Hartlepool United kickoff their League Two campaign tomorrow with a full English squad - the only club in the country to do so.
Colin Cooper is the manager at the Northeast club.
He told the Daily Mail: "I must be honest, it's no effort on my part that I only sign English players. I have played with world-class foreign players and you can only learn from them.
"Our boys here are English, yes, but the most important thing for us is that they're young lads from the North-East.
"They might not have been able to make it at one of the big three clubs in the region and they find themselves here having to work very hard to forge a football career.
"But we have some tremendous talent and we are giving them a chance to show that."
