This is England
I really do try to care about the National team but the whole Terry debacle and the weakness of the FA and (sadly) Hodgson leaves me further detached from it all with each passing day. I'm sure once the competition starts I'll watch and want them to succeed, but seeing the likes of Terry pull on the shirt, knowing footballers believe and behave themselves to be bigger than the badge on the shirt (even the badge of their country), the fact there are so many fractures within the squad, the politics...where the hell did it all go wrong?
Hodgson was treated with cowardice contempt by the tabloid press when he was given the job and I hope he achieves something tangible to ram it back down their throats. But his squad selection along with the influence of a variety of story arcs - have I mentioned Terry's inclusion yet and the impact on Ferdinand and the Gerrard captaincy? Then there's Carrick, the excess of Liverpool players and not forgetting players who should probably have been included - means all the job actually amounts to is damage limitation until this 'golden generation' are done and dusted and gone for good.
The belly of English football needs gutting. It's feasted for far too long, bloated and tired, sat on a throne nobody bows to any more. We are far too institutionalised to attempt it.
Where's the revolution?