THERE seems to be a misconception among many people that all football fans would rather their team was packed with 11 local players than fancy dan foreigners.

Everyone would apparently be much happier if their team was filled with Fred Smiths and Albert Browns.

Nonsense. If you ask almost any football fan, all they care about is winning matches.

Ideally that would be done in a manner that is pleasing to the eye but even that is dispensable.

Every time the international fixtures come around we get all this rubbish about how England would be doing an awful lot better if it wasn't for all the foreigners, and it's really starting to wind me up.

It's the same old debate and is the England team really so important that we are supposed to turn club football upside down so we might win a few more matches?

If anything, England has now become such a multi-cultural country that most fans wouldn't mind seeing more foreigners in their team.

Who would Hull City rather have in their midfield? Dean Marney or Jay Jay Okocha?

The foreigner often adds the touch of the exotic and the unpredictable into an afternoon's football.

Lower league fans revel in being able to tell their friends that they've got an Argentinian playing for them, even if someone like Wycombe's Sergio Torres has probably never been heard of in his homeland.

Competitions like the Champions League have helped to increase the popularity of the foreign player and Sky Sports' excellent coverage will return to our screens next week.

For the European enthusiast, it presents the opportunity to drive the rest of your household crazy by taking control of the remote control and directing your way through eight matches simultaneously broadcast each evening.

For Tuesday's opening night, there is the choice of Porto v Liverpool and Chelsea v Rosenborg on ITV but I would recommend Shakhtar Donetsk v Celtic or Schalke v Valencia on Sky.

Much maligned during his spell on ITV for the 2006 World Cup, Ruud Gullit is a fascinating pundit alongside the inquisitive Richard Keys, even if Keys does insist on starting a debate about whether Steven Gerrard should play in central midfield before every match the Liverpool man is involved in.

And Jamie Redknapp will no doubt again suggest that he fancies Lyon to win it as the dark horses' this year.

The fact that the French champions can't defend has never stopped Jamie yet.

As for my tips, Benitez's European know-how could guide Liverpool to Moscow glory in May and watch out for Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Cup.

* We are now approaching player of the year award season in rugby league and, in my opinion, there is only one candidate for the Warrington Wolves award.

It has been a difficult season that has required real determination and heart. Ben Westwood has had both, as well as displaying Great Britain form and goal-kicking skills to rival Frano Botica.