[the truth]

british sport is on a crest of a wave...the athletes are world class heroes...the cricketers are smashing the aussies, the british lions downed Australia, England smashed the all blacks, murray won Wimbledon, the Olympics, us open, Justin rose won the us open, carl froch marches on, etc etc etc

then there is football

lets face it all home nations are useless

1 cup win in 100+ years only 1 major final

the scots are useless ive seen more attacking threat from dexter in big brother....they scrape through to the odd tournament but we all fall asleep when they play

the northern irish are even worse.....really, they just cant compete....time for an all Ireland team?

the welsh, oh dear, 50 odd years since a world cup quarter final
they have the odd genius like rush, bale, giggs sparky hughes....but overall its endless failure

then our English lads, on half a million to a million pound s amonth are useless too
yes we qualify because we have lots of clubs and money and population
then we call ourselves world class then we lose to some barely known European island like Portugal, Sweden, Romania

its pathetic really how much money we pump in and how much hype and headlines when in the end we promise the earth and couldn't deliver pizza

worse still we get the odd genius like letissier don't give him a chance, john barnes wasted, hoddle wasted, gazza too much hype and hysteria, Michael owen seemed to crack under the spotlight eventually, beckham slow one footed overhyped overrated....

why are we do overhyped overpaid and overrated?

[Marsh.]

But how would you feel if someone pulled your shorts down on national TV?

[GiRTh]

A number of reasons but the main one, for me. We are too set in the way we want to see the game played. Crowds demand fast paced football, end to end action and chances galore. The rather slow ponderous build up that is prevalent in continental football is not welcomed in this country. Swansea were called boring a couple of years ago - admittedly by Robbie Savage but hey - cuz they were too slow in their build up. unfortunately that attitude is too common among the British fan. This attitudes filters down into the lower league where there is some quite ugly but tremendously effective football played and we have a basic attitude to the game that doesn't encourage technique but effectiveness.

[GiRTh]

Originally Posted by 08marsh

But how would you feel if someone pulled your shorts down on national TV?

[Drew.]

individually English players seem to play well for club sides but when teamed up together they just cant play.. whether its the pressure or terrible management who knows. We're over hyped because our players play in the best league in the world and our starting 11 usually consist of players from the top 4-6 teams in the league. Its obvious we have a different style of football to the rest of the world and we need to change it but lets not forget we've beaten big sides in the past couple of years..

[Verbal]

There is far too much money and not enough talented, willing scout networks within the PL. The big boys would much rather splash 30 million on an already established name, than trawl Europe for the bargains. Example: Michu, bought for 2 million, now valued at about 30.

[GiRTh]

Originally Posted by CynicalHermit

There is far too much money and not enough talented, willing scout networks within the PL. The big boys would much rather splash 30 million on an already established name, than trawl Europe for the bargains. Example: Michu, bought for 2 million, now valued at about 30.

Add Benteke to the list of players missed by scouts.

I agree but as an Arsenal fan I'd prefer if my team spent 30 mil every now and again on a player instead of constantly trying to find players on the cheap.

[Locke.]

Our clubs teams can hold their own against anyone, it's just International level we're not that great. But International football is **** anyway, so who cares.

[Brother Leon]

Competition. Football is played absolutely everywhere by people at a really young age. Same cant be said for Tennis,Rugby,Cricket etc.

[the truth]

Originally Posted by Locke.

Our clubs teams can hold their own against anyone, it's just International level we're not that great. But International football is **** anyway, so who cares.

our club teams packed with foreign talent....the british players simply aren't good enough...why?

[Locke.]

Originally Posted by the truth

our club teams packed with foreign talent....the british players simply aren't good enough...why?

The only one of the big teams that doesn't rely heavily on British players is Man City.

[Novo]

Gazza was the best we've had in the past 25 years, the hype was fair since he was unreal at his best

[the truth]

Originally Posted by Novo

Gazza was the best we've had in the past 25 years, the hype was fair since he was unreal at his best

agreed, he wa s agenius midfielder but the hype was too much for him sadly.

how would a british team have fared?

[GiRTh]

British team would have fared no better. the problem is the philosophy on football in this country. Less than 25 years ago The Fa tried to get England to play long ball. WTF its totally crazy that an official body tried to effect the style of play of the national team.