Another World Cup, another England failure.
For me, the disappointment is not so much the fact that we’re out of the World Cup so soon, but the manner in which it has happened. The public have been told all the way along that preparations were first class but the four games we have seen the England team play demonstrated very clearly that all was not right.
Three goals in four games. One victory against Slovenia, the smallest country in the competition. Dreadful.
Our ‘star’ players failed to live up to their star billing. Perhaps we shouldn’t measure a player’s ability simply on how much he earns? Maybe the greed of the Premiership is masking the fact that our English players are very, very ordinary and only the influx of foreigners in the English game have made them appear to be the superstars their obscene salaries would have us believe?
For me, nothing summed up the England players poor attitude than seeing Cashley Cole laughing and grinning with Ledley ‘Knee’ King as they stepped off the plane just a few hours after the game. It seemed as if Cole had not a care in the World. That’s probably true because this overpaid prima donna can’t possibly care about his country and for all those poor fans who paid thousands of pounds to travel to watch this piss poor performance from our overpaid footballers. Ashley just cares about himself and how much money he can squeeze out of the game. Disgraceful.
Apparently, Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard and Terry earn more between them than the entire Germany squad. Go figure…
It’s not just the players who should hang their heads in shame though. The FA need to look at themselves and figure out what sort of strategy they have other than giving foreign managers millions of pounds on the basis that the candidate talks a good fight (not in English, of course).
Finally, Fabio Capello. Apparently, according to his agent (who happens to be his son), he’s not the quitting type. But is he an honourable man? Will he resign and reach a reasonable* settlement with his English paymasters? For the sake of England (the country, not the ‘team’), I sincerely hope so. What we, the paying public, have witnessed over the past few weeks has been a national disgrace and the Manager must take responsibility for this. No excuses. The time has been there. The money has been there. The results though, speak for themself. Go Fabio and let us start planning as soon as possible for the European Championships in two years time. Please!
*I appreciate that ‘reasonable’ and ‘football’ and not two things you would typically associate with each other.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Totally agree with all your stating Adrian. I personally feel that the FA should bring in a rule used many years ago and which other countries implement, and that is to put a restriction on the number of foreign players playing in our Leagues. My son’s an Arsenal fan – but hey! spot the English player that gets a regular weekly game. One, maybe two at best? Surely this cannot be right? Get rid of them and bring through the youth talent of England. There are some brilliant players that can be seen playing Sunday Park Footie.
I’m not going to comment on the low-life players that represented our country. If I started, you would have to delete this comment for the amount of obscene language!
I thought South Africa put on a wonderful show, but general, team performances for me were below par in the main. Spain deserved the trophy. Very disappointed with Hollands aggressive tactics who have got players with very good technical ability, but the Manager obviously gave instructions to kick the Spanish off the pitch. Another foreign Manager who should be on his way for bringing the beautiful game into disrepute!
Good article, but I just don’t feel that anything will change in the future. The England squad are home now and too busy spending their millions to be worried about how we all feel. When the memories of the World Cup fade into the past, and the new Season begins, they will all be heralded as local heroes once again.
Speak to you again,
Steve
Thanks for stopping by Steve and adding your thoughts.
I appreciate nothing is likely to change with the English game with the TV revenue so dominant but at least the Internet gives us all a chance to vent!
We can only hope that one day we get a national team who at least put some effort in and for whom wearing the 3 Lions is more than just an inconvenience.