Yet another international break is upon us as I write this article which is the second of the season and we have only played seven Premier League games. I like to consider myself a passionate England supporter, especially during the major tournaments, but it is very hard to get excited about all these Nations League fixtures.
I didn’t even watch the last game against Greece for example. I know the move to the Nations League was an attempt to eradicate meaningless friendlies but I don’t think that much has changed now.
The breaks are incredibly disruptive to the domestic season. Just as teams are looking to get a bit of momentum or attempt to fix a poor run of form, they lose a large percentage of their squad for two weeks. Thankfully this time it is off the back of a good result for West Ham against Ipswich but even then, it would have been good to build on that result.
The other huge problem of these breaks is that they can cause injuries. I’m still haunted by what happened to Dean Ashton but even recently we have lost our big money forward signing from Germany, Niclas Fullkrug since the last break. Whilst I felt for Jarrod Bowen that he was left out of England’s squad for this international break, I was relieved deep down that it limits his exposure to injuries.
I think the current system needs a rethink again as there are too many fixtures. Perhaps there could be a seeded system so that the better footballing nationals automatically qualify for major tournaments and the lesser ranked national teams play each other for the remaining spaces.
This isn’t a perfect solution because some clubs would be losing more players than others, but perhaps it could be something that alongside permits to play in this country, clubs would have to consider when signing a player. There is no perfect solution but I just think the current system doesn’t work.
There must be very few fans of domestic clubs that do enjoy the international break. Football is unlike other sports like rugby and cricket where the international team is valued as more important than the domestic side. Perhaps an alternative, and I have not not thought this through, could be two slots of three weekends where clubs play their international fixtures.
Maybe one in December, one in March and one in June so they are spread out. This would enable as many fixtures to be played but perhaps less periods of when the season was disrupted. From September to December we would have already had three international breaks which is what I am proposing but across the season.
As I was writing this article, I was trying to stir up happy memories of England supporting days. It lead me to question myself. Who are my favourite England players that have had no real connection to West Ham?
The first one I could think of was Gazza. Despite being a Spurs player at the time, his performances in the first World Cup I can remember in 1990 made him a joy to watch. He then repeated this in Euro 96 and I just loved his personality.
A player with perhaps not as much personality but equally as talented was Michael Owen. World Cup 98 was the first one I can remember drinking and watching the games and his goal against Argentina always lives with me as one of my favorites ever scored.
Then I think I would have to go for David Beckham. After the abuse he received following that World Cup in 98 to bounce back and be so inspirational for years after for the country was inspiring. I was then torn for the other players: I would say Stuart Pearce but he obviously has a connection to West Ham. So I think I’ll go for his Forest team mate Des Walker.
I remember thinking he was brilliant in the early 90s and the chant ‘You’ll never hear Des Walker’ stuck with me. He then moved to Sampdoria. Whilst I’ve always been an AS Milan fan, I did have a soft spot for Sampdoria.
Mainly because one of my best mates supported them and also because of their kit. He was also joined at ‘Doria’ (although not at the same time) by another England player I liked in David Platt. He scored another of my favourite goals against Belgium in the last minute of extra time in Italia 90. I can still see his beaming smile now when that goal went in.
So as you can see I am a passionate England supporter but I just wish there were less meaningless games to endure.
Be the first to comment