The difficulty in supporting England

The World Cup is here. The four yearly jamboree of FIFA freeloading, in your face sponsorship from companies that show little interest in football for the other eleven months of the year and rampant patriotism demonstrated with St George's flags on houses, faces and over priced tat that wouldn't ordinarily be bought. 

In the midst of all the nonsense, bandwagon jumping and blather there is a football tournament. A colourful, exciting and fascinating one at that. And one that I love to watch. From my earliest memories of the wonderful free flowing football of Brazil, Tardelli's goal celebration and the Scumacher foul on Battiston in Spain 1982. 

Via the Hand of God, the free flying boot of Massing as it scythed down Cannigia, one fateful night in Turin, Houghton versus Italy, the French excelling on home soil in 98, Seaman lobbed by Ronaldinho over a pub breakfast, the colourful emergence of Africa, the cynicism of Suarez. World Cups bookmark my life and instil permanent memories of places, people and times. 

Alongside that is the archive footage, seen initially in programmes like 100 Great Sporting Moments, showing footage as thrilling as that of Brazil in 1970, as shocking as the Battle of Santiago and as bewildering as the Zaire wall in 1974. Then there were the official films - I remember seeing G'ole! in the Gaumont Cinema in Sheffield. 

All knowledge enhanced by absorbing myself in Ladybird books, Panini albums and any books or magazine previews/reviews I could afford. The stadia, the cities and more importantly a World of players, at one time largely unknown, now recognisable and in one place.

In all bar one of these tournaments I have watched England have played a part. Sometimes major, sometimes minor. Watching the World Cup for me is about much more than national fervour, it is a feast of football styles to be savoured and absorbed, and over time my support of our national team has been on the wane.

I used to enjoy supporting my country. There used to be something special about watching England. That has been diluted by hangers on and the new football experts, that fill the pub with badly masked ignorance of the game and wider society. Supporting a country, not a team. Supporting a country, the football a by product. An excuse to be angry. An excuse for a fight.

At one time England were accessible to the fans. Matches taken around the country whilst the inaccessible, soulless bowl of Wembley was rebuilt to be filled with day tripping fans and a tuneless band creating artificial "atmosphere" and widespread annoyance. Matches are now played on Tuesday and Friday nights, for fans within the M25, unless you can afford the time off, the petrol, the tickets and the exorbitant Wembley experience. England South if you like.

Watching England as they toured the North and Midlands was largely a pleasurable experience. The joy I felt in the Old Trafford stands as Beckham struck home the perfect free kick in the last minute versus Greece is up there with my favourite moments in a football ground. But at times it was also an uncomfortable experience. 

Watching England put four past a poor Paraguay with my knees tucked under my chin at Anfield. Discomfort of a different kind as a large number of England supporters around me belted out "I'd rather be a Paki than a Turk" as we beat, not Turkey, but Liechtenstein at Old Trafford. Discomfort and disgust. I didn't want part of this "support". 

Alongside a racist undercurrent in the stands, the players became dislikable, fuelled by greed, ego and misplaced self belief. This led to behaviours and attitudes that I couldn't abide, never mind connect with. For some players, self-promotion was a bigger priority than their team's performance. All about the brand and image.

Then there was the Premier League, put in place to improve the quality of the national side, but only detrimental. Without a care. Eager not to dilute the brand, but "eager to help" by helping themselves through initiatives like the Elite Player Performance Plan. A mask of doing it for the national good barely hiding the dirty truth. 

A national team representing a Football Association, who have become - and who would have thought this possible - an even more spineless and out of touch body. Killing off, by long term euthanasia, their prestige cup competition. Inconsistent in their treatment of clubs and misdemeanours. Impotent against the monster they've created. Proposing a League Three to incorporate Premier League B teams that no fan I know wants or believes necessary.

This wasn't my England. This isn't a team whose organisers do right by me or my club.

This year it feels slightly different. England have a coach who I like, a coach who I want to succeed, one who isn't an overseas mercenary pepping up a retirement plan. I want him to succeed if only to stick two fingers up at critics who have a downer on him since day one, suggesting he was an uninspiring and under qualified selection. Boring. Yet they would prefer Harry Redknapp - a personality manager but with a relatively empty trophy cabinet whose only successes have come from financial excesses that could have killed clubs and very nearly did.

England's chances are being played down by a media that seem to have slipped unconsciously into recognising the reality, rather than their usual dream world of expectation and hype. 

The players are different, only Gerrard and Lampard remain of a seemingly untouchable, undroppable generation, who failed time and again on an international stage. A major finals without Ferdinand and Terry is a welcome change for me. 

In Phil Jagielka there is a player I saw develop over 6/7 years at my club. A player who we said would play for England, not quite knowing where or when as he played, centre back, right back, central midfield, right midfield and even pulled on the goalkeeper's gloves whilst a Blade. A player I can associate with. A player with grounding, without ego.

 

Alongside him another player who I have seen pull on my club's shirt, albeit for just a loan spell, in Gary Cahill - a local lad from Dronfield. If Kyle Walker had been fit there would have been one more.

There are the players who would have struggled to establish themselves with previous coaches, but show how players can still develop outside the Premier League - Ricky Lambert for example. And the exciting young talent picked on form and game changing capability - Sterling, Barkley, Oxlade Chamberlain.

Success for England partially vindicates the current system of player development, with many starting out at teams outside the Premier League and several others having benefited from loan spells in the Championship and League One. Alongside recent success at the Under 17 European Championships, there would be compelling arguments forming against recent FA proposals. 

I will support England of course, they are more "my England" than any national team of recent years. But alongside it I will enjoy watching Belgium - at a first major finals since the days of Scifo, Vercauteren et al. I will be fascinated by the performance of the "lesser" South American teams in conditions that will help, whilst enjoying the scything front play from Sabella's Argentina.

A United View may be a little quiet for the next month or so. It will be ensconced in Brazil 2014. If anything happens at Bramall Lane I will be on it. But with a few posts drafted I will be back with an avalanche of thoughts and opinion in July. Enjoy the World Cup; I will. Oh, and come on Roy's Boys. 

Fit to wear the shirt

With the new England World Cup shirts launched last week - available here from JD Sports http://www.jdsports.co.uk/page/england-football/ - I was asked to consider who I would like to see pull on the three lions emblazoned shirts in Brazil. Here's who I am looking forward to seeing.......

Adam Lallana

Adam Lallana has really grabbed the attention of football fans across the country in the last 12 months. He is a great example of how a player with natural talent bides their time before the deserved recognition comes along. Having joined the Saints Academy as a 12-year old in 2000 and played a key role in Southampton's FA Youth Cup squads of 2004–05 and 2005–06, when they reached the final and semi-final respectively.

Lallana joined the first team squad in July 2006, but it was the beginning of the 2008–09 season before he became a regular. He played a key role in the Saint's march back up the leagues. For those of us following football outside the Premier League he was a noticeable prospect. To those who view through Premier League tinted spectacles his achievements were always going to be downgraded.

In 2009–10 he contributed 20 goals in all competitions, the first Southampton midfielder to score twenty goals in a season since Matthew Le Tissier's 30 in the 1994–95 season.

He was named in the League One Team of the Year for the 2010–11 season after scoring 11 goals that season. Along with Lambert and Kelvin Davis, he was one of three Southampton players named in the Championship Team of the Year for the 2011–12 season. He finished with 13 goals, 11 of which came in the league. Great returns from a midfielder who contributed much more in general play.

You would question whether his ambition and opportunities were being stunted by remaining at Southampton, but as the team progressed so did Lallana. If anything he was benefiting from being part of a non-fashionable team that were being relatively successful.

As the Saints established themselves as a top half Premier League team, Lallana's creative talents and significant contribution have been regularly highlighted to Premier League viewers. Whilst he isn't as high up the assists table as you might expect, it is his all round play that has contributed to Southampton's rise into the Top 10, where they look firmly established.

Timing is everything and Lallana's form led to him winning his first cap back in November. From a cold Wembley night and defeat to Chile, to a starting place in the Amazonian jungle. Not bad journey in just over six months. But it has taken a lot of hard work and a commitment to the Saints to get to the starting point.

Daniel Sturridge

For a player of such tender years, Sturridge has already picked up experience at a number of clubs. His youth career taking in Aston Villa and Coventry City before signing for Manchester City as a 13 year old. He continued his development at City and played in two FA Youth Cup finals. He made his first team debut in the 2007–08 season, becoming the only player ever to score in the FA Youth Cup, FA Cup and Premier League in the same season.

I remember him scoring his first goal for City in January 2008 in an FA Cup third round defeat at Bramall Lane, which he followed three days later with his first league goal on his full debut, against Derby County. Despite this immediate impact he found first team opportunities were sporadic, and he return to play for the youth team in the FA Youth Cup. City again reached the final, with Sturridge the leading scorer in the competition and scoring in the first leg.

With Sturridge's contract at Manchester City expired and lacking opportunities, he signed for Chelsea on a four-year contract on 3 July 2009. A tribunal decided an initial fee of £3.5 million, with additional payments based on appearances and international recognition and a sell-on clause. It seemed Chelsea had got a bargain, but yet again he was to be loaned out. This time Bolton the beneficiaries and 8 goals in 12 games quickly won over the Reebok Stadium fans, although not without quibbles.


Whenever you watched him, it was with a sense of joy and what he could do, but frustration at what he sometimes did. Capable of so much, but greed and over-confidence stopping him from achieving so much more.


Given Chelsea's lack of goal threat, his sale to Liverpool seemed an odd one. But no one could have envisaged the partnership with Luis Suarez would be so devastating. The understanding of movement and vision between the two has led to him being the leading English goalscorer in the Premier League and with an additional seven assists on top of his goal tally.


He may well frustrate this Summer, but he is one of the few England players who will do something unexpected and is guaranteed to excite.

The next three players all have links with my club - Sheffield United. One of the great things as a football fan is seeing a player with great promise at your club and knowing your team, sometimes your academy system has played a key role in their development and that you have seen a young player, grow and mature into an international class player.

Phil Jagielka

Jagielka made his way through the youth ranks at United before making his first team debut in the final League match of the 1999–2000 season versus Swindon Town whilst still a trainee. An athletic defender and midfielder, he showed a clear talent in all facets of his game. Equally comfortable taking the ball forward as well as strong in the tackle, his reading of the game was sharp for a player so young. He contributed spectacular and important goals as well.

If anything it was thought his versatility might count against him. With Neil Warnock keen to utilise him as cover, he looked equally comfortable in central midfield, central defence and right back. It took a while for him to find a settled position. He equally looked home in goal, taking the gloves for the final 34 minutes of a home match against Arsenal on 30 December 2006. With Paddy Kenny injured and with United 1–0 up, Jagielka kept the Gunners at bay pulling off a fabulous late save from Robin van Persie to secure victory. Such was the confidence Neil Warnock had in his defender-com-midfielder-cum keeper, he decided to go without a substitute goalkeeper on the bench in order to give himself more tactical options.

He was a key player and virtually ever present for the final three seasons of his time at Bramall Lane. I remember the excitement of watching a United player pull on an England Under 21 shirt at the KC Stadium, such international recognition for Blades players was all too rare. That "pride" continued as he developed his career at Everton and eventually to England recognition.

It was always going to be difficult to make that breakthrough with Ferdinand and Terry in situ and Jagielka had to be patient. That patience has now paid off with Jagielka holding off the clamour for young pretenders like Smalling and Jones. Moyes clearly recognised the importance of Jagielka naming him Everton captain, a role extolled by Roberto Martínez on taking over who stated that Jagielka would make a "phenomenal captain".

Now he needs to transfer that leadership and defensive strength to the pitch, in a white shirt in Brazil. Having missed the 2010 World Cup and remained on the bench throughout Euro 2012, this is Jagielka's moment.

Kyle Walker

Sometimes you see a player for the first time and you think "they will play for England". Kyle Walker was just that player. In a short spell in the United first team you could see that he would be wearing the three lions at a future date. As his namesake Kyle Naughton made an immediate and exciting impact, talk was of the England Youth international waiting for his chance behind him.


Coming from a Blades supporting family, Walker joined United aged seven after being recommended by the local Football Unites, Racism Divides project. He progressed through the ranks to become a regular fixture in the reserves by 2008.

After a loan spell at Northampton he made his full debut for Sheffield United on 13 January 2009, starting in a third round FA Cup tie against Leyton Orient. With injuries, Walker was included in the starting line-up for the crucial last two games of the season, making his full league debut for the club on 25 April 2009 against Swansea City. He was magnificent and retained his place for an ultimately unsuccessful play–off campaign. Yet after an all too brief spell in red and white he was gone.

That summer Walker left United to join Tottenham Hotspur along with the aforementioned Kyle Naughton, a right back who had established himself as an attacking overlapping defender in the United first team. Although Naughton was valued higher in the deal, Walker was seen as the one with most potential. He was loaned back to United for the duration of the 2009–10 season as part of the deal and was an accomplished Championship right back for the first half of the season but was unexpectedly recalled back to Spurs after 6 months.

A hugely successful loan spell at Villa followed, demonstrating he was clear Premier League class. Finally he got his chance at White Hart Lane and grabbed it with both hands. Soon he was challenging Glen Johnson for the England right back slot.

He has his detractors and a player with such attacking verve, will always find himself culpable defensively. But you don't win the PFA Young Player of the Year, beating the likes of Sergio Agüero, Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Gareth Bale without good reason.

Injury led him to miss Euro 2012 and I hope that the pain killing injections he is currently taking for his pelvic injury, stave off an operation and enable him to take the field in Manaus on 14th June.

Gary Cahill

Gary Cahill didn't come through the Bramall Lane ranks, he even supports the other team in Sheffield, but he made a hugely positive impact on United fans during a three month loan spell from Aston Villa. Accomplished and calm he was a strong presence in the heart of the Blades defence.

There were many similarities with what we saw with Jagielka. Athletic, great vision and the ability to provide a goal threat as well.

It was surprising that Villa were willing to sell him 12 months later, unfortunately he was always going to remain in the Premier League and that ruled out any interest from United. He moved to Bolton Wanderers and became a firm favourite with Wanderers fans. Being married to a Bolton fan I closely followed his progress and it seemed that as well as he was playing, he was never going to get the credit his performances deserved, unless he moved from the Reebok.

The move to Chelsea did just that and Champions League success followed. Firmly established in the Chelsea defence and starting outshine the fading John Terry, his star was rising. Unfortunately, a broken jaw in the final warm up game robbed him of his chance to play at Euro 2012 and so like Jagielka and Walker this should be Cahill's moment. To see Cahill and Jagielka paired in defence, with Walker at right back will delight Blades fans everywhere.