There we go, a real answer. What I meant by 'moody' was just calling me pretentious and a ****. Insults aren't a great thing to back up an argument with. You have to be honest, we're not the 4th best team in the world. I just generally don't take an interest in it as much as I do with Newcastle. I find club football much more entertaining is all. It's good you're passionate about England. And I still watch the games, I just don't take as much interest in it as I do with Newcastle.
I think the lack enthusiasm for the national team stems from years of dire performances, with a generation of supporters unable to witness the last time we did well in an international tournament (Euro 96). The Euro 2008, wally with a brolly farce and the ****ness of WC2010, when we did managed to qualify, has probs seen support at their lowest levels for some time. I personally still love them (tho not as much as nufc) and wish them well, but understand why people can't be arsed. With regards to Capello, the guys a muppet and not doing any good for the support of the team. Wrong man in the wrong job; like many of our managers over the years!
My problem with England is that playing for the national team doesn't seem to be considered much of an honour anymore. At best, it's another platform for the players to expand their global "brands", at worst, an unwelcome distraction from club football. While I acknowledge that the clubs are partly responsible for this ambivalence and that certain individual players do care about the three lions, it's hard to relate to an England team which has spent much of the past two decades phoning it in, whatever the results. Give me a national team of players who genuinely care enough to give it their best shot on behalf of the nation and they'll get my support, but give me eleven self-regarding primadonnas and I'll just find something else to do.
Matt Jarvis, for example. One call up and all of a sudden he's the next best thing and his price has tripled. Mental.
But surely its catch 22, those 11 primadonnas, are the best 11 in those positions we have, hence why they are primadonnas in the 1st place, yes it would be nice to have bottom half PL or even Championship players, but lets be honest there is a reason they are bottom half PL or championship players, they just are not good enough for the top 4-6 teams in the country. I personally think the PL and sky with all their cash has ruined the national game, the PL is too fast and furious, and there are too many foreigners in it, which is holding our players back somewhat, and then when they are in the U16-U21`s their price skyrockets through the roof, and the pressure is on them even more to play well for a top 4-6 side (when they undoubtadly buy them). Cappelo has tried to slow the England team down, just like the rest of the international teams, keep the ball, dont loose it, dont let them have a sniff and we will be fine, Spain play nice football, but its not really fast, or 20 shots on target in 1 match, the fast and furious aproach to international football has never really worked. Also a lot just cancel each other out a lot of the time. Dont get me wrong I like England and try to watch every single match, lack of silverware has never really bothered me, christ I support Sunderland, havnt won anything since i was 1, and I still Support them. I dont like naming players, but Lampard is just **** for England, so is Barry (actually i dont know how Barry can get a PL game, never mind an England call up) Gerrard is ok, but he gets played out on the left far too much (or did), with lampard in the middle.
Personally I hate the majority of the ****s that play in the England team. England are ****, these FIFA rankings are bollocks. The "Golden Generation" has killed a lot of the passion I had for the England team. * I wasn't liking where England were going the 3-4 games before then, the team were playing ****.
Can I just say, I'm not overly biased towards the England team just because I'm English. I genuinely don't take much notice of international games because I can't stand Capello, Rooney, Gerrard, Ashley Cole and Lampard etc. I haven't felt properly proud to watch England since the 90's. Whether England done well in the WC matters not in this instance, I just think the FA is rotten from top to bottom and I've completely lost interest. I'll always follow them and I look forward to the Euros next year but it's just not right lately. Maybe if Capello walked or was sacked I would feel more positive. Also, there is a notable lack of passion and grit in the current setup, it's been evident for years now. Passion and determination are what made England a great team once but that is sadly lacking these days.
Couldn't care less about England anymore, too many overpaid ****ers, including the manager. International breaks just spoil a weekend for me as there is no proper football on. Watching England v Bulgaria on Friday was simply a bore and the Scotland match was even worse on Saturday. Internationals were once important, now they aren't as far as i'm concerned.
I don't get people who don't support their country. Some complain about not having an English manager, did those people not support Newcastle under Gullet or Ardiles? Don't support England because we've won nothing since 1966, when did Newcastle last win anything? Don't like the players? Did you cheer Micky Owen scoring a hat-trick against West Ham for us? It's the national side, there should be some pride. Remember Stuart Pearce scoring his penalty in Euro 96? That's the passion I have for the national side and we should all have. To show the rest of the world we invented the game and we are still a force to be reckoned with. When the whole of Europe caved under Hitler's jackboot, one nation stood strong, one nation stood proud and would not give up, would not surrender. Instead we gave them a beating and led the rest of the world to defeat him. Brought up up on dripping and drizzle and yet we had the largest empire the world has ever known. That's what it means to be English, that's what pride in supporting fellow Englishmen against the rest of the world means.
I watch the games mainly out of boredom without really being arsed about whether we play well or not. i'd be gutted if we didn't qualify for a major tournament just because its depressing if we're not in them. I just don't care about international games outside of tournaments as they don't mean anything. its not like being in a league. qualifiers just annoy me because we see how good we're actually capable of playing only to do nothing near as well in a tournament.
I have to presume that DTK was meant to be BTK, the list of winners that I posted in response to your initial thread were the winners of the World Cup and European Championships, both competitions for which England are eligible, nice to see that when you get responses that don't meet with your approval that you move the goal posts and resort to personal insults, you don't live up to your name do you.
Call me daft but i reckon that when 'Arry finally gets the england job (and he'll be next) I expect english passion from the fans will return as he's a known face and one of footballs characters. I don't like the bloke because of how he handles his transfer dealings but i must admit i'd rather he was the england manager than capello. i actually think capello is a good manager but we need the english pride and spirit to be reinstilled and for me that means having a 'proper' englishman in charge with a bit of charisma. not someone that can barely speak the language. how can capello hope to rouse the rabble with a team talk of churchill type proportions when the chips are down and national pride is at stake?
