GRAEME Souness talked about buying British during the close season. Yet when we hammered West Ham 7-1, Rovers score was the same as the number of foreign players in their starting line-up.

Who would have thought say 10 years ago, this League of Nations would dominate a Blackburn Rovers' teamsheet?

We now have at Ewood Park players from all over the world -- Australia, USA, Turkey, Italy, Norway and Sweden.

Clearly, it seems to be paying dividends for Rovers.

Yet the spectacular success of David Beckham and the growing reputation of our local lad, David Dunn, have shown that home-grown talent can take "centre stage" with the top foreign stars.

It's a paradox, isn't it, that model professionals such as Henning Berg are a shining example to our youth players, but sadly due to an "over excess" of foreign players in UK clubs, many potentially gifted British youngsters will not get the opportunity to rise through the ranks whereas for most of the last century this was not the case.

I wonder, is seven foreign players the most Rovers have ever had in the starting line-up?

M LEEMING, Exchange Street, Accrington.