Attitudes Towards Foreign Football: 50+1 rule

Which will be affectionately known as ATFF, this will be a small series dedicated to trying to further explain the differences between English and German football, thanks to Phillip for the idea of making this into a series rather than a rather long article!
The main reason I've written this is because I feel people misinterpret those of us who enjoy foreign football more than that which is on display in our own country, personally, I prefer to watch the Bundesliga on a Saturday than the Premier League. Myself and a few others have been asked why this is, and often criticised for favouring the foreign game, I hope from my own perspective I can explain a little better as to why I prefer the German game to the English side of things, so before I start rambling even more, let's begin with the 50+1 rule!

For those who don't know, the '50+1' rule is, it is a piece of legislation preventing any one person from owning a majority share (over 49%) in a German club, meaning that essentially the fans themselves own 51% of the club, thus meaning no Russian or Middle Eastern business men can come in and bank role a team to the title. Despite opposition from Hannover in 2009, the system has proven extremely successful, while City, PSG and Monaco have been taken over in recent years by money-bag billionaires, German clubs have remained firm and not bowed to the financial pressures that other leagues have by possible tens of millions of euros in investment. This creates a fairly level playing field, apart from last season when Bayern obliterated all in front of them, the Bundesliga is one of the most competitive leagues in the world.

Adding to that, should Michel Platini finally decide to properly introduce the Financial Fair Play laws, German clubs will be in by far and away the best position to deal with it, as most are turning over a profit every year thanks to the 50+1 rule, with Freiburg turning over five million euros profit very comfortably this financial year. While the Bundesliga doesn't have as lucrative of a TV deal as the Premier League may have, they just two days ago signed a deal to show it in the Americas and Asia for 5 years, starting in 2014. The likes of Norwich have spent over 25 million, while Bayer Leverkusen spent under 20 million. The rule allows clubs to focus on youth development as they can't spend copious amounts of money on players due to not having the same financial backing, they can produce wonderful youth players with genuine quality, rather than some equally good youth team players English clubs would rather spend millions on foreign imports, without the youngsters even getting a chance. This will lead me onto my next topic which is about the German impenitence on youth academies.