The English Media just won't learn

“It’ll be a piece of p*ss.”

“We’ll put 4 or 5 past them easy.”

“They’re a championship side.”

“I can’t see anything other than a win for England.”

Just some of the many predictions from various English pundits and media analysts in the run up to England and Scotland’s Group D Euro 2020 encounter at Wembley Stadium.

Well as I sit here typing out this blog piece 24 hours removed from what in truth was a drab affair, I can say with satisfaction that certainly did not happen and Steve Clarke’s side produced a valiant performance and claimed a point from a goalless draw against the Three Lions. The Scots dug deep and frustrated England who could only create a handful of chances. Scotland won many of the midfield battles and managed to create some chances of their own and caused a few scares. Some, myself included, believe Scotland should’ve nicked a win.

One of the clear standouts in Scotland’s performance was the excellent young midfielder, Billy Gilmour. The Chelsea youngster displayed a grit and maturity well beyond his 20 years and dazzled with some stunning ball control and pass distribution, it really is so exciting to see a young Scot with this much talent and ability at an elite level. Oh yeah and he plays at the club that just became the Champions of Europe. Another was Scotland’s captain Andrew Robertson, considered by some to be the world’s number one Left-Back and who in recent season’s has won the English Premier League and the UEFA Champions League both with Liverpool. Robertson made life hell for England’s pacy winger Raheem Sterling who late in the game, made a pathetic attempt at winning a penalty at Robertson’s expense by deliberately tripping over Robertson’s feet, that’s how desperate England’s players got to avoid not winning – more on that later. There was also Kieran Tierney who came back into to the side following an absence due to injury in Scotland’s opening encounter with the Czech Republic and he showed us all what Scotland missed because he too delivered an excellent performance as he rarely allowed any ball to pass him by and bombed forward with the ball whenever opportunity arose constantly seeking out team mates to create chances for. At club level, Tierney has been a consistent top performer for Arsenal since his £25 Million move from Celtic in 2019 and is viewed by many as the Gunners best player. Then there was Scott McTominay, normally a deep lying midfielder but re-adapted in this game as a centre half to accommodate a three man defence. It clearly wasn’t a problem for the Manchester United man as he too produced a battling display, closing off any channels England’s attackers could exploit and won many tackles and aerial battles. McTominay came off arguably his best season yet at Old Trafford and plays a key role these days for Manchester United. But remember guys, Scotland are a “Championship side”.

Oh yeah, that guy in our team who does play in the Championship? He made Harry Kane, one the best strikers in world football, look bang average.

Scottish football fans everywhere can take great pride in their side claiming a point against the Auld Enemy but trust me, we take much more pride in seeing many arrogant pundits throughout the English media eat their humble pie.

There were many sections of the English media who fully expected Gareth Southgate’s side to steamroll the Scots who were lucky to even be in the tournament because the Scot’s haven’t been to a major tournament for 23 years, the Scottish Premiership is a “farmers league”, England are one of the tournament favourites and Scotland are just here to make up their numbers, “they have Grant Hanley in their defence for f**k sake, this should be easy” It felt very good to see them very annoyed and frustrated when the full time whistle was blown.

You see, the majority of the Scottish public’s desire not to see it’s neighbour succeed at major football tournaments has nothing to do with nationalist pride, bitterness of the past or any racism. It is because the English media and it’s hype machine is so endlessly loud, boring and ever so draining. Every time a major football tournament rolls round, tabloid newspapers, social media feeds, TV stations, YouTube Channels etc. drown us all with their lofty expectations of “It’s coming home” accompanied by endless mentions of 1966 when England claimed it’s (to date) sole World Cup on home turf against West Germany in the final. They play it as if it were the sole occasion that any nation legitimately became World Champions. Scots were also subjected to glorious memories of Euro ’96 when football came home again – they never mention that Scotland had equal standing in the foundation of association football but it’s only coming home when it’s in England – and footage of Paul Gascoigne’s iconic goal against Scotland at the old Wembley was repeated on an endless loop. The majority of Scotland’s media is still controlled by London so we could only grin and bear it. I don’t mind anyone showing their passion or believing in their chances but at a hype level that reaches a level beyond delusion, I can’t help but chuckle whenever it blows up in their faces. That’s normally the case with England in major competitions.

Take for instance the most recent World Cup in 2018. England made it as far in as the semi final comfortably qualifying from their group with wins over Panama and Tunisia but stumbled to a 1-0 defeat to Belgium. They then needed a penalty shoot out to dispatch Colombia in the last 16 and defeated a rather average Sweden side 2-0 in the quarters. They had reached the semi-final for the first time since Italia ’90 and a good looking but perhaps not irresistible Croatia side awaited and then it came “A piece of p*ss, it’s a country with only 5 million people, Luca Modric is their only good player” etc. Then came the game and England went out rather tamely in a 2-1 defeat.

When it all falls apart, questions need answers and someone needs to be blamed and of course that usually falls on either the players or the manager and with England, it tends to be both. But I often argue that the English press and the monumental pressure they place on their squad and management team are hugely detrimental to their side’s hopes. I really like Gareth Southgate, England’s current manager. He’s level-headed and sensible. He spoke in an interview not long after the World Cup in 2018 and mentioned that England reaching a World Cup semi-final is a marvellous achievement but also one that cannot be taken for granted. He also asked the English press and public to remain reasonable about their country’s chances in near-future tournaments because there is still some learning to do and England are still a shade behind real tournament favourites such as Belgium, Germany and World Champions France. But it seems to have fallen on deaf ears because when Euro 2020 came close, the England Expects hype train came full steam ahead again.

I’m very sure that the English media’s over-heightened expectations have cost them in previous tournaments. There was one famous incident from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa when England were held to a 0-0 draw in their second group match against Algeria. Boos were raining down on the England team as they came off the pitch and England’s star striker Wayne Rooney looked straight at a TV camera and said “So nice to hear your own supporters booing you!” From there, things soured. England just managed enough to qualify from their group when a late Jermain Defoe goal proved enough to beat Nigeria and progress to the knock out stages were their nemesis Germany waited – I say “their” nemesis because England regards Germany as it’s arch rival in football largely down to both World Wars but Germany actually couldn’t give a stuff about England when it comes to football because The Netherlands is very much Germany’s main footballing rival but that’s another story – It was clear the expectation and heavy criticism dished out by the media from their lacklustre performances in the group stage had a profound affect because England were comprehensively beaten 4-1 by a tremendous young Germany side. Had the English media not been so scathing toward their players and instead truly supported them, I’m sure England would’ve beaten a Germany team still in development and potentially had gone on to win the whole tournament in South Africa. All the pieces of the puzzle were there, a world class level coach in Fabio Capello, two of the world’s best midfielders both in their prime in Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, a prolific goal scorer in Wayne Rooney, a world class defensive line featuring Ashley Cole and John Terry and a squad of players that at club level, had won Premier League and Champions League winner medals so having a winning mentality shouldn’t have been a problem.

It still goes on today. I noted earlier Raheem Sterling’s laughable attempt to con the referee into awarding a penalty to England against Scotland. I do not believe he made that to simply attempt to win the game, he made that attempt in complete desperation because he knew himself that a goalless draw at Wembley against lowly Scotland would be met with the wrath of the English media and public. Sure enough, when the full-time whistle was blown, the England supporters booed their side off the park and took to social media to lambast Southgate for his tactics and team selection. Pundits such as Gary Neville, Alan Shearer, Rio Ferdinand and Ian Wright who each were so sure of a comfortable victory for their side prior to kick off, unleased a scathing analysis of Southgate and his players performance with words such as “embarrassing” and “shameful” being used. Now to be fair, they did also reserve some praise for Scotland’s resilient performance but make no mistake, the majority of it was very much about how poor England were rather than how good Scotland performed.

I must also be fair and impartial here. Scotland’s media and supporters have their own bad habits. I’ll admit that we Scots have an unhealthy obsession of “beating eh English!” and it can border on ugly. Scotland experienced a long and dark 23 years without major tournament qualification and the Scottish press rarely made it easier. Countless coaches, managers and players were blamed heavily for disastrous results and qualification campaigns. We suffered losses to countries like Macedonia, Georgia and Kazakhstan that yes were unacceptable, but the Scottish press displayed a sense of entitlement following these results because a football nation like Scotland “shouldn’t be losing to diddy countries!” A highly disrespectful and quite dangerous term that the media in Scotland should be ashamed of.

The Tartan Army – The nickname for Scotland’s dedicated football following – love to brand themselves “the best supporters in the world” and that might be true but it’s also a tagline that I often feel dis-comfort with. To call yourself the best supporters in the world can seem very disrespectful toward the dedicated support of other nations, the vast majority of whom represent their country with pride and dignity and are largely a credit to their country, England supporters included. This at times is fuelled further by the Scottish media at a reckless rate.

However, it still pales in comparison to the irresponsible propaganda brought on by the English press and I don’t just mean with it’s national side. The English Premier League is endlessly hyped as the “best league in the world”. Really it’s not, it’s the wealthiest and most lucrative but that doesn’t make it the best but because of this hype and propaganda, it has given many young England football supporters a delusional mindset and even perhaps ignorant toward other nations with a rich football history. I will never forget one conversation with two young English lads I had in a pub when I lived in Yorkshire between 2015 and 2017. According to these two lads, Celtic and Rangers “aren’t big clubs” because they play in a rubbish 2 horse league. This is despite both Glasgow clubs known worldwide with a global support that is up there in numbers with Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid and both housing two huge stadiums that when full for big games, display iconic atmospheres that is rarely matched anywhere else in the world, and both have a trophy room big enough to match the size of the average English League one club’s ground. They also didn’t believe me when I told them Celtic were the first British side to win the European Cup in 1967. I actually had to pull up Wikipedia and show them that on May 25th 1967 in Lisbon, Portugal, 11 men all born within a 35 mile radius of one another, wearing Green and White hoops, defeated Inter Milan 2-1 in the final. For good measure, I showed them the photo of Billy McNeil lifting the famous trophy.

“Yeah but it doesn’t really count mate does it? Because it didn’t happen when it was known as the Champions League and it’s only really mattered since then.” I just couldn’t win.

It’s not the fault of those lads and I know that doesn’t represent the general view of the majority of English football supporters. The press in England has irresponsibly created a false narrative about football in this country and a lot of supporters from the newer generations almost seem unaware of any football existing prior to 1992 when the Premier League was founded. This false narrative has also leaked into the England national side’s hopes of winning major competitions because for many England supporters being the country with the best league in the world should also translate to having the best national team in the world. Clearly it is not working out that way.

I know England isn’t the only country whose media displays a delusional sense of entitlement. The press in Spain, Italy and Germany all have been very unforgiving toward their national sides when ever they’ve underperformed at major tournaments and lump unnecessary amounts of pressure when ever a World Cup or a European Championship dawns. I just really wish for once the English media showed a bit more respect and responsibility toward supporting it’s national side in major competitions or at the very least, learn some lessons. Yes, they have the right to expect big things performed by their national side in major competitions and absolutely should support them but also be realistic about it’s chances because here’s some of the results they’ve suffered to small countries in recent major tournaments:

• World Cup 2018, Semi Final – Croatia 2-1 England. Croatia’s population circa. 2019 – 5.076 Million

• Euro 2016, Round of 16 – Iceland 2-1 England. Iceland’s population circa. 2019 – 356,991

• World Cup 2014, Group D – Costa Rica 0 – 0 England. Costa Rica’s population circa. 2019 -5.048 Million

• World Cup 2014, Group D – Uruguay 2 – 1 England. Uruguay’s population circa. 2019 – 3.462 Million

Should they not by now know better when facing a nation with a population of sub 5 million? At the very least, don’t give it added impetus by branding it’s national team “a championship side.”