylor
Shola Ameobi
Leon Best

Now that's 16 home grown players. Granted we may lose some over the summer, but are we really going to lose eight of them? There is also nothing to say that we won't be bringing anymore in. Neil Taylor would be another home grown player to add to the list should his proposed move from Swansea go ahead.

So you see, there is no need to panic. Just because we are adding a bit of gallic flair it doesn't mean that we are suddenly flying close to the rules. We have plenty of home grown players to pick from, and we only need eight.

As Mr Mainwaring would say: Don't panic!