England National Team Future Doesn’t Look Bright

OK. So it’s the opening day of the Premiership. How do you feel?

Excited? Anxious? Bored?

No matter how successful your club team there’s only one thing that will inevitably happen this season. England will screw up and have yet another disappointing year. Perhaps Capello will achieve something but if you’ve read Part One of this article you’ll know my views on this subject. England will fail, mainly because we play football too fast and without thought but also because most of our players have little tactical nouse or technique.

Another reason is a more practical one. Unlike most other European nations our national team still spends too little time together. In the Club vs Country debate it is inevitably the club that wins and as a consequence our players like Gerrard, Terry, Lampard, Ferdinand etc, all are unable to develop any international understanding.

For any team to function whether its in Sport, or the Arts, or Business it must spend time together to learn to work together, to know each others strengths and weaknesses, to plan, to learn how to win. As a nation we do not give our players that time. For us the dominance of club managers and the success of our clubs takes priority, hence our international team fails.

Lastly we fail because many of our players do not feel the passion for playing for their country that they do playing for their club. In club football players develop a loyalty to their team-mates, to their supporters, even to their city but most importantly it is their club who pays their over inflated, rich boy salaries and therefore it is to their club that their main loyalty lies.

Our players are spoilt, cloistered and sheltered from the problems of real life; what does it matter to them if their country loses an international, doesn’t qualify for a championship? A bit of unfavorable publicity, shake it off and come out with the same old ‘we cocked up’ routine.

The bottom line is that our spoilt players don’t care enough. Other than pride they lose nothing if England loose; this has been made worse by a procession of inept international managers such as Mclaren and Ericsson.

Maybe Capello will be different but don’t waste your breath hoping!