JONES: WE DO CARE, BUT THE FANS ARE ENTITLED TO THEIR OWN OPINIONS
HE has been there and done that – so Phil Jones can understand the England fans’ frustrations.
The Manchester United defender grew up a Blackburn fan, cheering on his boyhood club from the stands.
He has also handled the pressure of delivering for one of the biggest teams in the country at Old Trafford.
So as the debate over England’s poor performance against Malta continues, Jones can see where the paying punters and fans at home are coming from.
“At big clubs if you’re 1-0 up at half-time when you’re expecting to be 3-0 up, there’s that grumbling around the stadium,” he said. “I’ve done it. I followed Blackburn. I always cheered the players... it’s the same. Football wouldn’t be football without the fans. That’s football.”
Both Jones and England boss Gareth Southgate, sat alongside him, echoed Harry Kane’s insistence that the players care about representing their country. That it does matter.
But what if the fans no longer care? What if the fans are fed up of spending fortunes following the Three Lions, buying into the tub-thumping rhetoric and believing this time our underachievers will get it right?
“Who knows?” Jones added. “All we can do is try to win as many games as we can. Of course we want the fans to enjoy the game. They pay good money to watch good football, and we try to supply that. There will be games where we don’t play well but win 1-0 – yet still get criticised. But the fans are entitled to their own opinions.”