English players make up just a third of time spent on the pitch in the Premier League, according to a new study by BBC Sport.
The 'State of the Game' survey analysed the total minutes played by each nationality in the Premier League, Championship and Scottish Premiership to Oct. 1, as well as last season's data -- that's a total of 118,508 minutes for the first two months of 2014-15 and 7,508,918 from 2013-14.
Six months ago, FA chairman Greg Dyke made it clear in a commission on the future of English football that things must change and insists that the target must be 45 percent by 2022.
However, the BBC's study found that English players currently played in just under 33 percent of games since the start of last season. It read: "English players accounted for less than a third of playing time last season -- the 32.36 percent figure compares to 69 percent 20 years ago. The 45 percent FA target is still less than domestic players' total in Spain and Germany. England was last at 45 percent in 2000."
Two other areas of concern were raised:
"Top clubs use fewest UK players -- Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham use the most non-UK players.
"Foreign players are being used as squad players -- of the 373 non UK players used in last season's top flight, 92 (24.66 percent) played less than 10 games."
Where would @england finish in the table if they were a @premierleague club? http://t.co/x8qejEq0ZM #stateofthegame pic.twitter.com/Rsh1Jnw6IP
- Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) November 20, 2014
This season has actually seen a rise, as 32.36 percent of total playing time in 2013-14 has gone up to 36.08 percent so far this season -- up to Oct. 1. However that can be attributed to newly promoted Burnley, who used just one non-UK player.
Indeed the Clarets used the most English players (13) in the league; Chelsea, Stoke and Man City each used the least (three).