In the past two seasons both Blackpool and Wolves have been fined, by the Premier League, for fielding weakened sides. So can Manchester United expect a fine for resting players in preparation for the Champions League final?
The Premier League’s rule book offers little clarification on the subject, it simply says: “In every League Match each participating Club shall field a full strength team.”
Some would argue that the quality of Manchester United’s squad means that any side they put out is strong enough. This has some validity as the likely starters include Dimitar Berbatov, their top-scorer, and Paul Scholes.
Blackpool turned to Jason Euell (arguably worthy of a fine on his own) and Brett Omerod. Wolves were, perhaps, the most guilty. They went out of their way to ensure their team was weakened by recalling George Friend from a loan spell, just so he could play.
However, the fact remains that, despite the obvious differences in strength in depth, every side has registered a 25-man squad.
So, what’s a fairer way to judge what is weakened?
One way could be to judge it by the same criteria as who gets a Premier League winners medal. If the Premier League deems 10 appearances as a worthy contribution to a title win, then surely playing those players is not weakening the side?
Therefore by applying the 10 game rule would Manchester United, Wolves and Blackpool still be guilty of fielding a side that wasn’t good enough?
Manchester United likely starting line-up for Sunday’s game will be something like Kuszczak, Rafael, Brown, Smalling, Evans, Gibson, Fletcher, Anderson, Scholes, Owen and Berbatov. Of that side only Wes Brown (7) and substitute goalkeeper Kuszczak failed to qualify for a medal.
Similarly Blackpool’s team against Aston Villa contained only three players, Chris Basham (4), Rob Edwards (5) and Jason Euell (5), who haven’t reached at least 10 apperances.
In Wolves’ case Hill (2), Friend (1), Surman (7), Castillo (8) and Maierhofer (8) all failed to make enough appearances. So in their case the fine may have been more justified.
It will be interesting to see whether the Premier League fines Manchester United because by doing so they will be judging 9 winners of this year’s competition as not good enough. However, what’s clear is that there needs to be some clarification of this rule.
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