Waiting game after Brexit vote - but Albion academy looks a very wise investment

Their training round is the envy of many clubs, both at home and abroad.

But their efforts to up their game in terms of talent development might just have been a wiser precaution than even they could have predicted after events at polling booths across the nation.

It could insure them against some of the fall-out of the British public’s decision to leave the European Union.

Exactly what an EU exit would mean to all of us remains a mystery – and that includes the football industry.

The potential repercussions were already being discussed informally before last Thursday whenever chairmen and chief executives have met up. Brexit was often a topic of conversation around the bars and social areas between formal meetings at the recent Football League summer conference.

But, the most extreme repercussion of an Exit vote and any subsequent closing of some employment doors to EU nationals would probably be a rise in the value of British players. And Albion would seemingly be well placed to cope.

Not that the club necessarily took a stance on the EU vote.

Albion used the EU route to bring in Argentinean star Leo Ulloa

Of course, as a club with an eye to foreign markets they would have to rethink should employment restrictions be introduced.

Albion have plundered the Euro market as keenly as most in recent seasons, with their Spanish acquisitions, a trio of goalkeepers before David Stockdale arrived and several French players. An EU passport, secured while he was in Spain, was the key to them being able to sign Argentinean striker Leo Ulloa.

Now they are in the dark as to what the future could bring – but they are not alone. The comfort blanket for clubs has always been that a Euro exit would be followed by an interim period of adjustment.

There will be a huge amount of lobbying done for free movement of people in many industries, not just football.

What could follow is the introduction of a system similar to that which allows non-EU players to come into this country.

The belief around Football League clubs has been that, should Britain leave, the worst-case scenario facing them would be an extension of that system.

Still, such a development would change the landscape of the Championship – and player recruitment.

Currently, for non-EU players to be granted a work permit, they must demonstrate they are an international player of “the highest calibre”.That means they must have played in 75% of a FIFA top-50 ranked national team’s matches over the previous two years.

Restrictions were tightened up last year in an attempt to open up more spots for home-grown players. The BBC have reported that, under those restrictions, only 23 of the 180 non-British EU players currently playing in the Championship would get work permits.

That could open the way for more Brits in the second tier, with all the pros and cons that entails. They would get the chance of experience but the standard of the competition would arguably go down, especially if more Brits were required by Premier League clubs.

But there could be financial implications – and Albion would rather be a producer and seller of players than a buyer.

The greater demand for British players could send prices through the roof. Wages could be similarly affected.

Of course, clubs could continue to look abroad – but they would have to get higher calibre players than is often the case now, certainly in the second tier and below. And there would be fears over delays and increased red-tape with more international deals having to await clearance.

The comfort for Albion in now uncertain times is they have spent a lot of time, effort and money on an academy and the vast majority of their young players, although by no means all, are British.

“The level of that effect is uncertain, and if we did leave, changes wouldn’t happen overnight,” said Stuart Webber, football operations manager at Championship rivals Huddersfield, a club with a German head coach and eye to the European player markets.

“They would take place over a period of years and that would provide time for us as a club to adjust accordingly.”

Albion have not offered any comment on what could happen.

But rest assured they have thought and talked about it – long before the vote went through.

They await the implications with interest.