Three Lions first, but I’m sad for Scots
ICAN never really understand why Scots don’t like England when it comes to big football tournaments, but I won’t hold it against you.
England qualified for the World Cup while Scotland missed out and as pleased as I am that we’re there, I really wanted Gordon Strachan’s team to progress too.
I’m a Chelsea fan and have been since I was a kid, long before Roman Abramovich ploughed his money into the club. But of course, I’m an Englishman as well so my allegiances are always going to lie with my national team.
As far as supporting them goes, I try to be positive, but I do torture myself when watching the games. Admittedly, it can be a grind sometimes.
Sharing a locker room with Scots has been fun, especially this week with the last of the qualifiers and some of the guys went to the Scotland game against Slovakia.
I have to say it was the Scottish guys and some of the imports that went to Hampden. None of the English guys went.
I’ve lived in England, Northern Ireland and now Scotland and the fans always create a great atmosphere. They really get into it, so it’s always good to see them win and succeed.
I still wanted to see you do well, even if you’ll support whoever we play in the World Cup.
I wasn’t overly sure of Gareth Southgate’s appointment as England coach when he took over from Sam Allardyce, but I’ve been converted.
He has no qualms about altering the way the team is set out or the players and try different things. He’s bringing in players on form instead of the same old faces.
That said, I wasn’t surprised by the negative reaction when England confirmed their place last week. I don’t think they performed well against Slovenia at Wembley.
They lacked creativity and ideas, but have the players who can do good things whenever they play for their clubs. But for England, they struggle and I don’t know why that is.
The qualifying campaign, while going through unbeaten, they haven’t played any sort of exciting football which doesn’t get you optimistic for when they do play bigger nations.
It would be nice to see them have a good group stage in Russia and hit the quarter-finals. We haven’t had a good tournament for I can’t remember how long.
I hope we can avoid some of the big teams, but I think the seeding means we’ll be in Pot Two, so chances are we will get someone good.
I don’t see them winning the World Cup in Russia next year. Would I like to see them do it? Of course. I’m English, and we all know we’ve done it before!