The whole 'England' thing.....

Am I alone in not really giving much of a hoot about England playing?
I think for me, I fell out of the love with the national team when Capello freely admitted he hardly ever get's up to the North East due to how far it is from London (1 hour on a plane btw).
Brian Barwick also made comments along the lines of the North East not eally featuring in the FA's thinking much.
Add to this the fact that players have, over the past decade or so been picked solely on reputation and not form it seems a bit of a closed shop and has an 'old boys' feel to it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm as patriotic as the next chap but I get more excited by Team GB or the cricket than I do England as a football team nowadays.
Like I said... I may be on my own here.......

 

I too fell "out of love" with England but only since the rebirth of Wembley. I really believe that the FA missed a trick when they built another national stadium.

When the England team were on the road touring the stadia there was much more involvement for the everyday fan, much like the England cricket team. When they were in the NE for The Ashes, it definitely felt like there was a buzz across the region.

I'll still watch the game tonight as it's football all the same, lets hope it's a decent show. I really enjoyed the Scotland game......

 

The last time I watched England was in Germany for the Euros under Sir Bobby.

I fell out with the England side there and then after they went to their third spineless defeat and they couldn't be arsed to thank the fans for coming over.

Since then I've emigrated to the left hand side of Offa's Dyke, slowly going native and frankly couldn't give an arse about any of the national teams any more. The FA and Football League have really messed everything up regarding the national side. Once upon a time getting the call to play for one's country was the pinnacle of one's career but now that the game has been bought out by the television companies it's all about money and getting one's club to more and more meaningless European games. The net effect of all this is that the international games have become an inconvenience.

When the Italian leagues lost the television money and things went back to normal they bounced back to win the World Cup.

Until the Murdoch millions departs the English Premier League then we'll have players called up, fake injuries and couldn't be arsed. Get rid of the television money, get the money grabbing prima donnas out of the English game and overseas to the next feeding trough, get more local lads into the leagues and then, and only then, will the four national sides be worthy of interest. Oh, and get rid of this ridiculous 'Club England' and the national side contracts too.

It's all a cancer in the game.

 

I think I started to give up after Shearer retired. He kind of ended an era of players who seemed to want to really do it for their country. I don't get that same feeling of "I'm English and I'm going to do my best" from Danny Welbeck or Daniel Sturridge. Not only that but the CL became more and more overbearing. We're so swamped by other nationalities now that it's difficult to really say it's the English Premier League - it feels more just like a brand, the Premier League, open to and watched by anyone.

 

I vary, some years i'll act uninterested but i'll always betray the logic in my head and get giddy for us doing something at a major tournament. I still support 'em tho, otherwise international weeks would get even more boring than they are.
As i only like footy there's no other distractions from me watching both my club and country doing ****e

 

I began to lose interest after 2008. Since then, there has been a sense of prolonged anti-climax.

We know we've seen the best of Gerrard, Lampard, Cole, etc., but they continue to monopolise the show. It's like re-heating the same meal every time.

I think that if no one over the age of, say, 28 were picked, it might get interesting again. The team might or might not do well but at least it would be a new story, the tale of Theo and Danny and the Ox, rather than a re-telling of the greatest generation of players that never really performed.

 

I think people have a bloody cheek complaining that NUFC and SAFC have too many foreign players etc. It's not as though they played many of our players anyway. For donkeys years they would resist picking anyone unless it became obvious they had to. Not until certain players left us to go to a fashionable club, did they get picked. Malcolm Mac. was hardly picked and he was knocking in over 30 a season. His last game he scored 5 and was never picked again. Peter Beardsley was all but ignored until he managed to come on as a sub. I could go into it in more detail, but i am sure you all already know what i mean.

 

You could even look up the road and see how Phillips, when he was on fire was overlooked for the national side. This kind of bias, and potential risk to a place in the international side must play on one or two players minds when then are deciding whether or not to sign for a NE team.

 

Absolutely. They have often been quoted as saying i want to increase my chance of playing for my national team. Chose to leave or not join us at all.

 

I couldn't give a damn about England. They're a bunch of overpaid, overrated Prima Donna's who aren't fit to lace the boots of past greats. The last England side I really cared about was the Euro 96 side. England lose now it's a case of so what? Didn't watch Saturdays game and won't be watching tonight.

The sooner Sky disappear from the game the better. It's all money, money, money. The players have lost touch with reality completely and the majority for the most part are arrogant little pansies. The modern professional plays the game not for the love of playing the game or representing the side they supported but to make a fortune so that they can prance around in their expensive sports cars and pretend they're something special. Bumped in to several of these 'no marks' on nights out and their attitudes are a joke. There was a time when players used to live near the fans who paid their wages. Not anymore.

Interesting article the other day from Clarke Carlisle about the attitudes of some of our u21's. He's spot on with that. Why should some snot nose kid who thinks he's the greatest thing since sliced bread have it all handed to him on a plate? First teamers shouldn't be getting paid a fortune to kick a ball around so why should these little pricks? They should be cleaning the boots, toilets, dressing rooms and earning their keep like everyone else. Makes you absolutely sick to the stomach.

Anyways, digression aside, Sky need to f*** off. I pray for the day when financial meltdown hits clubs in this country. I would love to see these prima donna's suddenly see their big wages disappear and have them realise they're nothing special and the same as everyone else. Football in this country has been ruined. The England team reflect the disease in our game and until that disease is confronted things will get a lot worse.

 

So you're saying you don't like football now ?

Nothing you've mentioned is peculiar to the England team so I guessing you've been put off watching the sport as a whole ?

 

When the only Englishman to win the European Golden Boot didn't even get a sniff.

 

Looks like I'm in the minority here, but c'mon England.
I'll be watching it tonight with same expectation as I always have.
A win tonight will put us in a strong position to qualify for Brazil.

It doesn't matter where the players come from, and lets face it we haven't had anyone worth picking for years anyway.

Come on England.

 

I wouldn't say that about Welbeck, he was absolutely gutted when he was booked against Moldova and knew he would miss tonight's game.

 

I agree. But cheeky gits complaining about us. The fashionable clubs were the first with all the foreigners.

 

With Dyke bringing it up its a topical subject.

Likes of Man U, have had plenty of foreign players but nucleus of the team has always been British.
At the end of the day, we will have no Brits never mind English players starting against Villa at the weekend.
FFS where are the Geordie footballers, not with us that's for certain, but what makes it worse, there are none elsewhere either. So much for NE hotbed of Football.

Anyway, none of that has anything to do with supporting England, I can't just turn a tap on or off depending who is playing or not, no more than turning it on or off with the Toon.

I'm a Patriotic Englishman and supporting England through and thick and thin is just the way it is for me.

Come on England

 

I'm not bothered watching England. Over hyped players, lack of flair, in fact, plain boring. Won't be watching tonight.

 

England are my second favourite team after Newcastle United. It's just great sitting there watching all the best England players together on the pitch.

Wearing my colours, for my country.

I know, we're not great but we're on course for Brazil 2014 with very winnable games at Wembley.

Come on ENGLAND!

 

Too many London Based geriatrics running the show, don't know much about football but rather good at lining their pockets.

The whole system needs to be overhauled from top to bottom and run by people that have a genuine love of football.

 

Barton summed it up last night...

@joey7barton
Problem with British football is the coaching. Look at home nation coaches? Hodgson. Coleman. Strachan. O'Neil. Serouisly?
Until we sort the coaches out we are royally fooked.
What has Big Trevor Brooking been doing for the last 10 yrs? Surely there are only so many dinners and golf days, a man can attend?
Time for an overhaul Greg. Clear out the freeloaders. Starting with Brooking. Implement some form of elite coaching development programme
Which includes visiting other countries for coach dev.Not just to steal coaching infrastructures. Then support @savegrassroots Thats a start
Thanks Greg

Yours
A frustrated English man...

Bored with overhype...

Wishing for a brighter future.

xx

Off to bed early start tomorrow. Golf over at Royal Newbiggan with @drewbarton1 and the chaps. Then @steveharper37 testimonial in the night