Football manager who voted Leave complains about not being able to sign players because of Brexit

Now that the UK is fully out of the EU, the true cost of Brexit is starting to bear fruit and it's not to everyone’s liking.

As well as losing rights to free travel around Europe and live and work on the continent, but smaller things about being outside of the European Union are also becoming more obvious even to the people who voted leave.

Firstly there was the couple who voted for Brexit then moved to Spain only to discover on 1 January that they couldn’t watch their favourite shows on Sky anymore.  

Now, it is also affecting one of the nation's favourite pastimes: Premier League football. Take for instance Sam Allardyce, the manager of struggling West Bromwich Albion, who are currently 19th after earning just eight points from the first 17 games. 

Allardyce, who replaced previous manager Slaven Bilic last month, with the task of keeping the team in the league, will aim to bring in new players during the January transfer window. Although the Covid-19 pandemic hasn’t helped the post-Brexit rules are imposing further problems. Premier League clubs can no longer sign players from the EU without a work permit and players under the age of 18 are completely off limits.

Because of this, Allardyce is finding it hard to sign new players. He is quoted as saying: “I have found three players already who were capable of coming here and they're not allowed. It's a shame. Due to the new regulations in terms of the permit they were unable to come to this country, whereas (previously) they would have done. I have to look at that and think 'can he qualify?'

While some will sympathise with Allardyce, others not so much as he is on the record as voting for Brexit. Before the EU referendum, when he was still Sunderland manager, The Sun reported that Allardyce asked all of his squad if they were for Leave or Remain adding, “I am out. My feeling is that the European Union isn’t doing the United Kingdom any favours.”

The former England manager also appeared on talkSport radio in December 2018 to complain about the numerous delays to Brexit under the leadership of Theresa May.

Needless to say, there is a certain level of schadenfreude that people are experiencing thanks to Allardyce’s current predicament.

It’s likely that Allardyce and other Premier League managers will encounter Brexit-related problems when it comes to signing players and will find a solution but its just another learning curve when it comes to uncharted territory such as this.

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