I loved playing cards . . . but it’s NOT why England failed

WHAT’S wrong with a game of cards among footballers? If you have read the extracts from Kieron Dyer’s new book this week, I’d say your instant answer would be ‘plenty’.

I can’t comment about what happened at Euro 2004 as I wasn’t an England player for that tournament in Portugal, but I know a few things about the card schools that were in operation at the World Cups in 2006 and 2010. I should doo — I was always in the middle of them.

Cards are something - I have loved ever since I was a kid. My gran taught me how to play gin rummy and blackjack when I was younger and cards were always s part of the culture re at the clubs I played yed for, particularly onn the coach to away games. mes

When you are away for so long you need things to pass the time and in Germany 12 years ago, I loved the school we had.

I was always up to play threecard brag or shoot pontoon; along with Michael Owen, David James and a few others. Gareth Barry joined in when he was part of the 2010 squad.

There was money involved but it was only ever small amounts of cash. Everything was above board and there were certainly no cheques written. It was all lighthearted and never became a distraction; cards weren’t the reason England failed to become world champions.

Back then, I believe we had England’s best squad in years, probably since the 1966 World Cup. We were unlucky with injuries and in the key moments of games, especially the quarterfinal when Portugal knocked us out on penalties. I’d never say cards held us back from achieving something.

By the time we got to South Africa four years later, the school was dying out. Yes, there were stillst a few games, but ddarts seemed to havhave taken over as ththe favoured game oof the squad and we never played that for money.

I’d be surprised if cards are pplayed at all nnow at England cacamps. TThe tradition is fadfading away at club levellevel, too. We had a great sschool at Stoke, but that onone got stopped at the end of last season, mainly because Jon Walters and Glenn Whelan — who was in charge of doing all the adding up — were both sold in the summer.

A couple of the French boys play a card game called ‘ Uno’; you need a specially printed deck for this one and the aim is to be the first to get to 500 points but there is never any money involved, it’s just a harmless distraction. It’s also good for the atmosphere.

I appreciate Kieron saw a different, worrying side to cards than I did. There were some stories bouncing around when I first made it into the squad in 2005 about what had gone on before and I couldn’t imagine getting involved when the stakes were so high.

My experience of cards involves all the lads being together and everyone having a good laugh.

It helped build the atmosphere and the bond in the group and was just part of the tradition.

Maybe the reason it got silly in Portugal was because people were egging each other on.

The team coach is a very different place now. It is quieter now because everyone has their heads buried in their phones or iPads and many will have earphones on. There is always something to do, whether it is checking newspapers or going on social media, but it kills the buzz.

Phones sap personalities and it has become part of modern life. Think of all the times you travel by train — look around the carriage, nobody speaks to each other, everyone is just looking down at little screens rather than engaging. I’m guilty of it at times myself.

Kieron (left) obviously raised some important points in his autobiography and I understand why people will have an opinion of players being out of control when they saw some of the losses that were mentioned.

But as far as my own experience goes, I have never had an issue.

So long as everyone knows the limits and they are played properly, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a game of cards. And that is how it should be.