I wish this was news but sadly the phrase: ‘the England football team is shit’ is older than my children, who are only in their 20s. They’ve been shit since Bobby Charlton retired. Since Bobby Moore died. Since Jimmy Greaves left the game to get a new liver. And no-one knows why. No-one can work out why putting 11 men on a pitch, men who week after week perform amazing miracles for their clubs, Peles one and all, when in an England shirt the play more like Pele’s mum. If he’d had 11 mums. Or even 10 mums and a goalie.

So if the players are good then it must be the manager. Surely? But we’ve had 53 team managers since 1970 and none have done anything with the team. All different managers, all different styles. From the ultra-conservative Ulrika-shagger, Sven Joran Eriksson, to the ultra-flair, free-expressionistic zen bhuddism of Glen Hoddle, the only consistency in the national game has been its inability to play good, nice, pretty football. Even shitty football that wins would do, but we haven’t had that either.

Ok, so the players are good, often quite brilliant; Gazza, Bryan Robson, Hoddle himself, Beckham, Linneker; and the managers varied and all previously successful in their club careers, then we must look elsewhere for the cause of the malaise, the epidemic that turns any overpaid superstar into a total clueless nob just by putting three lions on his shirt.

Captains. Hmmmm…

Last few captains: Rooney, Terry, Ferdinand, Gerrard. All immoral, adulterous, granny-shagging, drug-addicted scum. If only Ryan Giggs was English, not only would ‘that left side problem’ have been no problem but we’d have arguably had the finest left-footed sister-in-law-screwer the league’s ever produced in our team wearing the armband.

Why can’t they be more like Bobby Moore? Why can’t they be nice, neat, smart, untattooed, gentlemen who only ever wear suits and ties outside their game? Polite. Nice. Handsome. World Cup winning. And, according to a new book just out, the greatest drunkard this country has produced since Oliver Reed (George Best was Irish, Gazza came later). Bobby Moore was the pisshead’s pisshead. And always managed to drive home afterwards in his Jaguar. Which is a testament to his visuo-spacial awareness and physical qualities. Except when he ran his motor into a lamppost and got banned for a year, and when he rear-ended Harry Rednapp’s car and totaled his own one in the process.

We can blame people like Arsene Wenger. Foreigners who came to our wonderful game and did things like taking bacon sandwiches off the menu. Banned players smoking (except Jack Wilshere). Fed them proper, so-called ‘healthy’ food, like some French Gwyneth Paltrow. Gave them pasta. Forced vegetables and fruit into their diets. Made them exercise a lot. And stopped them drinking too much. Which, as we now know, was the cause of our nation’s footballing woes.

So if Roy Hodgson wants England winning again, wants to beat teams like (fucking) Norway by more than one meager penalty, having made only 1 other attempt on target, for the whole team, over 90 bleeding minutes, he must get them drinking once more. Its the only way. And get rid of Wayne Rooney while yer there.

Happy Friday

A xxxx