As we come on to another round of international games, I have to ask myself ‘Does anybody actually care?’ Because quite honestly I don’t!
After an uninspiring World Cup for England we knew we had nothing to look forward to, and in spite of Rooney’s protestations that this would be a new team with new heart, it was another drab affair on Wednesday night. Quite how the FA managed to sell any tickets at all is impressive, but if they think that the performance will have England fans queueing around the block to grab tickets for big clashes against the likes of Estonia, they have another think coming.
England’s brand of insipid football is brought to you by 23 multi-millionaires who seemingly couldn’t give a toss about whether they win, lose or draw. Probably the only reason they are there at all is because they have been advised by their agents that playing international football (and being seen on the world stage) will get them a bigger wage packet.
The fact that the England match was beaten by the Great British Bake Off (which had nearly doubel the number of viewers!) just goes to show how far the national team have fallen – and even bookmakers like Vernons were reporting a huge slump in interest in the match.
The big question is whether it will ever get any better? We’ve had the ‘Golden Generation’ of Beckham, Gerrard, etc, and they did poorly. Compare that team to the one that played against Norway and you can see that the two teams are miles apart – both in terms of ability and commitment. Add in the fact that there are less and less England footballers making the grade at the sharp end of the Premier League, and you can only really come to the conclusion that England are going to continue to get progressively worse year on year on year.
Sorry England fans, but watching black and white re-runs of 1966 really is as good as it will ever get.
