Club Over Country

Italy had been eliminated the day before, so as I pulled on my uncle’s shirt sleeve and informed him that Gazza played for my team, Zio Roberto couldn’t care less.  I on the other hand was brimming with pride, here was an England team that boasted current and past Spurs players taking on the best team in the world, and nearly winning. Spurs fans my age haven’t been treated to many glory nights, but that evening watching England v Germany  was pretty close.

Here was my Tottenham making a major contribution, unbeknown to me at the time,  to history. That evening football moved away from the terraces and into public perception. Some may argue to the detriment of the game and atmosphere, but for me that on that warm night in July  sat in my grandmothers house in Italy, I basked in the glory.

Across the England team there were players I could look up to, Gary Lineker, Chris Waddle, Peter Shilton, Terry Butcher and even little Paul Parker.  They were a team easy to support for a young kid, teenager, housewife or fully grown man.

[linequote]Here was my Tottenham making a major contribution, unbeknown to me at the time,  to history[/linequote]

Fast forward 23 years and England sit on the brink of qualifying for another major tournament. The Three Lions can secure their place to the samba fuelled Brazilian World Cup in the next week. Football may not be going home, but it will be going to the country that arguably has done the most to romanticise it.  Everyone wants to play like Brazil, everyone wants their swagger and everyone wants their country represented there next summer, or do they?

The world cup is seen as the pinnacle, why therefore are the majority of Spurs fans still bearing the burden of a 3-0 home defeat, and not feeling the butterflies of nervousness. A defeat on Friday followed by a second failure on Tuesday will have England internationals on the beaches of Barbados, Dubai and Thailand, not Rio de Janeiro.

So why the reluctance to support the Three Lions as much as the Cockerel? Why are will still obsessed with Spurs and not turning our attention to Wembley?

Personally it’s the saturation of football, it’s the by-product of knowing all there is to know about every single individual. The England players are so high profile that we know every aspect of their life, from what they drive, what they buy and what they smoke.

[linequote]Why are will still obsessed with Spurs and not turning our attention to Wembley?”

The mystery is gone, the romanticism of what it would be like to meet them has evaporated. If you bumped into a player 20 years ago and he was rude to you, you wouldn’t be able to tell more than 15 people, now in a matter of minutes 15 million can know who did what and when.

There is also the club rivalry. Media and pundits may ask us to set aside the issues for the national team but its impossible. Rivalry existed before SKY, but ponder for a minute their buzz words: Revenge, drama, “it’s personal“, vendetta, battle and clash.

They ramp it up, get the blood pumping then ask you to sit still and get behind players you have taken a distinct dislike to. As someone who sat in White Hart Lane when Chelsea came to visit a few weeks ago, the very idea of supporting Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole or should he make a comeback John Terry is unfathomable. Should Spurs sign any of these three I would consider cutting ties with the club I love, therefore how can I possibly support them for England?

There is that wonderful image from the 1966 World Cup where Bobby Moore, Nobby Stiles, Martin Peters and Rodger Hunt are celebrating with the Jules Rimet trophy, now replace those individuals with Wayne Rooney, Jack Wilshere, Lampard and Cole. Doesn’t quite have the same feeling or impact.

[linequote]the very idea of supporting Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole or should he make a comeback John Terry is unfathomable[/linequote]

Those 1966 players were individuals who only played football, people had no real idea who they were off the pitch. For those who watched the games they were names, positions and England, nothing more. They were footballers, it is this mystery and innocence that still draws people to them now generations later.

It explains why today I would rather read a book on John White or Alan Gilzean, two players I never saw, rather than  Ledley King’s book, a Spurs player who I have nothing but affection for.

The more you know, the easier it is to find fault. The more you know, the less you want to know.

The last time I remember an England team uniting the country was Euro 96, where once again they relied on the same man to do the uniting. His failings and sheer ability to self destruct are flaws that many of us understand and feel compassion for.

However, it wasn’t his flaws that united us behind him, it wasn’t even his incredible skill, fun celebration or dynamism, there was something else that was and still is key to Gazza’s appeal. He is real. He isn’t the work of a PR agent, management team, fancy haircut or trademarked celebration. Gazza is Gazza.

There isn’t one amongst us who cant relate to Gazza, who haven’t known someone who has triumphed despite affliction, or seen beauty crushed by some outside force.

How many of you can relate to the current crop of England players? How man of these wonderfully gifted individuals capture your imagination? They are so far removed from us that sometimes its hard to perceive them as individuals, unless they do something stupid.

Until England and their players can capture our imagination and our hearts again, then it doesn’t matter who the manager is, what formation they use, or which 18 year old they try to convert.

Supporting your team and your country involves heart and passion, today I find it very difficult to give even a small piece of it to anyone in the England team. Roll on the next Premier League game.

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