Last month, former Northern Ireland and Fulham manager, Lawrie Sanchez took to the airwaves to launch a blistering attack on Liverpool stating: “They are no longer a big club. The Premier League has been going for 18 years and they have not won it. They won the Champions League [in 2005] by default. It was one of those days where everything went right, having gone wrong. I mean, they lost 17 games that season.” He went on to tell BBC Radio Five Live: “I remember when they used to win the title, then go on to win the European Cup in the same season. That’s when they were a big club.” One of the unwritten rules of football is that Liverpool are a BIG club, no matter what state they currently lie in.
It is with this sort of straight talking that, in December 2006, Sanchez, then manager of the Northern Ireland national team, bandied around the idea of resurrecting the defunct British Home Championship. Sanchez was fed up with the games he was playing and stated that reviving the competition would be much more beneficial than playing non-interesting friendlies. He did immediately concede that there was ‘not a lot in it for England’ and went on to cite both a fear-factor from England regarding losing the games and also a lack of commercial attractiveness for them. Walter Smith, manager of Scotland at the time and now boss at Rangers, agreed saying: “Sometimes the friendly matches that we have at international level are not worthwhile having.”
A few months later, Sanchez left the Northern Ireland job to take over at Premier League Fulham, but the seed had been planted and the ball begun to roll. In September 2008, presumably after a few behind-the-scenes conversations between the respective FA’s, it was announced that from 2011 the Nations Cup would take place in Dublin featuring Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. England declined to take part in the tournament.
Fast forward two and a half years and England find themselves playing a somewhat meaningless friendly in Denmark while the rest of the home nations battle for regional pride in Éire. All because England felt themselves above things – both from a commercial and a competitive angle.
According to the FIFA rankings, that is true regards the competitiveness, but any ranking system that puts England sixth and Wales 116th is as flawed as the day is long. England’s current ranking puts them above Portugal and Uruguay, which cannot be right, and Wales’ current position puts them behind Malawi, Qatar and Niger.
A meaningless friendly is something that England players frequently experience. But the feel of a tournament, albeit a slightly meaningless one, can only be a good thing – especially the England players who complained of being bored while in South Africa. Indications are that England will compete in 2013, at least as a one-off, to mark the 150th anniversary of the Football Association. The FA will no doubt wait until the tournament is successfully established and then ask to join. Most likely to be told to push off. England arrogant? Never!