FOLLOWING ENGLAND
Forget the football...
all, make sensible decisions about team style, formations and selection. His three-match qualifying audition has not moved England forward.
Why bother with Wembley? I had not watched England at ‘the home of football’ for 20 years before the 2-0 win against Malta. It was the most depressing match I have ever been to in 45 years.
A disjointed England team played before the most listless crowd in a stadium without one ounce of atmosphere. No standing up, no singing and definitely no intimidating crowd.
Even in the England ‘home’ end, we had numerous tourist fans taking selfie after selfie. Mexican waves have no place in English football, too.
The Scotland match was slightly better. Is it me or has Wembley been designed so you can’t hear supporters singing at the opposite end of the ground?
The free t-shirts given away by the FA came in for good use, being twirled above supporters’ heads!
It’s time for an England fan revolution at home, too. Make it standing room only in the home end. Bring back the fun supporting element. Let’s look to create an England style. No Icelandic clapping but maybe introduce the Derby County bounce? So what’s the point of following England? Well, it all comes down to ignoring the football. It’s about taking pleasure in every- thing else. Meeting up with friends, travelling to the games, singing in pubs the night beforehand. Add in visiting new locations like Ljubljana and Bratislava (where are these places?) and you have two long weekends a year to have fun. The away games make it the reason why following England is still worthwhile. As supporters we may not be able to represent England on the pitch but we can do so off it in Europe away from home. This brings up some interesting culture clashes. In Bratislava we had the lovely contrast between clog-wearing locals in traditional peasant outfits tap dancing their way round the main square, whilst England fans stood round the corner singing their own form of traditional folk song. Four nights in a foreign country with new sights, new foods and friends makes you realise the football is incidental. We’ve come to accept that what happens on the pitch is largely pointless. It would be safe to say as fans that we have accepted that the players, the management and the football world itself are now so far removed from real life that what happens on the pitch generally doesn’t matter that much. We know the manager and the players are obscenely overpaid and are likely to underperform for years to come. The point of following England is clear. Ignore the football and simply have fun as if Jamie Vardy is having a party!