Shrewsbury Town chief executive Brian Caldwell expresses concern over EFL rules
Shrewsbury Town supremo Brian Caldwell is concerned the new English Football League rulings might deny some young players the chance to continue their football education on loan.
The EFL have introduced a rule for the 2018/19 season that stipulates that clubs must have seven home-grown players in their squads, with one of those players being club-developed.
A club-developed player is defined as one who has been registered to the club for at least a year before the end of his under-19 season.
While Shrewsbury should have no problems complying with the new rules, chief executive Caldwell is fearful of the effect it might have on young players who need to go out on loan, with clubs hanging on to them in order to meet the new criteria.
"The rule about home-grown or British-based players shouldn't affect us in anyway, Caldwell told shrewsburytown.com "They have increased it from six to seven, but if you look at the stats for ourselves this season and last season we have been well ahead of that.
"From our point of view it shows that EFL-based clubs are still promoting British-based, which is good.
"The club-developed players is one that we actually voted against. It might potentially impact on the number of players we could go and send out on loan.
"I think a young player should always play as many competitive games as possible, so I would have concerns not just for ourselves, but any club. Managers might hold two or three players young players because they have to fulfil that and I was concerned about young players going out on loan. We obviously have a number of players out on loan now that may not have been able to do that if we have to fulfil that rule."
