I was previewing the internationals with a mate on Wednesday, and I said England should beat Slovenia OK. He replied, You mean Harry Kane will beat Slovenia. I only watched the highlights. The atmosphere seemed flat. When England moved their games round the country they got a better atmosphere.
From years gone by when I have been to the aways, the northerners would take up a lot of the away following. I have found the provincial s***holes are more 'in to' following England. I think the fairest way would be to have the national stadium in Birmingham, it makes sense geographically for the rest of the country.
I don't even see why we need a National Stadium. The one we have only serves its primary function about 8 times a year. For the other 44 weeks they have to hire it out for pop concerts, monster truck racing or Cup semi-finals just to pay off the crippling cost overrun of building it. The ultimate example of the FA glorifying itself rather than doing what it's supposed to do - serve the game at every level.
Agree 100%. I sometimes wonder what the point of having Wembley is really. It's not like we are going to be hosting a major tournament any time soon. Our FA can't even bribe properly
If Scotland do manage to get into the play-offs you just know they will get Italy, or if not Portugal, in the draw.
We've forgotten what it's like, whereas England still have fresh memories of that particular experience.
Getting back on topic ... Amazing to think that while UEFA bends over backwards to accommodate the 56 ex Soviet satellite nations, and while Faroes, Gibraltar & Andorra bore everyone to death ....Holland are all but out. A country with a population of 17m that has 1m registered football players - & they have somehow contrived not to qualify.