England Squad Confirmed

[MrRed]

Isn't Andy"haggis"Carroll nearly Scottish?

That explains everything doesn't it

[StevieH]

scotland's captain plays for man united. well, i say 'plays'. . .

[smokie36]

17th November 1999.

[carmine]

Yeah we played some good stuff when we last beat you at Wembley.

How old were you when this momentous occasion took place?

Hello out there, calling Mr Smokie, how old were you when Scotland beat England at wembley?

[smokie36]

Yeah we played some good stuff when we last beat you at Wembley.

How old were you when this momentous occasion took place?

Hello out there, calling Mr Smokie, how old were you when Scotland beat England at wembley?

Twenty something!

[MrRed]

17th November 1999.

Vintage year smokes

[smokie36]

17th November 1999.

Vintage year smokes

Don't remember that one mate...I was busy powdering my nose.

[salty]

Oh come on guys Handbags again.

[mrbojangles]

Yeah we played some good stuff when we last beat you at Wembley.

How old were you when this momentous occasion took place?

Hello out there, calling Mr Smokie, how old were you when Scotland beat England at wembley?

Twenty something!

Is the "something" another 20 on top of the first 20

[smokie36]

Is the "something" another 20 on top of the first 20

Yer a bunch of bitter old Morris dancers!

[mrbojangles]

Is the "something" another 20 on top of the first 20

Yer a bunch of bitter old Morris dancers!

My Ferret is bigger than your Sporran (sp)

[smokie36]

Is the "something" another 20 on top of the first 20

Yer a bunch of bitter old Morris dancers!

My Ferret is bigger than your Sporran (sp)

My sporran is of perfect girth however....so I'm told.

[plopmeister]

Yeah we played some good stuff when we last beat you at Wembley.

How old were you when this momentous occasion took place?

Hello out there, calling Mr Smokie, how old were you when Scotland beat England at wembley?

Twenty something!

Your Grandpa's wembley turf lawn must be looking quite lush nowadays then.....

[Razzler1973]

Gerrard is woefully out of form for months now yet no one in the media seems to pick up on it. I am not confident of him being in a midfield two at the best of times with his positional indiscipline but at least that was a pay off for his attacking threat. Not seen much of that for ages :/

[LucidLucifer]

Gerrard is woefully out of form for months now yet no one in the media seems to pick up on it. I am not confident of him being in a midfield two at the best of times with his positional indiscipline but at least that was a pay off for his attacking threat. Not seen much of that for ages :/

28 games (7 as sub) 9 goals, 5 assists. Not that bad really, especially when you consider how crap Liverpool have been this season.

Compare it to Yaya Toure, acclaimed as one of the players of the season, playing in a free scoring, championship winning side. 32 games, 6 goals, 6 assists.

Gerrard is past his prime, I won't argue with you there, but it's not quite time to write him off.

[StevieH]

Gerrard is woefully out of form for months now yet no one in the media seems to pick up on it. I am not confident of him being in a midfield two at the best of times with his positional indiscipline but at least that was a pay off for his attacking threat. Not seen much of that for ages :/

he's been alright this season, not 'woefully out of form'. played in the wrong position a lot but that's because lucas was injured, then so was adam and our squad was light. play gerrard ahead of parker and jones in midfield with young and milner either side of him with carroll up top and he'll do fine. get you a few goals, upset opponents who don't know who is supposed to be marking him. play him flat in a middle two and yeah, he'll give the ball away. it's not his best position, despite the crap spouted by the media for years now.

[smokie36]

Your Grandpa's wembley turf lawn must be looking quite lush nowadays then.....

Hehe aye I get that.

[mommysboy]

Lampard Oh well, very little point about arguing the toss about senior player vs senior player now as we are down to bare bones, and in a roundabout way the old uns have been weeded out. I only hope Henderson or preferably Jones can step up to the mark. Bit nervous about letting Gerrard play deep, may as well start a goal down the amount of possession he gives away. This is beginning to resemble my old Sunday league side, scrabbling about for 11 players, and told to go out and enjoy ourselves, ie, bu**er all else to hope for. Bet Smokie's pouring himself another double scotch and drooling in his porridge.

[carmine]

Lampard Oh well, very little point about arguing the toss about senior player vs senior player now as we are down to bare bones, and in a roundabout way the old uns have been weeded out. I only hope Henderson or preferably Jones can step up to the mark. Bit nervous about letting Gerrard play deep, may as well start a goal down the amount of possession he gives away. This is beginning to resemble my old Sunday league side, scrabbling about for 11 players, and told to go out and enjoy ourselves, ie, bu**er all else to hope for. Bet Smokie's pouring himself another double scotch and drooling in his porridge.

Its gone pear shaped before we've started.

Secondly you don't play Gerrard deep, you play him behind the striker.

Thirdly, do yourselves a favour and have a flutter on France at 12/1. Thats a very decent bet that carmine shall be investing in!

[nev]

So why is Hodgson so biased towards Liverpool, how many in the team now? Downing Henderson Gerrard Johnson Carrol is there anyone i have missed?

Is there any talent who is not at the big name clubs not worth giving a chance to play for england,

[carmine]

So why is Hodgson so biased towards Liverpool, how many in the team now? Downing Henderson Gerrard Johnson Carrol is there anyone i have missed?

Is there any talent who is not at the big name clubs not worth giving a chance to play for England,

I think he's trying to prove he could have made good up there if he was given a chance!, the fool. And thats the one thing he never would have been given.

Why on earth else would an England manager pick Downing and Henderson? On form? I think not.

Just how bad are the opposition going to have to be for us to get anything out of this tournament?

Edited June 1, 2012 by carmine

[LucidLucifer]

I was just about to post a reply saying Henderson isn't in the squad, then I remembered Lampard's injury and feeling of dread came over me.

Bugger.

I'm rapidly losing the little faith I had in Woy.

[SantiSuk]

No tears being shed here for the absence of Lamps I notice. [edit: Lucifer just beat me to it as I was posting]

Unfortunately the only way to get England back to playing acceptable football is to incentivise them personally with money. I just don't believe them when they spout this passion for the country stuff. We should not do that of course.

Edited June 1, 2012 by SantiSuk

[carmine]

No tears being shed here for the absence of Lamps I notice. [edit: Lucifer just beat me to it as I was posting]

Unfortunately the only way to get England back to playing acceptable football is to incentivise them personally with money. I just don't believe them when they spout this passion for the country stuff. We should not do that of course.

You are not allowed to speak publically about passion for your country if you are English.....that would be racist. Please don't get me going on this one!!!

[MrRed]

So why is Hodgson so biased towards Liverpool, how many in the team now? Downing Henderson Gerrard Johnson Carrol is there anyone i have missed?

Is there any talent who is not at the big name clubs not worth giving a chance to play for england,

Kelly

Carragher

Spearing

Shelvey

Or even Joe Cole

Spearing actually has had a better season than Henderson.

[LucidLucifer]

No tears being shed here for the absence of Lamps I notice.

Henderson's his replacement.....so, yes

[nev]

So why is Hodgson so biased towards Liverpool, how many in the team now? Downing Henderson Gerrard Johnson Carrol is there anyone i have missed?

Is there any talent who is not at the big name clubs not worth giving a chance to play for england,

Kelly

Carragher

Spearing

Shelvey

Or even Joe Cole

Spearing actually has had a better season than Henderson.

Maybe 4 of those in to replace Young Rooney Welbeck and Jones, so our players can rest and so can i not having to get up at some ungodly hour here in thailand to watch England with hope that they can win.

[MrRed]

Would you believe it?

"The unsold tickets have been sent back to Uefa and will go on general sale.

The FA are hopeful that up to 10,000 England fans will choose to travel and purchase their own tickets independently."

When would you expect The FA to say this!!

Euro 2012: England set for lowest tournament turnout in years

By Gary Rose

BBC Sport

England are set to have their lowest travelling support at a tournament in years after thousands of Euro 2012 tickets were returned to Uefa.

The Football Association was given around 7,500 tickets for the games against France and Ukraine, and 9,000 for the Sweden fixture.

It is not a holiday destination and the question is how do you spend the days between the games

Kevin Miles

Football Supporters Federation

Only 3,000 tickets were sold through England's official membership group for each of the group games.

The unsold tickets have been sent back to Uefa and will go on general sale.

The FA are hopeful that up to 10,000 England fans will choose to travel and purchase their own tickets independently.

However, it is anticipated there will only be another 2,000 England fans at the France and Ukraine games and a further 3,000 against Sweden.

It means England supporters will likely be outnumbered as travelling fans at a major tournament for the first time in years.

Football Supporters Federation spokesman Kevin Miles believes the current economic climate, coupled with the high costs of travel and accommodation, have put many off.

"It boils down to a number of factors coming back to what people feel they get for their money," Miles told BBC Sport.

"It is hard to get flights to Kiev, with prices at a premium, while the distances between venues is huge and there is the cost involved in travelling those distances. The hotel prices have also been hugely inflated.

"It is not a holiday destination and the question is, how do you spend the days between the games? It is not the Algarve, where families could go off to the beach for a day."

Safety is also a concern and former England defender Sol Campbell recently urged black or Asian fans not to risk going to the Ukraine, telling BBC's Panorama they should "stay home, watch it on TV... don't even risk it."

The programme filmed scenes of black players being taunted as well as a group of Asian students being assaulted.

While Miles accepts fears of racial abuse is a contributing factor, he does not believe it is one of the main reasons for supporters choosing not to travel.

"I don't think it is a major factor," he added.

"It is clearly an issue but most people who are going to go to the Euros have already made their decision to travel.

"The Foreign and Commonwealth Office have an advisory on their website saying black and Asian people should exercise caution when travelling to Ukraine, but that has been their stance for the past five years."

Edited June 1, 2012 by MrRed

[smokie36]

Suspect that has more to do with the recession mate.

[nev]

Would you believe it?

"The unsold tickets have been sent back to Uefa and will go on general sale.

The FA are hopeful that up to 10,000 England fans will choose to travel and purchase their own tickets independently."

When would you expect The FA to say this!!

Euro 2012: England set for lowest tournament turnout in years

By Gary Rose

BBC Sport

England are set to have their lowest travelling support at a tournament in years after thousands of Euro 2012 tickets were returned to Uefa.

The Football Association was given around 7,500 tickets for the games against France and Ukraine, and 9,000 for the Sweden fixture.

It is not a holiday destination and the question is how do you spend the days between the games

Kevin Miles

Football Supporters Federation

Only 3,000 tickets were sold through England's official membership group for each of the group games.

The unsold tickets have been sent back to Uefa and will go on general sale.

The FA are hopeful that up to 10,000 England fans will choose to travel and purchase their own tickets independently.

However, it is anticipated there will only be another 2,000 England fans at the France and Ukraine games and a further 3,000 against Sweden.

It means England supporters will likely be outnumbered as travelling fans at a major tournament for the first time in years.

Football Supporters Federation spokesman Kevin Miles believes the current economic climate, coupled with the high costs of travel and accommodation, have put many off.

"It boils down to a number of factors coming back to what people feel they get for their money," Miles told BBC Sport.

"It is hard to get flights to Kiev, with prices at a premium, while the distances between venues is huge and there is the cost involved in travelling those distances. The hotel prices have also been hugely inflated.

"It is not a holiday destination and the question is, how do you spend the days between the games? It is not the Algarve, where families could go off to the beach for a day."

Safety is also a concern and former England defender Sol Campbell recently urged black or Asian fans not to risk going to the Ukraine, telling BBC's Panorama they should "stay home, watch it on TV... don't even risk it."

The programme filmed scenes of black players being taunted as well as a group of Asian students being assaulted.

While Miles accepts fears of racial abuse is a contributing factor, he does not believe it is one of the main reasons for supporters choosing not to travel.

"I don't think it is a major factor," he added.

"It is clearly an issue but most people who are going to go to the Euros have already made their decision to travel.

"The Foreign and Commonwealth Office have an advisory on their website saying black and Asian people should exercise caution when travelling to Ukraine, but that has been their stance for the past five years."

Maybe all those on banning orders should be encouraged to return to watch England again as going over there is not for the nrevous nellies

Edited June 1, 2012 by nev