The thousands of fans who travelled to South Africa can gain little comfort from hearing from Fabio, although his sincerity in acknowledging what it cost us was plain to see. No, in reality I want to see the players hold their hands up, apologise profusely, and then promise never to take us or playing for England so lightly ever again. One more failure of this sort and magnitude and this devotion for all things English will vanish, forever. Mark my words.
And whilst I’m on the subject, since when has it been OK for players to decide when they want to play for England? How do you retire from International football? I’ll tell you, when the Manager decides you are no longer needed, not when you think you’ve had enough. Playing for your country is a privilege, not one to be taken lightly and not one to be cast aside when you think it may interfere with your club football. England international players should be banned from English football if they adopt this attitude, we don’t want it or need it. I hope you are listening Carragher, Scholes, Robinson and Brown!
You have to question why these football players are throwing in the towel. I think every aspiring player dreams of one day pulling on the national shirt and I am sure Scholes, Robinson etc once felt this way too. Why then the disillusionment? Pre Paul Scholes, I cannot recall any eligible player voluntarily retiring from international football? Are players less patriotic, overworked or simply aware that the national team will always be of secondary importance to the Premiership?
ReplyDeleteWell, they get paid lots of money to play for their club side, and get nothing for playing for England (it goes to charity), so the immediate conclusion is that. However, David Beckham has publicly stated this week that he will always be available for England, so pride must be the overriding factor. The criticism can be intense from the media when not doing it on the international stage, therefore its probably a mixture of all of these.
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