Mark Davies on England’s chances…and the FA’s chancers

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We are now hours away from Euro 2012 and if I was approached by the Catherine Tate character and asked if I’m bovvered, then I could honestly say I’m not.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m 100% a believer in England and England’s chances at major tournaments but this time, I honestly think making the quarter-finals would be a massive achievement. I personally think we may struggle to qualify from the group. So, let’s fast forward to July 1st and the Euro 2012 final which will be contested by Holland and Germany (currently available at about 9/1), with the Dutch securing a 2-1 victory.

The suits at the FA will go about their daily business happy with England’s mediocre performance and, as the World Cup in 2014 and Euro 2016 approach, they will come out with the usual soundbites and we will plod along THINKING that we are good enough but KNOWING that we are 20 years behind.

Eventually the current manager Mr Hodgson will retire/be sacked or, as I believe, resign citing personal intrusion… and we will be 4 years down the line with a bunch of players who have learnt how to be afraid of losing rather than playing with a freedom that allows players to express themselves. It’s at this point the FA will take an extraordinary amount of time to appoint someone who nobody wants. The fans will moan but eventually do nothing about it because, as always, club politics are far more important than the politics of the England national team.

I honestly think that this is the first time the national side have gone into a tournament with absolutely no expectations and, as such, the managerial appointment of Mr Negative is baffling. There was a chance we could have appointed someone young, with new fresh ideas who could have been given 4 years to experiment.
We strive to play the European way and even try to appoint European coaches but when this happens the media and fans become xenophobic and beat the “he needs to be English” drum.

We apologise/make excuses for believing we can win tournaments, why? The Germans don’t enter tournaments thinking the quarter-finals will do. Why should we? There is nothing wrong with confidence, it’s arrogance that annoys people and our dear FA is so bloody arrogant it hurts. Let’s stop banging on about one past victory, let’s play football like we enjoy it again. I believe 99% of England fans would happily settle for not winning things if progress looked likely, along with a passion and desire.

The FA will never change, the English attitude will never change and unfortunately, as an Englishman, the ONLY thing that will change is the number of years of hurt in that song….

Obviously should we win Euro 2012, my opinions may change.

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About the Author

For as long as he can remember, Mark has loved football. Originally from just outside Manchester, he supports Bury FC so can’t be labelled as a glory hunter (although they do hold the record for the biggest FA Cup final winning margin, 6-0 in 1903 and it still stands today!).
Mark drives a cab, so automatically he “has an opinion and usually it’s the right one!” All opinions are the author’s own, and they can be heard on twitter @bigmarkdavies. You can contact Mark via email at bigmarkdavies@talktalk.net

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