Tuesday 9 September 2014

Hodgson deserves respect

MONDAY night showed why I have become so bored with the England national team.

No not because of the manager or the players but because of the sheer amount, to paraphrase Roy Hodgson, of "f****** b*******' that surrounds an England match.

Since he took over, Hodgson hasn't had a chance with some in the media who wanted their beloved Harry Redknapp to take the national job.

Why was beyond me, yes Hodgson's managerial career in England is hardly one to write home about but international ly the man has more than enough experience.

Whereas Harry has never managed north of the Watford Gap.....

Failure at the World Cup gave the press the ammunition they needed. At no point did they consider England had an awful group, things would have been different had they had Argentina's group of Bosnia, Nigeria and Iran or France's group of Switzerland, Honduras and Ecuador.

Through it all, Hodgson remained dignified and respectful to a media which frankly showed neither of those qualities to him. 

And now he presides over a young, vibrant team full of pace and enthusiasm and one which should excite us Englishmen.

Gone are the last of the 'Golden Generation' scarred by tournament defeats and raised expectations.

Yet to read the tweets and coverage before Monday night you'd think we'd lost the last five games in a row.

The headlines were already written, 'Basel Faulty' some wanted to hail it. But England delivered big time and well done to them for it.

The critics? Did they praise? No they backtracked and said Switzerland weren't that good anyway! 

England made a good start and arguablely with the hardest game out the way this young team can look forward to a relatively easy group, gaining confidence as a unit and hopefully entertaining along the way.

Remember the Germans? they ditched the old guard in 2000 and this hungry young team won the greatest prize of them all just over a decade later.

Maybe, just maybe, if we are all patient then a lot more than football may come home in years to come....

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