Alan Shearer, Paul Scholes, Jamie Carragher, Wayne Bridge. Four excellent footballers. Four very successful careers. Four modern-day footballing traitors.
What do these four men have in common? The answer is that they have all committed one of the biggest, if not the biggest, no no in football. They have retired early from international football. (I am not counting sleeping with your teammates girlfriend in this!)
By ruling themselves out of contention for the national side, they have jeopardised England’s chances of winning a major tournament. This is nearly unforgiveable in my opinion.
How useful would Big Al have been at the 2002 World Cup when he was still banging them in for Newcastle? The ginger Platini was one of England’s finest players for a long time before he threw the toys out if the pram over Sven’s choice to play super Frankie Lampard and Stevie Gerrard together. How much of mug must Carragher feel after his petulance in refusing to come in from the cold has cost him a seat on the plane to South Africa.
Obviously Bridge has put himself out of the game for different reasons but nevertheless, he has severely weakened Fabio Capello’s options at the back and caused another potential problem, one that to be honest, Don Fab doesn’t need given the injury to Ashley Cole and Rio Ferdinand’s ongoing problems.
Playing for your country should be, and is to most, the greatest honour in your career. This should be especially prevalent when a big tournament is on the horizon. Representing your nation in a World Cup has to be the pinnacle of any player’s career and that includes playing in Champions League finals.
The excuses that they want to extend their club careers and spend more time with their families are nearly unbelievable. Extend your club career? What, because playing ten extra games a year and up to seven in a major tournament every two years (one would hope) is really going to reduce your club career by a significant amount?
And the more time with the family tripe is just unacceptable. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of a player being a family man but is spending more than half the day (training is done and dusted in most cases by lunch) and the rest of your life after retirement not time enough? Carragher’s wife is probably begging him to bugger off to South Africa this summer so bored must she be of his budget chat about life after Liverpool.
Heaven forbid we end up having injury problems in the run up to the World Cup and have to pick someone not up to the task as a result of Bridge, Carragher and Scholes’ petulance. By taking themselves out of the running they have risked weakening England’s chances and to me this is mind blowing.
I just pray that they will be green with jealousy and rueing their decision come July 11th and the World Cup Final…
Jack Travers' Blog 