Are we on the road to greater things now?

International breaks, are they worth it?

We won the World Cup in 1966, and we did it without the League accommodating Alf Ramsey’s preparations. In other words, there were no International breaks.

The whole point of International Breaks was to help the England squad prepare for World or European competitions. So far it has been a total failure. And do Tottenham supporters, or any supporters really want it? I’ve spoken to a lot of Spurs fans, and other followers from the top six clubs and not one has stood up and said, yes, he/ she wants it. Of course, I am not suggesting that there isn’t anybody from the top six that doesn’t want it, of course there are (I just haven’t bumped into them yet). But those that generally want it are the preserve of lower league teams who have no chance of reaching the dizzy heights of clubs like Spurs or United, so cling to England in the hope that they will bring back a World cup or European trophy. Realistically they’ve got no chance.

Arguably our best performance in recent times was in the World Cup just gone, in Russia. And the only reason we got that far was because all the big teams fell on their swords, allowing us to cock-up the opportunity that was presented to us on a stick.

I can’t see us winning one of the two or even both of the great international trophies with the managers’s that are given the England job. Give Southgate a few years of failure, and he will be replaced by another clown.

All league clubs get out of England call ups are injuries or tiredness or both. Players are paid by the club to achieve their bidding, not piss on their club/ fans for some pie in the sky.

Take Kane and Alli, all we’ve got from them, when coming back from World Cup duties, is fatigue.

Gareth Southgate doesn’t give a shit about our clubs, and nor should he, as his duty is to his masters, not to club/ league teams, their squads or even their supporters.

Our priority should be for League football, this is where we are respected and shown throughout the world. At national level, England are a joke and have been since the 80s. Every time a World Cup year appears we throw intelligence out of the window and see through kaleidoscopic eyes. If we are lucky, we raise our temperature to boiling point because we believe this time we’ve got a chance, only to be let down and our temperature quickly goes from boiling to freezing and in the process heart attack territory.

And why do we pick managers that are failures? Southgate’s only managerial job at club level (yes, one) was with Middlesbrough, and they were no great team, they weren’t even in the Premier League, but he was still sacked. But thought good enough to manage England. I think that says it all.

Before him was Sam Allardyce, who has never managed a top team, but that didn’t stop him being offered the England job. After one successful game, he was fired. Not only do we appoint clowns and failures, but those that are doing the selecting are comedians themselves.

Before him was Roy Hodgson. He managed Liverpool for one year and got the sack, now managing Palace. I think that tells you everything you need to know about him and the England setup. You don’t really want me to go further, do you? Of course not.

We’ve now got two weeks break with, I imagine, nothing at the end of it to show – (either trophy wise or probably even in wins, and if we do win it is either against  a lowly team or a team that has players that won’t try, so not to damage their league prospects) – other than more fatigue or injuries.

And even if we could do well in those International breaks, Southgate keeps chopping and changing the players, so much so that we can’t get a settled side. He should work out his best team, stick to it through thick and thin. Only changing when injuries occur. The bloke is a plank. And that is probably what we are best at, at that level, employing planks by planks for planks. Give me good old league football. At least clubs below the top six have more chance of winning something than England do. 

Unless you are the manager of England’s women’s team, then they do have a chance of winning such trophies at that level. Their stage is International football, while ours is domestic football.

Southgate was made a hero, even though we didn’t win anything. That is the level of England’s International football. We’ve set the bar so low that failure is deemed success now (a bit of Orwellian logic here). Those that run the FA probably realise that we will never win an International trophy so why bother to go full steam ahead. Just pick crap managers and when they fail then just blame it on them and move on to the next mug.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see England win the World Cup and/ or the European championship, but I doubt I will see that in my lifetime. Not with the morons that are picked to manage our National team.

That is my rant for the International Break.

Don Scully