Before I start, let me assure everyone I am NOT a Tottenham fan. However, I have always felt that any club that invests in British talent as opposed to concentrating on overseas sources has to be doing a service to football in this country.

That’s why I can only admire Spurs for their gamble in buying Cardiff City teenage Chris Gunter rather than look abroad for new talent. There’s a slight difference between their investment in Gunter and their splashing out on fellow Wales full-back Gareth Bale earlier in the year. Cardiff-born Bale, who like Gunter is still only 18 (they were in fact born five days apart) was already a major target of the Premier League big boys and had proved his pedigree at Southampton before the north London giants pounced.

Gunter, on the other hand, has played just 28 games for Cardiff - and was only just establishing himself as a first-team regular. Manager Dave Jones admits the Newport-born youngster still has a lot to learn…but Spurs have clearly seen a raw diamond and I sincerely hope Gunter goes on to become a superstar.

'If their way is blocked by the Arsenals of this world investing almost exclusively in non-UK talent, what chance do the British nearly men have of ever making it into the big time?'


The great thing about the whole enterprise is that Spurs are helping British football by buying Gunter. To start with, they are helping Cardiff’s ailing finances - and a reported £28m debt which could yet throw them into administration come March. Reports suggest the Bluebirds could benefit by up to £4million if Gunter makes the grade which, having seen him play, I am confident he will do.

When Tottenham signed Bale in May, they also ’Baled’ out Southampton - to the tune of a cool £10m, if rumoured figures are accurate.

Championship teams are increasingly becoming the poor relations of English football (we won’t even mention the down-and-outs of League One and Two). Compared to the moneybags Premier League giants, clubs in English football’s second tier have to live from hand to mouth - particularly those who have never been in the Premier League and pocketed those massive mushroom payments.

So anything the big boys can do to help them has to be good for the English game.

It’s a far cry from clubs like Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea shelling out all their money on talent from overseas and already-established Premier League stars. The fact is there is a LOT of talent in the Championship and Gunter is just one of many who I am convinced can make it to the very top.

However, if their way is blocked by the Arsenals of this world investing almost exclusively in non-UK talent, what chance do the British nearly men have of ever making it into the big time? OK, I know Arsene Wenger splashed out a reported £12m on Theo Walcott (another much-needed injection of cash for Southampton), which is admirable. But that seems to be as far as it goes at the Emirates as far as Englishmen are concerned.

I mean, what else have they and the likes of Manchester United done to help the little clubs this past few years? Don’t tell me they’ve loaned loads of players out. That’s for THEIR benefit, not the clubs these guys go to. It cuts down their wage bill if the Championship teams pick up the tab - and also gives the players involved valuable experience in a good standard of English football.

Nicklas Bendtner, hero of Saturday's win over Spurs, is a prime example. Would he have EVER made the Arsenal first team had he not learned so much during his loan spell at Birmingham?