It would be fair to say that England’s hopes of achieving any success, relative or otherwise at next year’s World Cup will be heavily reliant on Manchester United players.
With this in mind I wonder whether David Moyes will adopt a similar tact to that of his predecessor in terms of his view toward the national team.
It was apparent that Sir Alex’s concerns in relation to England generally extended to his charges returning to Carrington unscathed.
Similarly some United fans do not seem to hold Roy Hodgson’s side in any sort of regard.
While the anti-England songs at Old Trafford and United away games may not be quite as loud as the period when they sang about what Ronaldo did to England, they are still there.
It’s clear that many of United’s fans are not English; along with the massive numbers who travel weekly from Ireland, they will also have supporters who attend games from Scotland, Wales and also further afield.
They have no affiliation with the national side and some will have grown up following United and not known a time when there wasn’t an us against England rhetoric.
It would be interesting to know what United players feel about this, I don’t expect any of them to come out and say, but it would good to know.
The best available England squad could easily contain, Smalling, Jones, Cleverley, Carrick, Rooney, Young and Welbeck, Zaha possibly too if he can fulfil his potential.
I imagine they just have to disassociate the two shirts and acknowledge that the sets of fans are generally not interchangeable.
Roy Hodgson before he does anything else will probably need to ensure that he gets Moyes on side, how well the country does in Brazil could have everything to do with how well he is supported by United.
Allen Whyte