do any of us really care? In the past I would have been really looking forward to a summer of home nation International matches even if they were just friendlies. These days I seem to have little interest. I only knew the England game was on tomorrow when my youngest complained that Britain's got talent wasn't on TV!! Times past I used to know most of the players in the Scottish, Irish and Welsh teams but now would struggle to name more than a couple and could probably only correctly guess at half the English squad! I would probably only watch if I knew a Saints player was involved. Now I'm far more interested in any transfer news! Is it just me or is it a sign of the times and most of us have fallen out of love with our national teams? is this a good or bad thing for the game? Thoughts
Judging by the active threads marking every national squad announcement, plenty still do care, although the perennial lack of our players in them leads many to proclaim their ambivalence as you have done! Personally, probably through nothing more than force of habit, I will probably watch it, and I'll still support the team and get just as frustrated when they fail to click yet again. I can't help feeling somewhat detached from the whole thing though as, with grinding predictability, they pay tribute to our brave boys, sing an anthem which I don't identify with and then treat us to a display of a bunch of apparent strangers struggling (with only occasional success) to coalesce into something you could legitimately call a team.
I do like watching England matches but not as much as I used to; my ambivalence started when Saints were relegated in 2005. Nothing became more important than Saints doing well and I no longer paid so much attention to PL players. I may get my interest back if some of our players get a look in.
It doesn't help that some players are picked because of the club that they play for and not on merit. I still follow England but not near as closely as I would if this favouritism stopped. It seems almost all fans in football care far more about their club than England to be fair. It's completely different to cricket where I've always cared far more about England than Hampshire.
I went to Germany for the world cup in 2006, a lacklustre performance on the pitch, the eye-opening experience of seeing what a bunch of idiots an upsettingly large number of England fans are when they travel abroad and the fact that saints had dropped out of the top flight, led me to stop watching our International matches. Now we are back playing at the top level and in the hope that at least one Southampton player will be on that plane to Brazil, I intend to get back into it.
No, I'll hardly raise an eyebrow. Mind you, anything that gets an edition of Any Particular Nation Has Talent off the screen [sorry Lamb's kiddie, I'm only looking out for your brain], so that people's IQ levels can return to their normal levels, has got to be seen as a plus.
Its probably only a matter of time before Simon Cowell gets the task of picking the national side .....................
I still care. Not much of a fan of the team selection, but I'm very much hoping I'll see something that gives me hope for the World Cup next year.
I won't be watching due to an exam on Thursday. And naturally, I only care about Northern Ireland's fortunes at international level anyway.
This argument crops up a lot and I don't think it has as much merit as some of those players you're referring to! The fact is the best clubs have most of the best players. Even if they can't get into their club sides or are not performing particularly well, they will still probably do better than players from the "less fasionable" clubs who have never played for England before and may not again if they are only being called up because they're currently in the form of their lives. The likes of Cleverley, Welbeck or Ashley Young, who you might not think are that great or who aren't necessarily fixtures at club level or in great form, still have the experience of several previous caps, playing in the champions league, and so on. I'm not saying our players shouldn't be considered, just that it's reasonable to select players from bigger clubs first, for all kinds of reasons.
Oh yeah, me too. Just a shame we never put together a performance half as good in a match that actually meant something (and it's probably fair to say the Germans had the last laugh...)
The fact that we only got to see about half of what Michael Owen had to offer still annoys me. I also can't help but imagine how things would have been for England if Fergie had never kicked that boot at Beckham. He might have done a Giggs and continued playing for United (and England) right up until this latest season. If Rooney moves abroad, I'll worry for his England future as well.
I normally half watch it whilst on the laptop, and if my brother comes down and asks who's playing better, I reply "Oh, erm... England, kind of." Shows my lack of interest!
I still care. O don't normally watch friendlies as I hate the fact the media get all uppity no matter what we do, who we play or what happens. I will however be watching tomorrow as my wife and daughter are away, so it's football training with the under 12s followed by a fish n chips supper on laps with my lad. Come on England!
I have friends who seem to think that is how the succession to the throne should be decided. Who is popular with the people? Right lets have him.
