I NOTED with interest Professor Shih Choon Fong's use of Manchester United's foreign footballers as an analogy in the report, 'Don't be a trout in a pond, be a bluefish in the ocean' (ST, Aug 18).

I do not think that Manchester United, in Prof Shih's words, 'dazzles on the field because half of its players are foreigners'. Evidence shows that Manchester United's two most successful eras are those of the Busby Babes in the 1950s and the current one.

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In both cases, it was significant that the emphasis was on youth. That emphasis produced players like Bobby Charlton and David Beckham, who fired United to success.

One only needs to look at United's rival club, Chelsea, to realise that buying top foreign players alone is no guarantee of success on the field.

Our Prime Minister recently made the call for Singaporeans to stay rooted here.

In this aspect, Manchester United provides an interesting case study. Two of its top local players, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, recently signed long-term contracts to stay at United, even though they could have earned much more with Italy or Spain.

I would say the key reason is that they feel proud to be associated with the club they grew up with.

Thus, to get Singaporeans to remain in Singapore, we need more than just money. We need them to feel the same sense of pride of being a Singaporean.

Exactly how we can best do that is something we should think about seriously.

KELVIN TAN TUAN WEI