Football: Hoddle given role on FA commission

LONDON - Football Association chairman Greg Dyke announced on Wednesday that former England manager Glenn Hoddle will be part of a commission investigating how to improve the fortunes of the national team.

Dyke revealed plans to set up the commission in a speech last month, when he referred to the "frightening trend" of English players being supplanted by foreigners in the Premier League.

Only around 30 percent of the players currently playing in the English top flight are eligible for selection by England coach Roy Hodgson.

Chelsea's Stamford Bridge stadium in west London.

"Glenn is going to be on the commission and we'll name some more people today," he said.

The England team have not reached the semi-finals of a major tournament since the 1996 European Championship, which they hosted, and the commission will investigate the reasons for their recent failings.

Dyke, who took up his role in July, has set the team the target of winning the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Hoddle, 55, spent three years as England manager and led the team to the last 16 at the 1998 World Cup in France, where they lost on penalties to Argentina.

The former Tottenham Hotspur and Monaco midfielder lost his job a year later after suggesting in a newspaper interview that disabled people were being punished for sins committed in a previous life.

He later apologised, saying he had made a "serious error of judgement".

Hoddle has not publicly commented on his appointment, but he recently expressed concern about the obstacles faced by young English players.

"We've got foreign owners, who bring in foreign managers, who bring in foreign players above English players and it's a downward spiral," he said.

"It really is a concern. The pool has gone down from 48 percent in 1998-99, when I was (England) manager, to 32 percent this season.

"The England manager's job is a hard job as it is and it's going to get harder and harder unless we re-address it with a rule change."