Who will support England?

peemac said:
I like the new humbler attitude that Southgate has instilled in the team.
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My sentiment as well. This, and the last WC were the first time in living memory that English media have not raised their expectations to hyperbolic unrealistic levels.
England have always had great players, but they have never had a great team. Ditto this squad. I am still not convinced that the cohesion between the players is there that you would expect with a great team. I could be wrong, but I think Italy have shown how they play as one unit from back to front for the whole game. Its been very impressive.
I'm not convinced, despite the quality players and strengths England have, that they have that cohesion throughout the team.

Still with England 0 - 1 Italy.
 
odyssey06 said:
And no Italian has ever dived or committed a cynical dirty foul and gotten away with it
They practically invented the dark arts of football in europe!

Why were you glad to see the Scots go home but not the Welsh?
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Answer:- There are less ponce footballers in Wales.
 
As squads and mangers go they're not a bad bunch, albeit Rice & Grealish annoy me for their stringing us along. Maguire screaming to the crowd in slow mo is about the worst of it.

So I wouldn't so much begrudge the squad, its more a) it would enable Johnson & Patel in their bandwagon jumping & b) their press and fans would never give over about it. England winning in rugby is not so bad, they don't boo anthems and all that, to quote The Snapper it's "that soccer shower.....".
 
Every country's press and fans never give over about their victories... the only difference here is that we consume that media.
Do you think the French don't celebrate their victories? It's just we don't consume their media.

Remember against those English fans, there are also the English fans behind Football 365, Nick Hornby, the inventors of Championship Manager - Football Manager, Subbuteo, Jonathan Wilson, the decades of enjoyment Irish soccer fans have gotten from Match of the Day \ The Big Match etc etc.
 
Some are questioning my non support for England against Italy.

Sport is sport and anything we've seen in the Euros regarding sport is coincidental. Kane and Stirling have taken dives giving huge influence on the result of England in several games. Other English players are diving also. Sport? - How are Ya? Some bad influence on kids looking at them.

I'm sure Mr Southgate is squirming bigtime after that dreadful television interview with Casper Schmeichel where an English commentator couldn't tell the difference between Euro 2020 and the World Cup in 1966 - Bringing the Cup Home, How are Ye? And again

Then the English fans with their dangerous laser lights not only ensuring difficulty for Casper Schmeichel but putting his eyesight in danger and they call this sport! Not in my book. They can't even give respect to the national anthems of other participating countries and you want me to applaud them? I hope Italy hockey them off the park.

Then 60,000 English fans failing in their social distancing obligations as per newspaper pictures. All in the name of sport? Give me a Break!

Euro 2020 for me shows how cheaters can succeed. And somebody informed me I'm not Politically Correct - I'll take that - Pass the bucket please.

Ask me another!
 
You don't have to like or support England, but you must not have been paying much attention to football to single out England in any way for their conduct on the pitch or to think this only started in 2020. Probably the only thing that has changed is that England are employing the same 'dark arts' they have been on the receiving end for the last 30 years.
 
To me it appears England has surpassed the worst of the continuous cheating diving with players hitting the ground and turning and twisting like they were survivors of an horrendous plane crash when in fact nobody came into contact with them. And like you said England are not the only ones and that doesn't make matters better. But, unlike others, England is supported in their dreadful ways by accredited television pundits, the sporting press etc and many obnoxious so called supporters. The reader can make up his/her own mind; I call it cheating. Can anybody say if it was not cheating?
 
Going all out for Italian win.

Tabloid headlines today are just showing why people won't support England.

"Football coming home" - seriously? -It the euros, one smallish continent in the world. It would be like Birmingham winning the Milk Cup (or whatever it called today) and claiming they are the best team in England.

But considering they will probably never win the World Cup, its as much as they can expect


I say Free Chips on Monday! #ITICA #freechipsmonday
 
They, the English, are saying football is coming home since 1966, they have to get it right some time……but hope not this year . I hope they lose by any score , I don’t care .
 
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Southgate and the team he’s built are likeable. They are humble and they’re good.

I find myself wanting to cheer for them and wanting them to do well.

And then I remember Piers Morgan, Ross Kemp, Nigel Farage, Jeremy Clarkson, Boris Johnson, Priti Patel, Jacob Rees-Mogg, hooligan fans singing about the IRA, and almost every tabloid journalist in England.

And I come to my senses.

Lest I forget, I was in Lansdowne Road in 1995. Not the much-publicised little fella with the tears in his eyes, but my brother and I were spat on as we were shepherded out between the old West Stand and North Terrace. We were in the West Stand Lower, although in the middle, so not directly under the epicentre of the trouble. There was also a section of England fans in the North Terrace and they spat on us and sang “No Surrender to the IRA” as we left the stadium.

Mum picked us up on Mespil Road and when we got home it would bring a tear to a glass eye watching the Gardai batter the hooligans.

I met a member of the Garda band some years afterwards and he told me that they more or less put down their instruments to be handed truncheons and went in wielding them hard amongst the hooligans. Great work by an Garda Siochana.
 
As Purple said in the opening thread there are lots of people supporting English clubs and they do say , we and us, when talking about their team. But I have yet to hear anyone ,that I have talked to who support Premier league clubs supporting England, at any time let alone in a final.
It is really mapped out for them this year though. Most games in Wembley, the easiest side of the draw, they are getting all the big decisions. If they cannot win it this year it could be 2066 . Here’s hoping
 
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I would be curious as to what Spanish Italian French German etc tv make of it... had I the language skills.
 
odyssey06 said:
I would be curious as to what Spanish Italian French German etc tv make of it... had I the language skills.
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Spaniards who are sports pundits/commentators are moaning that England was set up to win Euro2020. They are mainly peeved that England were allowed to play all their matches at Wembley with one exception where they played an "also ran" in Rome. Such pundits fail to point out that Spain played most of their games in Seville (a cauldron for visiting teams).

I should point out that even if you haven't a word of Spanish, listening to Spanish TV on live games where Spain is involved you have to listen benignly to the emotion when things are going well. But, when Spain is playing badly and is behind the same emotion turns against the Spanish team.
 
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joer said:
They, the English, are saying football is coming home since 1966, they have to get it right some time……but hope not this year . I hope they lose by any score , I don’t care .
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Reminds me of Bitcoin - I think it was 1964 that people round here started predicting its imminent demise.

Sterling is right to take the knee before matches - we can't be reminded enuff the Black Dives Matter.

Regarding the original question: I was in Mayo during the week. I got speaking to a genial priest who was telling me that an English visitor was quite perplexed by the ABE attitude of the locals and had challenged the priest to come up with a scenario in which the folk in Mayo would support England. The priest thought long and hard and was a bit flummoxed by the question. "See" the English visitor went on "you can't come up with even one example where the good people of Mayo would support England, can you?"

"Not so" replied the priest...……"round here, they'd all be shouting mad for England if they were playing...……………………………..Dublin!"
 
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