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Apologies if I've missed it, had a quick skim but didn't see any thread about this. So aye, anyway, Craigie Broon tried to implement some radical new rule back in the late 90s that played a big part in France winning the world cup in 98. Turns out that after failing to even qualify in 94 and 98 Gerrard Houllier came up with an idea that the French clubs should be limited in the size of their squads - no more than 20 players over the age of 21. As a result of this teams like Marseille had to play 17 year olds Henry and Trezeguet as injury cover. And this, Broon asserts, played a huge part in France winning the World Cup in 98 with a young squad. So Broony saw this, saw it was a good idea, tried to bring it in here - but it was veto'd by two clubs, who claimed it would affect their European chances. In reality it would have stopped them accumulating 40+ squads and cherry picking the top players of Motherwell, Killie, Hibs, St Johnstone, Dundee etc, most of which in that era played a handful of games, got splinters in their erses, and were shunted off to lower division English sides once the league was won. So, how did all that work out in the end? With the benefit of hindsight... Did the fortunes of the international side improve? Did the OF set Europe on fire? (Metaphorically rather than literally). And did our domestic game grow in health and vibrancy? (Rhetorical).