Judging by by the OTT reaction by the media yesterday (especially Talksport) & the nonsense we're going to get in today's red tops, it looks like Capello did the right thing.

Fabio is the England manager, not the manager of the Beckham Circus.

Who cares whether Beckham gets his 100th cap next week, next year in 2021 or never?

Surely the England national team is more important than a slushly sentimental cap for a player who no longer takes his football career seriously?

This coming Summer, all those crying about Beckham's omission are going to get a rude awakening when Euro 2008 kicks off & it dawns on everybody what a terrible state the England national team really is in; then suddenly, whether Beckham has 99, 100 or 768 caps won't matter so much then!!

HSg, you are 155% correct: people do seem more concerned with whether Becks gets 100 caps, than the predicament of the England team.

It's also very strange how everybody loves him so much now.

10 years ago, it was only us United fans that backed him, now everybody is all gushing & sentimental over him.

I like Beckham; he was a great servant for United & has been a great servant for England, but Capello is more concerned with the England team as a whole & not sentimentality & he does not deserve a cap at this precise time. That may change in the future (although I doubt it, playing for a pub team in a secondary school league), but right now, he does not deserve a cap.

Spot on, agree.

I do think his England career is over.
Sentimentality should not enter into whether a player should get his 100'th cap.
If he ain't good enough then he should'nt be picked, regardless of whether it's a friendly or not.
We should be behind Capello and backing his choices, he has a long road ahead of him.
Good luck to him I say.

IMO Fabio made the correct decision

Becks hasnt played since nov, so why should he play?

Since when has the game come down to giving someone a cap just to make history for them? this is not what it is all about

Suit yerselves then.
I think that you are wrong, but no matter.

you think he should be in then joe? not fr me, but i respect your view, i just feel after how dire we have been we should be concentrating on moving forward, making a concession just to give a player a historic cap is ridic imo, also he is not match fit, lets give the youngsters ago, surely it is great to see them get there first cap isnt it??

quote:

Originally posted by Garage Joe:
Suit yerselves then.
I think that you are wrong, but no matter.

If Capello is going to play a full serious game with maybe a couple of subs, and go out to smash Switzerland, thus sending a message to the rest of Europe I agree with you.

If it turns out to be a "see how many players you can use in one game" as used by (rightful helmsman) Ericson, then I can't see why they couldn't have brought him on at some point.

Regardless of caps/stats, i still think Beckham deserves a place in the team..

It makes no sense whatsoever for him to pick Beckham now except for sentimental reasons of giving him 100 caps. Well we could afford that luxury if we had qualified for Euro 08 with an established team but as that was partly his own failing he will have to wait a bit longer.

One thing I havent seen mentioned is that Cappello has worked with Beckham so he knows him as a player and a person so he doesnt NEEEED to see him half fit. That doesnt go for 99% of the team. If he played badly they will all jump on the he shouldnt be sentimental band wagon as well.

We have had a decent manager five minutes and already the monkey tabloid knuckle dragging idiots are already DEMANDING who he picks for no other reason than it looks a nice even number for Beckham to retire on....great and they wonder why we never win anything.

quote:

Originally posted by Garage Joe:
If Capello is going to play a full serious game with maybe a couple of subs, and go out to smash Switzerland, thus sending a message to the rest of Europe I agree with you.

If it turns out to be a "see how many players you can use in one game" as used by (rightful helmsman) Ericson, then I can't see why they couldn't have brought him on at some point.

What could he possibly learn from a full 90 minutes or 10 minutes of a substitute fest that he doesnt already know from a whole season at Madrid?

I for one am happy that like Erikson he is looking to give the other players some experience when it doesnt matter instead of throwing them on in an important game.

No disrepect hun, you are going to say that arent you?

seriously the england team, each and everyone have them have been dire, now is no time for sentiment, IMO Fabio has made the correct decision and i for one am glad to see he didnt go with the grain, it showes that he will make his own decisions, and boy we need someone like him as opposed to they yes/no managers we have had in the past

i have nowt against becks, i actuallyprefer him to play then SCP, but fact is he hasnt played since nov, if fabio had picked him, he would have been criticised for that side of it, he made the right choice and we all know it, owen is only 12 caps off 100 himself, but again imo another candidate that shouldnt be in the team, yes he poaches goals etc etc, but he hasnt been the player he was since he left liverpool

In order for england to progress we need to get rid of the deadwood

quote:

Originally posted by The_Fan:
Regardless of caps/stats, i still think Beckham deserves a place in the team..

He's building a team for the future and wants to see what the players who will be around for that tournament (or at least the qualifying games at least) will be like and how they can adapt to his playing style. He doesn't want to pick a player who may be around for some of the qualifiers, but almost certainly not for the World Cup.

But, after watching the gutter press' mouthpiece on Sky, the Sunday Supplement last week, it seems the press are already building their arguments for and against Capello. Personally, I think he should have a few games to be judged, not his first squad and he certainly shouldn't fall on his sword over whether or not Beckham should be included

Is that the ones that used to do chinny hills sunder morning breakfast programme Andy?

If so those are the morons that banged on constantly about having an English manager during Eriksons reign so they have nailed their colours to the mast in the past. I guess they hope we forget such things whilst they work to undermine the latest foreigner...

Exactly that.

Exactly that one.

Personally, they wind me up and I very rarely watch it and the rare times I do have it on is only as background while I wait for something else and better to come on. My mates dad used to be on there quite a lot, but they're using him more sparingly now, thank god, as he used to be one of the worst people on there- Steve Curry. Pompous old git that he is

I gave up with this show as well, I got fed up with the too many foreigners debate and Jimmy's yearning for a traditional 'number 9'.

Same here I used to watch it before the Kris Kamara sunday show which was much better. Dont get sky one now so not an issue...

Some of the comments they made about foreign managers went beyond xenophobic and the scary thing was considering there are 4 on each show not one, NOT ONE that was on it disagreed with the comments about foreign managers or even tried to tone down the claims while chinny was holding court. We arent just talking tabloid journalists either one writes for the Observer or is the Guardian another was on the times before he moved to a tabloid (oliver holt who i save a particular amount of hatred for as he is one of the worst) along with another award winning Times writer, fat hairy ape Martin Samuel who is just about the worst.

Yeah, the whole thing could be scripted, with the same script every week. It reached a low for me when Jimmy Hill started singing

quote:

Originally posted by Ronibugs:
No disrepect hun, you are going to say that arent you?

Erm why?! So he played for United? - big deal. He doesn't anymore. You're assuming i would back Beckham because? Because he played for United? No, that would be stupid. I said he deserves a place because he's definitely on par if not slightly better than half the morons who play for England. Capello's just out to make headlines.. it's pathetic.. the word luxury was used above - I actually think we can't afford the 'luxury' of not using Beckham, even on the bench. I don't understand why he thinks, or why a lot of people seem to think we don't need him? The

England team has been a running joke for a long time, and Beckhams way down the line of people to blame.

quote:

Originally posted by The_Fan:

quote:

Originally posted by Ronibugs:
No disrepect hun, you are going to say that arent you?

Erm why?! So he played for United? - big deal. He doesn't anymore. You're assuming i would back Beckham because? Because he played for United? No, that would be stupid. I said he deserves a place because he's definitely on par if not slightly better than half the morons who play for England. Capello's just out to make headlines.. it's pathetic.. the word luxury was used above - I actually think we can't afford the 'luxury' of not using Beckham, even on the bench. I don't understand why he thinks, or why a lot of people seem to think we don't need him? The

England team has been a running joke for a long time, and Beckhams way down the line of people to blame.

You are misinterpreting whats being said at least by me. There is no need to play him in this game. I am not saying rule him out for good a la McClaren. Just that for one he isnt fit and for two Cappello already knows him inside out as well as being able to view 99 videos of him playing for England. The place is better for now to be given to someone he doesnt know.

I more referring to 'in the long run'. Ok, so missing the upcoming game might not be of great importance, (i still don't think it wouldn't have done any harm to even just put him on the bench if nothing else) but is Capello going to make it a habit?

If he puts him on the bench then the crying would be even louder if he didnt put him on for a few minutes and now that FIFA have put restrictions on the number of substitutes you can have in a friendly because they didnt like Erikson doing it yes it does matter because thats one less person he will be able to give a game to that he hasnt worked with before.

quote:

Originally posted by The_Fan:
Capello's just out to make headlines.. it's pathetic.. the word luxury was used above - I actually think we can't afford the 'luxury' of not using Beckham, even on the bench. I don't understand why he thinks, or why a lot of people seem to think we don't need him?

Why would Capello want to make headlines? And why is it so absolutely necessary to pick Beckham for a friendly?

The problem with previous England managers is that they've been too afraid to use untried players in key positions for friendlies, so you get internationally inexperienced players being thrown in for key games. Like the goalkeeper's position

quote:

Originally posted by AndyCardiff:
Why would Capello want to make headlines?

To be seen to be doing something.

quote:

And why is it so absolutely necessary to pick Beckham for a friendly?

Never said it was. The point is, England aren't the team the fans like to sing they are. IMO Beckhams needed because others don't fill his shoes.