ACTIONS OF BIG NAMES DEFY BELIEF

FAILINGS: Harry Maguire ( left) and Kyle Walker

GARETH SOUTHGATE will feel like his England bubble has well and truly burst.

In the last few months he has winced at the idiotic behaviour of Kyle Walker and Harry Maguire during and after lockdown.

Manchester City star Walker was forced to make a public apology after getting caught breaking social distancing rules.

Manchester United captain Maguire then raised the bar even further following a drunken brawl with police on the Greek party island of Mykonos.

Maguire was found guilty, among other things, of aggravated assault and attempting to bribe officers. He has appealed the conviction and is now awaiting a new trial in a bid to clear his name.

But the tasteless episode forced Southgate into the embarrassing position of having to drop Maguire from his squad, having decided to pick him in good faith.

Yet if these incidents left the England boss feeling deflated, he will have jumped out of his skin following the loud bang caused by the moronic behaviour of two of his next international superstars – Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden.

Reports claim the pair broke strict Covid- 19 rules by taking two women back to the team hotel in Reykjavik following England’s 1- 0 win.

For more than a week both players had been showered with superlatives from all angles, with pundits, the media and even Southgate tipping the talented two for the very top.

But if reports are to be believed, all the while these two were plotting behind their manager’s back to arrange a clandestine meeting with two women when the opportunity arose.

Greenwood and Foden both made their debuts against Iceland on Saturday.

They have the footballing world at their talented feet but what brains they have seem to be in their boots and not their heads.

Representing your country comes with the ultimate responsibility, because it is the ultimate honour that involves the ultimate scrutiny.

These two have failed at the first hurdle. They’ve blatantly ignored simple and strict instructions, put the rest of the England squad at risk and betrayed Southgate.

Some footballers did so much good during lockdown to restore our faith in them. However, if their willingness to stand up and be counted when the nation needed them was surprising, what is not that surprising is their ability to continue to let us all down with consistent acts of dimwittedness people should find impossible to fathom.