Ingerland - who cares?

Michael

so come on. How much did you win???

LDN Calling

Bit like your blog now that Melanie has come on board- who cares not many people judging by the number of comments

Frankman

So Steve McLaren loses his job! Why? Apart from taking to the field himself, what more could he do? I feel the same about league managers. Where is the continuity? What about the players? Are they proud? Fine them a few months wages, that might get their heads out of the sand!! At least the Wembley crowd would have been better entertained, if a team of cloned sheep stepped onto the pitch, led by Ali G!! :)

clive

i couldn't agree less. the reason you prefer club football to the national side is quite simple: you obviously support manchester united or arsenal, because they are the only two teams in the football league who play the game the way it is supposed to be played. even my own dear liverpool play a route one game that is so shocking at times it leaves me wondering if they ever had a plan to begin with. Please remember that fans, like you and i stephen, are fickle. when england start playing consistently and begin to deserve their place in major championships, then you and i and all your mates will be the first to support them. but in truth, in our lifetime we have never seen a coherent national football team. what happened yesterday was not a shock to most supporters. in truth, croatia are a better team. Why? because they have a manager who knows how to win games beautifully. england matter to us all, in a similar fashion to our club sides, but after forty years of substandard performances, we're all worn out watching them lose. as for your remark about footballers being comically overrated, well, i'm guessing you don't say that when they perform well for your club side. more to the point, having been priviledged to play on the same pitch with guys like hoddle, crooks, jimmy case, martin peters i can reliably inform you that they are superheroes on the ball. we are not like them. we don't come close to the gerrards and the lampards of this world. the problem is, as good as they are they do not play the right kind of football to compete in the modern international arena. the best thing happened yesterday. we were booted unceremoniously out of a competition we do not deserve to be in and now we have two long years to sort out our national game, as brian barwick put it: root and branch. I would welcome a complete overhaul in the way the english game is played at all levels, including a look at the fans who demand we play football at a break neck speed with little zero tolerance showing the kind of knee-jerk reactions i have just experienced in your article. More importantly at club and grass roots level, where the ball is booted so high in to the air some times as to remind me of rugby. brian clough would be turning in his grave. until you change the mindset that has dominated our game since it's conception, english football will remain lucrative yet ridiculed around the globe. i remember playing against garth crooks in a charity match at spurs. i'm no slouch but he turned me so fast in a blink of an eye, he was on goal and his shot nearly bust the net. i was in awe. these players are not buffoons mr pollard. they are more deserving of your repsect. they've given you many great times in your life. you have just failed to notice. and if anyone at the spectator is reading this blog, you could do worse than contact me for the kind of copy you deserve from a football writer. enjoy. over-rated buffoons? Stephen, the only thing over-rated is your

Joshua

"Bit like your blog now that Melanie has come on board- who cares not many people judging by the number of comments" -- Stuff and nonsense. That's like saying I'm more popular than Ms. Phillips because I attract so many posts when I'm in a provocative mood and feel like tweaking a few British noses. In other words, people who make incendiary comments tend to attract many comments. It certainly doesn't make them more popular than individuls like Pollard who forgo the fireworks and bring down cabinet mininsters with a few well-judged strokes of the pen instead. So you needn't worry your little head about Sir Stephen. I'm sure he won't have to sell the house in London, the apartments in Brussels and Herzliya, the racehorse, or even that rather snazzy Italian automobile anytime soon.

warren t

overpaid.overrated lot of them,no pride...f.a want firing too,2 bad managers,wembley fiasco,and american football game played 3 week b4 vital qualifier...disgrace all of it

George

'English' football is full of players from other countries. We will never have an England team capable of winning until we have local players in local club teams. (At one time Stoke City had five or six internationals in their team )No one seems interested in developing local talent any more.

Tiberius

Clive: Stephen is a Spurs fan which rather spoils your argument from the outset. And, yes, we have had players who are brilliant on the training ground, but who don't have what it takes to perform when the pressure is really on. (The most telling example of this is our dismal record in tournament penalty shoot-outs.) That is true of many Britons in many walks of life who are products of late 20th century British culture and education. But despite that, we could still win a tournament if we had a truly gifted coach - Robson, Venables and Sven came close, but with our players' mindset , we need someone who is both an even better man-manager and tactician. Finally, self-promotion rarely sounds attractive.

Michael

I agree with you on Ingerland, but please, Mr Pollard, use a spell-check now and then...

LDN Calling

Joshua what have the number of homes & racehorses got to do with it this blog is boring period & by the look of him he shoot dump the snazzy Italian automobile & do a bit more walking. I'm off back to mad Mel & least she isn't dull

HASNAIN LALJI

I certainly don't think that they are bafoons. My true fellow countrymen certainly, in my opinion should not think that they are bafoons. Indeed some possibly don't think at all. They have at least enough self awareness to be called by me and more inshallah the most talented players from one of the four most talented countries in the world. I should remind the left honorable talented gentleman that the word England is indeed spelt england. The new David Beckham - Peter Crouch combination worked like a a miracle. What a duo! The pogoists - what talent! The breakdancers - what talent! What a show! The new boy - THE GOALKEEPER - the one who played for us on wednesday 21st - may the new coach grant him a long life. What magic he has, what alertness, what a First appearance. The finest England has ever seen. The attack lost us the first 2 goals as they should have been 3-0 up by then. It's not talent. It's the NHS and STREET ASSAULT factor.

Daijhi

It's not just the English football team that has been wildly overrated for the past 41 years, but England itself is given the same absurd media hype. Let's face it, England is an overcrowded, overdeveloped and ridiculously overpriced dump where the kids run around like wild animals stabbing each other for fun and every third person is pissed out of their minds simply to cope with the awfulness of it. No wonder Jurgen Klinsman is seriously considered for the English Manager's desk - no Englishman is actually competent enough to do it. If Mclaren was a dickhead - and no one can really doubt that -what about the fat overpaid idiots in the FA who chose him? Surely the entire FA board should resign and hand the show to Gary Linekar - probably the only guy in British football with any brains at all.

margaret lee

why did they sack this man, the men who play for england are supposed to be the creme de la creme of the football world. with all the money they earn, I would say they should play for their country for nothing only the honour. So please don't put all the blame on the coach,

Harry Greenwood

I'm certainly glad that England lost for the simple reason it was the only way to get the Walli with the brolli the sack

terence

great article my sentiments exactly bravo! Thanks also for helping me spell ingerland

Ken

I CARE, YOU PRICK!

Gary Lupton

I agree, Our England football team are not worth watching as they are all totally overpaid pansies. I am very patriotic, at least when our rugby boys go out they go out and play their backsides off (for a fraction of the money the football planks get paid) and the game is a lot more demanding, they don't roll around the floor for 10 minutes because they tripped over a daisy or moan that their hair might be messed up. McClaren should have been sacked with no payoff as that would have happened in the real world, he should at least give half his payoff (I think it was 2 million punds) to Macmillan Nurses or somewhere where it will do some good.

Steven Walsh

Its about time we got rid of that imbred of a manager mcdicked why was appointed in the first place does he have an affair with a member of the FA??

steven taylor

himim not even saying his name,the ex england manager is a poor manager who has won nothing and never will.fabio cappello,marcello lippi,or morino they are what we need pure quility,instead of poor rubbish that we have had.

Paul

So how much do you get paid to write crap? You are not a lifelong football fan are you? Did you pick your club out of a hat? These players are overpaid, but isnt it your beloved clubs that are paying them you muppet? Your comment about most fans you know dont care, thats because they are a load of posh knobs that have picked up on football because it became cool. Real football fans really do care about England.

MARK

ANOTHER ENGLAND MANAGER SACKED WHY DONT THEY JUST GET A HALF DECENT TEAM INSTEAD OF ALLWAYS BLAMING THE MANAGER

Geoff Miller

Those cretins couldnt even manage to sing the National Anthem - they have no pride and frankly didn't want to be there. Expect more managers to be sacked when in reality the problem is with the players. Rugby should be the National Sport as it embraces the essential elements of what it means to be English. At least rubgy players are decent, literate and eloquent unlike to retards that play footie. Real men play rugby.

Andrew

Voters on our poll seem to think Mourinho is the man to turn the nation's footballin fortunes aroud… though there have been some votes for Sky’s Jeff Stelling! http://tiesplanet.blogspot.com