MANCHESTER, Aug 8: Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has warned that a knee-jerk implementation of restrictions on foreign players risked harming the English Premier League.

The Scot said the England team’s failure to qualify for June’s European Championship must not be the catalyst for backing FIFA’s “6+5” proposal, which would force clubs to start matches with at least six players eligible for selection for the national team of the country in which they are based, thereby restricting teams to a maximum of five foreign players in the starting eleven.

“It is vital that the game takes a step back and concentrates on making the right choices,” Ferguson wrote in the forward to the Premier League Season Review, which is published Tuesday. “We have the strongest and the most entertaining league in the world; we should celebrate that, not denigrate it ... “Last season proved once again that, as well as being the hardest league in the world to win, it’s also the best.”

FIFA’s congress in May voted overwhelmingly in favor of objectives of the ‘6+5’ rule. At that congress, England’s Football Association voted in favor of the exploring whether the quotas were viable within the confines of European Union law, which guarantees citizens the right to work in any member state. The Premier League, however, is certain quotas are illegal.

Ferguson, who was wrongly embraced by FIFA president Sepp Blatter in May as an advocate of the proposal, said the status quo is producing quality English players which helped him win the Premier League and Champions League in May.

“There has been some criticism in the media of the Premier League this year, with a call for quotas to guarantee English players starting places in teams,” Ferguson said. “I did not start the final of the UEFA Champions League with six Englishmen because I was making a political statement. I did it because they’re good enough to win the European Cup.”

England manager Fabio Capello has complained that he is at a disadvantage compared to other national team managers, as only 35 per cent of Premier League players are eligible for the national team.

“It is nonsense to say that England does not have players capable of competing on the international stage,” Ferguson said.—AP