"I must admit it's very frustrating not to be considered for England. In the last four years I've scored 101 goals but I have not had a look-in." "But it is difficult to get noticed for England playing in Scotland. Fraser Forster has had 25 clean sheets this season. It proves he is a quality English goalkeeper. But he hasn't been picked" "But I have to be patient and I am happy at Celtic. I will play in the Champions League, which I am looking forward to." "I have two years on my contract and we are in talks about a new one." People might disagree but I believe if Hooper was to sign for a club like Saints and did well next season in the premier league he would have more chance of being picked for England than if he was to stay at celtic and score lots of goals in the SPL. The SPL is one of the weakest leagues in europe and it seems Hooper knows that. So why does he want to carry on playing in such a poor league and against such poor opposition?! If he wants to show he is capable of playing for England he has to play against the best defenders and players. Celtic will not do well in the champions league next year and they are only in the competition because of the league they´re in. If they were in the prem they would not play in any European competition. It´s the same with Fraser Foster. You can´t compare the strikers in the SPL to those of the prem and that is why he is being looked over too. It baffles me to why Hooper is looking to extend his contract and to continue playing in the SPL when he knows that his England ambitions will not be fulfield if he stays where he is. http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/7777332/Hooper-s-England-frustration
I could score 20 goals a season in scotland But he does need to move to the prem if he expects to be taken seriously for a call-up.
Hooper may say he wants to Champions League football but Celtic will get to the group stages at best and his chances of playing for England while playing in the SPL are slim to say the least. He needs to play in The PL if he wants to play for England.
We are all forgetting one thing...sometimes you settle in a area and don't want to face moving elsewhere when you are content. Ambition is not the end and be all in life. Le Tissier is an example.
He's obviously dithering or he wouldn't mention it at all, but suspect he will go to a 'bigger' club as he doesn't know how wonderful we are. Cortese...the video!
I heard Nigel talking about Hooper once. His exact words were "he needs to get out of Celtic". So maybe that sums up what people in the game think about the SPL.
Of course hehasn't played for England,he never will aslong as he is playing in Scotland...It's like saying "Oh I've scored 30 goals in league 1 I should play for England.Unless all of our strikers get injured he will never play for his country. You're wasting away in SPL Hooper,play in premier league and you'll get your chance to prove how good you are.
Le Tissier didn't move to Spurs when he had a chance to because of his wife's interests (she didn't want to live in London).
Well if England managers actually looked beyond the top 4 or 5 clubs, then players like Hooper (and Lambert, Lallana, Holt, Hoolahan, etc) might have a chance of getting selected. But like that's gonna happen.
Perhaps, but what's the excuse for not including Holt then? Or Hoolahan? Or Crouch? Or Graham? Or Lallana? Or Lambert? The Championship is hardly a weak league......
I have no idea why Holt wasn't picked you'll have to ask Roy...Hoolahan is Irish and he wasn't picked which is strange as they aren't blessed with good players to pick from,Crouch is great at international level and wasn't picked ...Lambert and Lallana both played in the championship last season,even though the championship is a tough league it's very difficult to get a look in whilst you're playing in the 2nd tier.
It is worth noting that second behind Hooper in the top scorers list was Basil Brush, closely followed by Barry Chuckle.
Hoolahan is Irish and England players don't get picked from the Championship because of the standard of football. Roy Hodgson will have chosen Carroll over those others because of his age. The timing isn't great for the players at promoted clubs as you don't want to take players with no international experience to a tournament,
Am quite happy that Saints players will be resting and then getting fit for another season...selfish I know, but do we really want them toiling away over the summer.
Roy's perhaps not in a position to change too much at the Euro's - while I believe it should be a new start with youngsters/outsiders maybe that's better for World Cup qualifying. In terms of Saints whenever I've seen a player called up they've shortly after moved on, (or been called up shortly after moving!), so I'm happy to wait for next season for international recognition. I can see Hooper's frustration but we have so many fringe strikers who would be ahead of him just for the League they're in. The best way to get noticed while at Celtic is to perform in Europe!
If he wants to play for England, coming to us would be the last thing to do, they don't pick Southampton players. I am sure that there are better English strikers out there than Carroll and Welbeck!
Agreed, but isn't Hooper saying that he's a little aggrieved at not being considered for England..? Then again, he may well be making the right decision by wanting to stay with Celtic. Personally, I think he'd do far better playing for a Premier League side, because the average standard of the opposition would be far higher. If he could perhaps then manage 18-20+ goals in 38 matches [up for it Rickie..?] then I'm sure he would be under consideration. He's got time.
Fact is perhaps Hooper is happier at Celtic and not playing for England than he would be not being at Celtic and having the chance of playing for England but also a potential of things going wrong. The fact is wherever he went if it wasn't one of the top 4 he'd have hardly a sniff. The England side and it's selection has always been a disgrace and this current squad selection is no different
