England a "Waste of Time" - Gary Neville

[Sharks]

Gary Neville has said England have no chance of winning Euro 2012 and that he often felt playing for his country was a "waste of time".

"I don't see us competing seriously for a major tournament for at least 10 years," said recently-retired Neville.

And he added: "There have been times when I've reflected on my international career and just thought: 'Well that was a massive waste of time.'"

The ex-Manchester United defender won 85 caps and played in two World Cups.

"[I am] sorry for sounding sour, but my best mate, David Beckham, got butchered after the World Cup in 1998, then my brother, Phil, after Euro 2000," he continued.

"The whole lot of us got it in the neck at other times. Sometimes we deserved it, but playing for England was one long roller-coaster: some ups and downs, but also quite a few moments when you're not really sure if you're enjoying the ride."

Too many players spend too much time fearing the consequence of failure

Ex-England and Man Utd defender
Neville, who played 400 matches for United, claimed many England players fear playing for their country.

Writing in his book, Red, which is being serialised in the Mail on Sunday, he added: "It should be fantastic, the best moments of your life. But there is no doubt that too many players spend too much time fearing the consequence of failure when they pull on an England shirt."

Neville, who is now working as a media pundit, says he feels sorry for the players who are now embarking on their international careers with England.

"They are caught between these massive expectations and the reality of being good, sometimes very good, but probably not of tournament-winning quality," he wrote.

"The Premier League years have seen a rise in technique and skills and tactical intelligence, but it's not a transformation that can happen overnight. It will take time."

England's next fixtures are the Euro 2012 qualifiers in Bulgaria (2 September) and against Wales at Wembley (6 September) which follow the recent cancellation of the friendly against Netherlands because of the riots in London.

[fishtoast]

England international footy is a waste of time you know it but will not admit it ,i know it,No one cares about them.

[jake robinson]

I have always said you should be proud and honoured to play for your country but unfortunately beacuse of our press, that doesn't exsist so much anymore.
The old days never had the coverage and exposure they have now.

[Begbie]

The media builds up expectations before every major tournament. The quality of the England team does not compare to the skill levels and style shown by true potential tournament winners and the sooner that people realise this, the sooner England teams will be able to play without fear.

In NI we sing "We're not Brazil, we're Northern Ireland". Perhaps it is time that England supporters adopted the same attitude.

[Tats]

England are poo simple as that . We try and play a slower game that the players aint used too . English football is all about attack attack attack but when it comes to internationals its caution all the time and hit on the break , Its bollox !!!

[mfc1876]

I don't know, I really don't think people in England do 'expect' us to win a tournament, but what we do want to see is the team to just have a good go at it. That's all we ask. That last world cup was a shambles, these 'big names' who strut around the pitch week in week out for their clubs who then become timid little boys when the good foreign players they have around them at club level are no longer there at international level to make them look good.

I don't remember the English league being abundant with foreigners in 1990, apparently teaching our players all about tactics, technique and silky skills when we got to the semi-final of that years world cup, just missing out on the final by a whisker.

No it's bollocks in my opinion, what we need to do is stop paying through the fooking nose for overated foreign players, concentrate on our own game and filling our teams with English born players and only then will we have a chance of putting out an International team that's capable of winning a tournament and not just having a go.

The money in the game in this country is fooking obscene and I'm sick of it, I've said it before. I was watching a Bundesliga game the other week and I realised straight away that most of the players had German names. The Dutch league is full of Dutch players and they have always had a competitive International team, don't they only have a population of about 15 million? Same in France, most of their club players would qualify to play for the national team. Too much greed in our game for me.

Anyway sorry I went off on one a bit there, what was the question again?

[Tats]

Ruddy good post that mate

[mfc1876]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tats

Ruddy good post that mate

Why thankyou kind sir! Go on a bit though don't I sometimes

[jake robinson]

Spot on Mfc. Due to the coverage that the premier league gets around the world it will never change,too much money involved like you say.

Agree Begs, England supporters always expect too much,can't see it changing or how?

[adam_ayres1988]

Granted there is too much money in our game, but England was one of only a few nations, in the world cup, who's entire team played in it's home nation's league.

How many Brazilians play in the Brazilian league and their national team?

I think it's the attitude of the players that's the problem. With all the money they get week in week out it seems some of the big name players think they're bigger than England (The football team) which is why I think we see less teamwork and more individuals trying to be the hero.

Some of the smaller named players will try to make sure that they personally do well so they can secure a move to a bigger club so they might do something that's not in the team's best interest, but in their own (shooting from miles out all the time until one goes in and that's all that people talk about).

Meh I'm rambling, gonna get some food.

[mfc1876]

Brazil haven't been much of a force recently though, quarter finals of the last World Cup (knocked out by Holland) quarters of the 2006 World Cup Cup (knocked out by France) and same again in the last Copa America (knocked out by Paraguay). They only scraped through to the quarters by beating Ecuador in their final group game after they drew their first two matches. A bit like England's record ha ha!

I'll conveniently neglect to mention the fact that Brazil won the Copa America in 2007 though...

I still think we'd have a much better international team if we weren't inundated with so many foreign players at our clubs. You could argue that if Brazil's international players don't tend to play in their own country's league then it means they're producing the talent that Europe's big clubs are looking for. How many players in the current English national squad would get regular first team football at a big foreign club?

[adam_ayres1988]

1 Wilshere