England should compensate season ticket holders when a player is injured in the World Cup

 

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By Tony Attwood

Everyone is entitled to an opinion – that is obvious.  It is after all the essence of democracy, and despite everything still seems to me to be the best way of organising a country that there is.

It is just that when opinions are expressed via the media in return for payment we tend to expect the opinion to come from someone who knows a thing or two or has an insight or two about the subject and who is not expressing the opinion out of bitterness or a desperate desire for more cash.  The addition of a few facts helps bolster the validity of the opinion, and an emphasis on the notion  that there might be other ways of seeing the situation can help our understanding of what is going on

In this regard the opinions of James McClean, an Irish footballer who plays for Wrexham, are of interest, although when they are made in relation to an Arsenal player now playing for England, one might think they are not particularly vital to improving our grasp of what is going on.

As the Mirror says, “Former Republic of Ireland international James McClean has been unafraid to criticise England so far in Euro 2024 and believes the levels of expectation around the team suggest arrogance.”

And we might think, “well of course he is unafraid” – he’s either being paid to dish out negative views on someone or is doing it for free in the hope of getting a job as a journo..

And yet despite this, his opinion has been elevated to national newsworthiness by making it a story in the Telegraph  and other papers.

McClean’s career topped out with periods at Sunderland, Wigan, West Bromwich, Stoke and now Wrexham.  Which is fair enough, but I am not sure that what in other circumstances the media would call “a rant” against Declan Rice was particularly newsworthy.  Declan put it down as probably the result of some bitterness because he (Rice) did not continue playing for Ireland whom he played for earlier in his career. McClean called Rice “overrated” and “not world class”, with follow-up comments on the passive nature of his game. Rice won three caps for Ireland in 2018, where he was a teammate to McClean, before switching to England.   Mind you McClean did say a few years ago that those players not proud to play for Ireland should “sod off and play for someone else.”   I’ve no idea if Rice was or wasn’t proud, but it does seem that at least to some degree Rice followed McClean’s advice to “sod off” – and now a seemingly somewhat logically and historically disjointed McClean is fed up about it.

In fact in a rather clever way Rice accuses McClean of saying whatever is necessary in order to get a few more quid out of a newspaper – something that is not unknown in football and something that both hard up ex-players and the media find a worthy thing to do.

In fact Declan Rice’s sign-off point was a classic put down and ought to make McClean think twice before saying anything more on the subject, but it probably won’t.  Rice said, “ I see the comments but I don’t try to put too much energy into it.  It is what it is.”

The issue of greater importance that is being raised however is just how close Rice is to burn out, with the number of games he has played for Arsenal and England as late.  But of course the countries have the ability to demand a player plays, and then, to use Arsene Wenger’s wonderful comparison, act like car thieves who take your car, run it into the ground, wreck it, and hand it back demanding you repair it and put it right ready for the next time.  A perfect analogy.

However even Gareth Southgate has suggested that the players are playing too many physical games, complaining that the players were out of condition by the time they get to an England match – which at least is an improvement in grasping what’s going on.   In the past they have been injured when returned to their clubs so the likes of us who pay their wages through our season tickets, didn’t get to see them.

In fact I think that if a player is injured on international “duty” and can’t play for his first team, season ticket holders of his club should be compensated by the FA.  That might make them be more careful.