The harsh economic climate has taken a fair few casualties in the football industry.

The collapse of Setanta and Southampton's slip into administration and subsequent 10-point deduction are just two high-profile examples.

But there is the belief that England's national team could benefit from the credit crunch.

Sir Trevor Brooking, the FA's director of football development, has been campaigning for clubs to take advantage of home-grown players for a number of years.

His focus has been getting youngsters through the academy systems and playing in the Premier League.

But until recently, clubs have been willing to accept an influx of overseas players rather than bring youngsters through their ranks.

Such has been the drain in domestic talent, FIFA are hopeful of pushing through their six-plus-five rule which would limit clubs to just five foreign players in their match-day squads.

The concept did not go down well with the Premier League's elite who saw the authority as meddling in their affairs.

Yet they could now find blooding their youngsters a matter of necessity and Brooking thinks that will benefit the national team.

"It will be good if we get Manchester United and Chelsea with more English players playing regular first-team football," says the former West Ham midfielder.

"I understand the player quotas but I don't want us to have a situation where clubs are fulfilling them with players who just sit on the bench.

"There are two key things at the moment which can affect the strength of English players at clubs.

"One is the rate of the Euro, which is making it very difficult for our clubs in the transfer market because we are having to spend 25 per cent more to get the same player than the previous year.

"The strength of the pound makes it easier for Italian and Spanish sides to buy players. The other key thing is the new tax laws.

"I am already getting a lot of feedback that players want contracts which tell them how much money they end up with after tax.

"If you are paying 50 per cent tax, that is a huge amount for clubs to make up just to get these players here.

"If that continues, then I do believe we will need British players. That's why I think it might become a necessity rather than a trend."

Brooking made 635 appearances, scored 102 goals and won the FA Cup for a West Ham side compromising mainly of British and Irish players.

And he predicts some similarities with the current crop of Hammers players, as manager Gianfranco Zola appears ready to place more of his faith in the club's youngsters.

Mark Noble, James Tomkins and Junior Stanislas have all impressed with the England Under-21s and are set for key roles with West Ham this season.

Such an example is encouraging for the England head coach Fabio Capello and Under-21 boss Stuart Pearce.

The two will oversee England's friendly against Holland tomorrow night in Amsterdam as they finalise their preparations for September's World Cup qualifier with Croatia.

But Brooking says he is confident the Three Lions will book their place in South Africa and adds that the Football Association have been proved right in their appointment of the Italian.

He added: "I was really impressed when I first met Fabio. We were in a unique situation where we had failed to qualify [for Euro 2008] so we had an early scout round of possible managers in 2007.

"That's when we identified him as a strong candidate. I met him and liked him so we went for an early appointment, which on reflection was probably a bonus for everyone.

"It allowed him to get used to the players over that six-month period, so by the time the qualifiers began, he'd been in the job a while.

"The players were able to respond to what he wanted to do and after winning the first three away games, the momentum started and to his credit, it's never gone away.

"We've introduced Stuart to the coaching staff and people at the time asked if it was just for show.

"But we have seen just how involved he has become and Fabio relies on him a great deal, so that is also very pleasing."

* Sir Trevor was talking to the Evening Standard at the McDonald's National Festival.

The event at Wembley was attended by 56 grassroots football teams from across the country and marks the success of the Football in the Community Programme which sees McDonald's sponsoring over 4,500 local football clubs and coaching over one million children.