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The Mailbox's Superior Version Of Inside Sport
Not sure how many people will have seen or read this, but I'd like to make a few points about Trevor Brooking's 'concerns' regarding the future of the England team. For those who didn't catch it, here's a brief summary: England are going to be rubbish in the future thanks to all these bleedin' foreigners in the Premier League. Hardly an original argument, nor does it become any more convincing with repetition.

'Research' by BBC Sport laughably compares the percentage of English players that played on the first weekend of the first Premier League season in 1992 with the percentage that played on the first weekend of this season. What's the point? If it's simply to illustrate that there are more non-English players in the Premier League now than there was 15 years ago, then well done. Give yourself a pat on the back, lads. That's why I pay my license fee. If it's to make the point that we had a larger pool of players to choose from in 1992, then well done again. But so what? Does Trevor Brooking have any recollection of what England were like in 1992? Carlton Palmer? Andy Sinton? Tony Daley? I don't have the figures, but I'm guessing the percentage of foreign players in the Premier League in 1993-94 wasn't markedly different to what it was in '92. And neither was England. Complete sh1te. Still, at least there weren't many foreigners in the league, eh? So that's alright then.

Brooking goes on to say that whilst we have a 'good nucleus' of players at the moment, he's concerned that there aren't the younger players coming through. Micah Richards? Gabriel Agbonlahor? Theo Walcott? David Nugent? Luke Moore? James Milner? Does he even watch the Under 21s? And it's not as if you can say that these players aren't getting games because of the amount of foreigners in their respective teams. The problem isn't that there aren't young players coming through, it's that our so-called 'good nucleus' consists largely of overrated players that will be picked irrespective of form or past performances. And before anyone trots out 'class is permanent etc', when did any of our established players last have a truly great game for England? But no, I'm not saying that the younger guys should replace the older ones wholesale. But we do have options, and we do have young players coming through.

Brooking's statement that, "creating and scoring goals will be the big challenge for the English game and that will not improve unless we focus on developing our players better" is pure platitude. He might as well have said, "England need to win matches in order to be successful". If he (and the FA in general) really care about England, what they should be doing is working with the Premier League managers to ensure that players are released as needed whilst not not being subjected to pointless friendlies that tell us nothing. And sacking Steve McClaren, obviously.

Moaning about the number of foreign players in the Premier League achieves nothing. I've nothing against Trevor Brooking personally, great player and all that stuff. But if he really believes that the reason England don't win anything (and presumably will continue not to) is because of the number of foreigners in the Premier League, I would suggest that perhaps the FA could do with a new Director of Development.
Shaun MC, Warwickshire

...When Robbie Savage opens his mouth, those in close vicinity had better watch out - they are in great, great danger of being drenched in the voluminous blast of s**t and bollocks that issues forth. I'll admit, the Arse moaning about the violence inherent in Blackburn's game was over the top and made us look soft. But for Savage, a man who will elbow, kick, tackle high and from behind and generally be a dirty bastard, while at the same time throw himself to the ground and the slightest intimation of a challenge and permanently moan to the referee to make any sort of accusations of hypocrisy is either a masterpiece of irony or the achievement of a life's long pursuit of the most hypocritical act imaginable. The pillock.

While you're guaranteed bulls**t with Savage, it's always a bit of a shame when someone you previously think is one of the more enlightened ones talks crap as well. Trevor Brooking is totally barking up the wrong tree, just like McClaren, the Daily Mail and everybody else who wants to blame England's team currently being a bit crap on the influx of foreign players. There are so many reasons why this morning's story is wrong.

1) The BBC numbers are mostly awful. They point to the 36% of starters being English in the first year of this year's Premiership and compare it to the 76% in 1992 - the year we were humiliated by a man destined to be Sweden's fattest vacuum cleaner salesman. They ignore the fact that it is far more of a squad game nowadays and the fact that Championship clubs received over £100million in transfer fees from Premiership clubs this year. That Kenwyne Jones represents £6million of that is a clear indication that players from the lower leagues in England are massively overpriced - one Fernando Torres is worth more than four Jones, that's for damn sure.

The only problem they reasonably highlight is the lack of goalscorers, but Rooney and Owen aside we really only have the players to blame for that - Bent chose to be third or fourth choice for Spurs, likewise Defoe, Crouch is happy to be a specialist player for Benitez and Ameobi hasn't shown the ambition to do much with his potential talent - but we do have Derbyshire and Agbonlahor coming through.

2) The top three last year and the year before that have a commitment to playing with English players, this is especially true of the Champions.

3) England's current under 21 team is probably the most talented ever assembled and got to the semi-finals this summer without Walcott, Bentley or Agbonlahor.

4) With the exception of strikers, there is actually fantastic depth available to the national team - Steve McClaren could, if numbers and injuries weren't a factor, assemble a squad of Green, Kirkland, Carson, James, Robinson, Richards, L Young, Neville, A Cole, Bridge, Shorey, Taylor, Campbell, Ferdinand, Terry, King, Woodgate, Lescott, Milner, Beckham, Bentley, Pennant, Wright Phillips, Lennon, Barry, J Cole, Downing, A Young, Gerrard, Lampard, Carrick, Hargreaves, Reo Coker, Huddlestone, Noble, Rooney, Owen, Crouch, Agbonlahor and Bent. Finding eleven out of that lot with the talent to form a top quality national side shouldn't actually be that hard. Which brings me on to the big one...

5) Gattuso, Kaka, Ramos, Messi, Mascherano, Carvalho, Cech and the rest could be English and McClaren would be struggling.
William O'Doherty

...What a completely useless t**d Trevor Brooking has turned out to be. He is paid by the FA to improve the quality of youngsters coming through in this country instead of which he sits on his big fat salary making excuses.

Make no bones about it having the best players in the world playing in the Premiership is a GOOD thing, no, in fact it's a GREAT thing. It means our youngsters get opportunities to train with and learn off the best players in the world, if that isn't motivation enough then the said youngsters wouldn't have made it anyway.

What Sir Trevor has highlighted is his failure to deliver in his role. You could put together more formal structured training sessions to take advantage of the top players available, also in South America they have a very successful indoor football league that helps develop ball control. I'm just thinking off the top of my head, there must be hundreds of possible ways of helping the kids. Sir, has shown a distinct lack of imagination in his role and should perhaps step aside for someone with bright and creative thinking, instead of making excuses.

By the way in the late 70's and through most of the 80's the Italian league was full of overseas players it didn't stop them from winning the '82 World Cup in pretty impressive fashion, it can be done, but it has to start with belief at the highest level. I also don't recall too much success during the golden age in England before the overseas players arrived, this doesn't wash Trevor
David "Get to work Sir Trevor you lazy s*d" Derrivale

F365 Never Knew That We Had So Many Welsh Readers
With regards to Tom Deane's piece regarding Mark Hughes managing England...I really do not know where to begin! There is no need to worry as it will never happen - the likely hood is so much so that he will probably be the next Manchester United manager before this happens.

However, the comment that has irked me so much is the "...Not like South Wales, which is full of anglophobic Cardiff City fans, whose delusions of grandeur render them seemingly unaware of the fact that England foots the bill for their entire country."

Excuse me, but do I sense a bit of anger and frustration, and even hypocrisy on behalf of yourself with regards to upcoming England qualifying fixtures? Listen, we all know that on current form that you have blown it, which will cause us even more laughter from this side of Bristol as we see another failed attempt by a group of individual superstar w*nkers fail again to win another major championship, however it will pain me more so as we will be denied another heartbreaking exit on penalty's at the Quarter-Final stage "...delusions of grandeur"?!? Pardon me?

As I hail from South Wales, perhaps the most frustration and least successful of footballing areas in Britain, i.e - No qualification for a major event since 1958, not a Premiership club in sight, you accuse us of delusions of grandeur? Listen, we accept that we are not that great at football, also we fail even to kid ourselves that we are, but for you, an English fan accusing us of delusions of grandeur....sweet jesus, Tom you have made me chuckle into John Charles' grave. As you seem to hail from North London and that your yearly wage could no doubt "foot the bill" to separate us from yourselves with some very powerful machinery and stuff, please feel free to do so.

Also in the meantime have a little think about what else you could do to your precious England team in "dreamland" if you wish, such as maybe selecting Ryan Giggs to solve your left sided problem (bit boring that excuse nowadays), however what you could do for me, which would be very nice, is to kiss my delusional, anglophobic, south walian backside.

Thank you and goodnight
Michael Collard

...Tom Deane, oh dear ho dear oh dear, "Not like South Wales, which is full of Anglophobic Cardiff City fans, whose delusions of grandeur render them seemingly unaware of the fact that England foots the bill for their entire country". Not funny, not clever, not witty. Why on Earth did you post his comment? Normally your stuff is reasonably amusing and light hearted, not a load of thinly disguised racist tosh.

I can't be bothered to counter such a stupid argument as it is a waste of time and effort, instead please remove this bigoted idiocy from your site and make the apparently fascist and racist Tom Deane aware of his disgusting transgression.

Otherwise, keep up the good work.
Andy

...So Tom Deane (Sparky for England) thinks that Mark Hughes would be a good England manager, probably so, but lets face it he'd have slim pickings in a world of over rated over paid titheads to choose from. You wonder why South Wales if full of anglophobes? Umm well your seemingly big headed, patronising sentence 'whose delusions of grandeur render them seemingly unaware of the fact that England foots the bill for their entire country' seems suffice to ensure a prejudiced view of the English. God almighty and you wonder why everybody wants you to lose any sport you take part in?

The reason you're in the place you are and in danger of not qualifying is because the English football nation has been in denial since 1966 when you won the World cup. England have never been a world class force since that day, they have achieved nothing since simply because their biggest downfall is indeed in your own words 'delusions of grandeur'. You may think you are but you have not been for over 40 years a football force even in the same shoe laces as Brazil, Italy, Germany, France, Holland etc....I think you really need to wake up out of your blinkered stupor of actually thinking you're good enough to win a major championship.
Kathrine Jones, Cardiff (engaged to an Englishman but gladly not an arse like you)

The Anti-Blackburn Conspiracy Is Actually Only Peddled By F365
I love it when you have a pop at Blackburn, it's great. I laughed loads at Mediawatch.

It does seem that the media are starting to recognise that we aren't a dirty side though, as pointed out by journalists who covered the game from (deep breath) The Sun, The Sport (apparently, I didn't read it myself you understand - honest), Sky, The Guardian, The BBC, The Independent and erm, F365's own bleeding match report. As well as all the City fans I was in the pub with when I watched it. Oh, and Sven Goran Eriksson who, interestingly, thought he was going to get a rough physical game but said after that it wasn't like that at all.

Sven had just been beaten, he could have trotted out the Wenger-approved "they kicked us all over the park" excuse, but fair play to the oddly-haired Swede, he did not. Probably because it wasn't true.

It seems the only people who think we're dirty are Arsenal and Mediawatch. If a referee blows his whistle and gives a freekick that's a foul. It doesn't matter what actually happened before that whistle. I challenge anyone to watch the City game and honestly label us a dirty side or find us noticeably dirtier than anyone else. I remember a bad tackle from Samba, but it was no worse than one of Dunne's yellows.

I suppose Tugay's sending off was filthy wasn't it? In the list of crimes against humanity, shirt-pulling is second only to genocide.

The fact is, we beat City fair and square. We tried to tackle them, yes (it seems that we're the only team that actually tries to do this these days) but our attacking play was crisp and incisive and, if it wasn't for young Kasper, we should have won easily.

A fair crack of the whip and credit where it's due would be nice.

Anyway, I don't think I should be saying this because it seems teams are expecting to get a good kicking and underestimate us. And long may that continue.
James Greenwood

Dangerous Dein
Pete Gill is right. David Dein is contemptible in the manner in which he has sought the limelight at the time Wenger is about to sign a new contract. Trying to claim some of the credit for Wenger's decision is an insult to Arsene.

Of course Dein's leverage when he left was to give the impression that the club needed money, and needed him to keep Wenger on board. Both reasons are about to expire, and Dein's craven attempt to keep them going was pathetic. He has alienated the Arsenal board, Danny Fiszman (who helped him out) and new sugar daddy Kroenke. And now, just to demonstrate his utter lack of scruples, and vainglorious delusion that he alone can 'save' Arsenal, he teams up with a Uzbek businessman.

Of course, having sold all his shares, he is now dependent on this Jabba the Hut for patronage. And if this tub of trouble ever muscled his way into Arsenal, how long would the useful idiot last when his function as PR front man is no longer required?
Ian Macdonald

Pamela Anderson Plays For Blackburn
Oh dear, Robbie is worried everyone has a go at little ol' Blackburn and it isn't fair. Well as your beloved manager is so keen on stats have a look who commits the most fouls in the premiership? And which team picked up yet another wad of yellow cards at the weekend and had another player sent off? Blackburn do play some great football you've only got to look at some of their players but they they also like to stick the boot in. Arsenal aren't going to lie down and be intimidated - they're going to give as good as they get.

Maybe Savage should be nicknamed Pammie - he's got long blond looks, dives on contact and is a big tit!

The only thing that isn't fair Pammie is why you haven't been sent off more times in your illustrious career!
Liam, London

The F365 Favouritism Exposed
I read with some little surprise that you were accused of anti-scouse bias. I also read regularly that you are anti-: Utd, L'Arse, Chelsea, Blackburn, West 'Am etc. and it got me thinking about who you probably do support. And I have it. It's Rochdale. The Blue kings of Spotland. It is isn't it?

I've never heard a single bad word from you about them. This blatant favouritism has to stop. They are 20th in League 2 with a massive 4 points from 4 games. This shambolic start to the season, (the way they finished last season you'd have expected them to challenge this year. Except its Rochdale so you knew they'd revert to type and finish 15th. Again) needs to be addressed and not just swept under the carpet as you are obviously doing as you waste time discussing The Big 4.

So please, lets stop the cover-up and a regular feature of the goings on at Spotland wouldn't go a miss. Lord knows the lads could use some publicity.
Peter Comerford

Can You See Boro Yet?
This is from the BBC Gossip Column - I've heard of some lame excuses in my time, but this one takes it:

'Middlesbrough estimate that at least 60 pubs on Teesside show their home matches live, and illegally, on Saturday afternoons. They claim this affects attendances more than tickets prices.'

So, let's get this straight - for the above statement to be true, that means every time Middlesbrough play at home, a television channel somewhere in the world has to be broadcasting their game live?

I can't believe for a minute this true - firstly because why would the rest of the world want to watch the 'boro, and secondly, how can you get a satellite signal through all that smog??
Andy, Toon Fan

What A Nice Young Man This Well-Spoken Gentleman Sounds
Reading through the Monday mailbox, I was struck by the guy who wrote in calling Peter Gill 'the biggest asshole' merely because he didn't discuss Chelsea in the 'winners and losers' section. What is wrong with such people?

It seems you can't disagree with someone these days unless you start off by calling him 'a t**t' or 'a c**t' or whatever colourful epithet springs to mind. Such people are obviously under the delusion that insults will somehow enhance whatever points they are making. It drives me up the wall.

Whatever happened to civilized discourse?
Minega Isibo (LFC), Kigali, Rwanda

And Finally
Is Chris Eagles the new Kieran Richardson?
Keeps, Kuala Lumpur

Posted By: lurd, Sep 4, 16:33:12