BRIAN BARWICK'S decision to offer Sepp Blatter qualified support for his controversial "six plus five" plan came only after the Fifa president's original proposal was watered down.

Just last week Barwick, the English FA's chief executive, was mandated by the FA board - comprising Premier League, Football League and amateur game representatives - to vote against attempting to implement a quota system, limiting the number of foreign players fielded in professional football teams to a maximum of five at this week's annual Fifa congress in Sydney.

However, when Fifa officials discussed Blatter's brainchild with their Uefa counterparts at an executive meeting in Moscow last week it became apparent that any attempt to force through such a system would contravene European law.

With the Sydney motion duly changed to merely examining the feasibility of introducing such quotas by the 2012-13 season, FA board members softened their stance and Barwick duly voted "in favour of further exploration of the six plus five plan" thereby potentially keeping Blatter onside as he continues to spearhead England's attempts to secure the 2018 World Cup. While the prospect of such quotas ever being implemented is extremely remote - not least because the idea conflicts with central tenets of European employment law - Blatter's pet project would prompt huge practical complications in England.

Quite apart from the "Irish problem" - something which would cause ructions at a club such as Sunderland where the squad is studded with Republic of Ireland internationals - Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish professionals would also be classified as foreigners as they all fall under the umbrella of different associations.

Then there would be the problems of making substitutions when managers' scope for tactical tinkering could be horribly cramped by the need to, at times, introduce only English players. Talented English-born footballers could, however, anticipate becoming extremely wealthy as the increased demand for their services would inevitably results in significant hikes in both wages and transfer fees.

The Premier League harbour grave doubts about the idea and a spokesman yesterday said: "We want to see the greatest possible number of England qualified players coming through the Premier League but this has to be based on merit and quality. And there is no doubt that foreign talent has aided the technical development of the English game." Barwick seems in broad agreement. "We still believe in the meritocracy of players in the team on performance and ability first and foremost," he said.

That involves creating adequate opportunities for those eligible to play for Fabio Capello's team, as an FA spokesman said: "Bringing through more high quality English players in the future is an absolute priority for the FA - but one of our reservations has always been that the six plus five rule appears to contravene European law and we welcome further exploration of its legality."

Certainly there seems negligible hope of Blatter - who saw 155 national associations vote in favour of his proposal, five oppose it and 40 abstain - pioneering a change in European law and it is thought that his resolution to merely "explore" this scheme could represent the first step in a search for a face-saving compromise.

"We are giving the red card to the six plus five rule," stressed Vladimir Spidla, Europe's commissioner for equal opportunities. Similarly Jan Figel, the EU sports commissioner, insisted "six plus five violates EU law". Figel did reveal that proposed legislation relating to specific sports could be considered as a special case but only if it is non-discriminatory.

This suggests that European politicians have approved Uefa's rival scheme, namely a blueprint that sidesteps issues of nationality by merely asking clubs to include eight home produced players - who, regardless of birthplace, were trained by their club or another team in the same national association for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21 - in 25-man squads for Champions League or Uefa Cup games.

Guardian Service

Plan has major implications

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND manager Giovanni Trapattoni believes the "six plus five" proposal could have major implications for international teams.

Trapattoni has spent the last fortnight working with a squad of players who all ply their trades outside Ireland, and admits the rule change would have a significant effect.

Trapattoni said: "Many Ireland players play in England. In Italy, we have teams with 10 foreign players and the national team had a problem. We had a problem in the past.

"Now it is Platini, before it was Blatter. We have asked that question many times because the country needs the young to grow. We have many players playing in England, but I think for Ireland, it is not a big problem."

The Football Association of Ireland have confirmed they are monitoring the situation. A spokesman said: "Congress have mandated Fifa today to explore the Blatter proposal."