Three years later, he scored a cracking injury time freekick against Greece which put England in to the next World Cup, much to the delight of the England faithful. The people who had tried to make his life a misery were now besotted with him, singing his name and proudly calling him their captain. Beckham is just one of many reds to be singled out by the Ingerlernd massive.

“Phil and I went straight out to have a look at the Wembley pitch and were greeted by a chorus of ‘Stand Up If You Hate Man U’,” said Gary Neville in 1998. “We’ve had this abuse before playing for England, but over the last year it’s got worse.”

Cristiano Ronaldo was one of five Portuguese players complaining to the referee in the 2006 World Cup just before Wayne Rooney was sent off. If Ronaldo was stood accused of stamping on Frank Lampard’s bollocks the country would have strung Rooney up if he didn’t join his England teammates in protest and instead opted to support his United pal. That didn’t matter to England fans though. The game finished 0-0 and three of the four England penalty takers missed, yet Ronaldo was the one to blame for their exit, according to the papers and the fans. His house was vandalised, his sister was harassed and it was his face now at the centre of the cut out dart board in the tabloids.

United players have received more England caps than players from any other club. David Beckham, Sir Bobby Charlton and Bryan Robson all feature in the top ten for England appearances and they all have played in three World Cups. Charlton is the all-time highest goalscorer and Wayne Rooney is in the top ten. Then you look at some of the players who have come through our youth system, like Gary Neville who has 85 caps, the most capped right back, Paul Scholes with 66, Phil Neville with 59, Nicky Butt with 39, Roger Byrne with 33, Wes Brown with 23, Tommy Taylor with 19 (scoring 16 goals) and Duncan Edwards with 18 (by the time he was 21), to name a few. Then we have the young ‘uns who are just starting their England careers, like Danny Welbeck with 4 and Tom Cleverley who has yet to make his debut, having been called up to the squad several times but then being ruled out through injury.

You would think with the contribution our club has made to the national team, you might get a bit of appreciation from England fans, but clearly that is too much to ask. It’s not just the fans that are ungrateful but the FA too.

“The FA may realise who has produced more players for their country than any club in the world,” Ferguson said at the start of this season after eight United players were called up to the England squad. “Maybe they will get some joy from it and realise how important we are to England instead of treating us like shit.”

Most recently, Rooney was banned for two games for breaking Law 12 which relates to “using offensive, insulting and/or abusive language”. Every single week in every single game players are guilty of breaking Law 12, telling the ref to “fuck off” or directing abusive language at their opponents, yet none of these are even shown a yellow card, let alone sent off, or banned for two games. Remember when Gerrard stuck two fingers up at Andre Marriner and told him to “fuck off” after he was booked for a scissor tackle from behind and received no punishment? Apparently it’s alright to tell the ref to “fuck off”, in full view of the cameras, clear for everyone to see what you said but it’s not OK to say “fuck off” to no one in full view of the cameras. Not if you’re a United player anyway.

Remember when Rio Ferdinand got banned for eight months and fined £50,000 for missing a drugs test in the same year Manchester City’s Christian Negouai was fined £2,000 and received no ban for missing a drugs test? It was later revealed that 240 drugs tests were “abandoned” between 2007 and 2010 yet none of these resulted in bans.

Remember when Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney were sent off in the pre-season Amsterdam Tournament and the FA banned them for three Premier League games as a result? Steven Gerrard and Neil Mellor were sent off for Liverpool in the same tournament three years earlier and received no punishment from the FA. Then in 2010 Patrick Vieira was shown a straight red card in a pre-season friendly for City and also received no punishment. “If a player gets a red card in a friendly he gets a ban for his next friendly, not for competitive matches,” said a spokesperson for the FA.

It’s one rule for United and a different rule for everyone else when it comes to the FA dishing out punishments.

“I think sometimes there is an unfair focus on United on disciplinary issues,” Ferguson said last summer. “It will always be there and I think we know that. They’ve always found a way to treat us differently. It has been happening for a while now and they always seem to find a way to do us when, with others, it’s seemingly forgotten.”

It’s not just the fans and the FA though, it is the players who you are supposed to support, yet when they come to Old Trafford with their clubs get loads of stick from our fans. I’ve never understood the ability of an England fan to hate a player on a weekly basis, only to cheer their goals and chant their names when they pull on that white jersey. John Terry, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Glen Johnson, Stuart Downing, Gareth Barry etc. How do you get enthusiastic about these players? As an England fan, do you really feel as though this lot represent you? You’re happy to see Terry put in a crunching challenge or Lampard score a deflected goal?

Between the fans, the FA and the players, it is easy to feel resentment towards England, or at the least, a lack of interest or disconnection. Whilst some United fans might like to shun England because they think that some “top red” status comes with it, it comes naturally to plenty of reds to be apathetic towards the national team. When you have a team like United to support, it’s easy to find your football saturation with them alone. Who needs to get all worked up about the prospects of England getting knocked out again in the quarter-finals when you watch United players never give in and lift trophies?

“‘He plays on the left, he plays on the right, that boy Ronaldo makes England look shite’,” Ian Brown said in 2009 when asked about his favourite United chant. “That’s what I love about United: we’re the Republic of Mancunia, no one gives a fuck about England. My next favourite would be ‘You can stick yer fucking England up yer arse”, which we sing to Chelsea and the London clubs. I love that.”

The Euros are upon us though and an International tournament is always a nice way to pass the time until you can get your fix from watching United at 2am when they play some dross team from the USA in the pre-season. United fans who do get a kick out of England will be relieved that at least Terry won’t be donning the captain’s armband as he beats his shirtless chest following a spirited England draw but in terms of excitement and hype, people have finally seemingly caught on to the fact that the national team just isn’t that good and doesn’t really stand much of a chance.

A manager that nobody really wanted, no permanent captain and no performances to suggest England have what it takes to match the better teams in Europe, yet we have a few United players in the squad. Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young, Phil Jones and Danny Welbeck are all going to Euro 2012.

Does this change things? After spending all season calling Terry all the names under the sun following the allegations of racism, will you cheer when he scores if it’s Young who delivers the corner? Will you be happy to see Lampard bury a penalty if it’s Welbeck that’s won it? Will you get emotional when you see captain Steven Gerrard singing the national anthem? Will it make you proud to see the DJ battering scouse twat donning the armband of your country’s team?

Terry has been charged after seemingly racially abusing Anton Ferdinand and has a court case to attend after the international tournament. Instead of leave him out of the team, Roy Hodgson has gone with Terry, and bizarrely claimed that his contribution to Chelsea’s place in the Champions League final helped sway his decision, despite the fact Terry’s idiocy at the Nou Camp very nearly cost Chelsea their place.

“I selected John Terry for footballing reasons and I left out Rio Ferdinand for footballing reasons,” said Hodgson. “I think Terry’s played well, I think he played an important part in Chelsea’s FA Cup final victory, an important part in their reaching the Champions League final and so therefore I selected him because I think he’s the man for job. I’m hoping and believing that he will help us win matches.”

In big games this season, Terry has made dreadful, costly mistakes, namely against Arsenal, Liverpool and Barcelona, as Chelsea finished a massive 25 points behind United. In contrast, Rio has been Mr Reliable and has put his injury worries behind him, playing 38 games in all competitions. How can Hodgson seriously expect us to believe “footballing reasons” have kept Rio out? Sol Campbell doesn’t buy it and thinks the issue between Terry and Anton is the reason behind Rio’s omission.

“I think it did play a small, or a big part in it,” he said, “because, you know, you’re away for four to six weeks together, Hodgson’s probably saying: ‘Maybe something might happen at the camp. Who knows? But you can’t say [for] football reasons, Rio Ferdinand shouldn’t be going. Because he’s experienced, he knows how to play football, an excellent defender, he’s done fantastic for his club and country, especially in the last, say three months. I can’t believe it. He’s played the last 10, 12 games for Manchester United, he’s played excellent, he’s fit as a fiddle. You need the most experienced players at the tournament. He knows his way around all these tournaments. You need people like that. You need characters like that. When it comes to those tough games, and you need that experience, you’re not going to have it.”

It’s not just Rio who England are taking the piss out of either. The manager thinks Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry, Scott Parker and Jordan Henderson are all more worthy of a place in his team than Michael Carrick. Our midfielder asked not to be considered if he was just going to be a “bit part” player. Clearly Hodgson doesn’t see Carrick as anything better than a bit part player then. Is this a manager you can have any time for? What an utterly unfathomable decision.

From a United perspective, of course I’ll be happier to see the likes of Rio and Carrick well rested for the start of our season, but I’m disappointed on their behalf, given they are more deserving of a place in the team than plenty of the players selected. It’s frustrating to see our players under appreciated.

However, win, lose or draw, England’s performances in the Euros matter little to me. I can’t pretend I won’t be happy if Terry slips and England’s opponents score. I can’t pretend I won’t laugh if Lampard misses a penalty. It would be nice to get behind the national team and I have no issues with people that do, it’s just not for me.

I’ll just be hoping the United lads manage to do themselves justice, come home injury free and are hungry as ever to lift the trophy that really matters next May.

I’ll leave you with a few words from Scholes on his decision to retire from the national team: “I like being at home as well there was an awful lot of time away from home and my family and for me there’s nowhere better than Manchester.” Hear, hear.

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This is an edited article of one which written by Scott and appeared in this month’s Red News.

Ferdinand will be frustrated he’s put himself in the position where he’s allowed himself to be treated like this. England have taken to piss out of him too many times, yet he always seems willing to go back for more.

First they banned him for eight months for failing to attend a drugs test, despite refusing him to be tested half an hour later and acknowledging that he didn’t take drugs.

Then, after being awarded the England captaincy, he had it taken off him for no reason. The manager didn’t even meet with Rio to tell him of his decision to reinstate John Terry.

Since the last international tournament, when Terry had the captaincy stripped for having an affair with the mother of the children of England team mate, Wayne Bridge, Terry was again dismissed as captain after being charged with the racial abuse of Anton Ferdinand. Terry won’t captain England to Euro 2012 but it looks as though he will be in the squad.

It has been suggested that both Rio and Terry couldn’t go together, so instead of dropping Terry, Rio will lose out. Reports have indicated fitness concerns may be given as an excuse, however Rio has played 38 games this season compared to Terry’s 30.

From a United perspective, it is obviously great if Rio gets the summer off, but I do wish he would stop allowing England to humiliate him like this. He may well announce his international retirement, which now is akin to telling the bird that just dumped you that you didn’t want to be with her anyway, honest.

The team will be announced tomorrow at 1pm.

Rooney broke Law 12 and was charged with using “offensive, insulting and/or abusive language”. Despite players directing this language at referees and opponents on a weekly basis and receiving no punishment, the FA banned Rooney for two games. They claimed that because his language had been directed at a camera he deserved a ban, despite the law making no mention or reference to this. According to the FA, abusing a referee is acceptable but saying “fucking” on camera is worthy of a ban.

Regardless, on Friday night, Rooney lost his temper and took a swipe at his opponent in England’s game against Montenegro. He managed some control, pulling back before making any real contact, and the player accepted his hand straight away. However, the referee was left with little option but to send him off.

Rooney now stands to miss England games in next summer’s Euro 2012 and the FA are all too aware of how important he is to the team. They have put in an appeal to UEFA in the hope he will receive just a one match ban.

“We have been working very hard behind the scenes to ensure that we are prepared to support Wayne in any way we can,” said the FA’s director of communications, Adrian Bevington. “If it does lead to an appeal process, or any supplementary evidence we can submit to support him, we are not disputing that he was sent off for a red-card offence, but it is very important to us as an organisation that we try and look after all our players. And I would like to say, on the record, that Wayne conducted himself incredibly well after the game. He was very apologetic and I felt he handled it very maturely. We will do all that we can to try and ensure that Wayne is available to us as soon as possible in the finals.”

This statement is particularly interesting when you consider that Rooney “conducted himself incredibly well” after the West Ham game too and was “very apologetic” then as well. He even released a statement saying how sorry he was. The FA didn’t take that in to consideration in his appeal though and banned him for two games, meaning he missed out on our crucial FA Cup semi-final against City.

Whilst of course I want the best for Rooney in this situation, I won’t lose any sleep if the FA find England without their best player for two or three games.

“The FA may realise who has produced more players for their country than any club in the world,” said Ferguson this summer. “Maybe they will get some joy from it and realise how important we are to England instead of treating us like shit.”

What goes around comes around.

This newspaper clipping, taken from March 1966, shows the opinion of referee Concetto Lo Bello that Manchester United were better than the International team, who went on to win the World Cup a few months later.

Concetto Lo Bello was an Italian referee who holds the record for taking charge of the most Serie A games. His career lasted 30 years and throughout the 1960s he was regarded as one of the world’s finest referees.

Two years after making these comments about United he refereed the European Cup final between us and Benfica at Wembley.

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Newspaper clip from Manchester United football book

“I spoke with the players and personally with some players, and I spoke with the squad before I decided that John Terry will be the captain,” said Capello. “All the players were happy because John Terry was always a very important leader on the pitch and to the team.”

After announcing to the press that he was likely to give the armband back to Terry, Capello headed to Old Trafford. He was supposed to meet with Rio but the press claimed no official meeting had been arranged, so Rio didn’t go running around trying to find him.

Capello has been asked today as to why, a whole week later, he still hasn’t spoken to Rio about taking the captaincy off him and replacing him with the shamed John Terry.

“I know that Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard are not fit. I knew it was the moment, with one game which is so important, to have one captain like John Terry,” said Capello. “I tried to meet him (Ferdinand) when Manchester United played against Marseille but he told me no. I can understand everything, but I need to make decisions. I think I will be happy and will meet him in the future. It didn’t happen, he didn’t come. Its a question for him, not for me. I was in the directors’ box. You have to ask him, okay?”

Sadly, it appears as though Rio’s club team mate, Wayne Rooney, is amongst those giving his backing to Capello and Terry.

“For us as players it’s down to the manager who he picks as captain,” he said. “There is nothing we can do to influence Fabio Capello’s decision. I don’t think Rio Ferdinand is fit and he hasn’t played for us for a while at United, so the manager has to make that decision. The captain has to wear the armband. You have to shout and be a leader but I have said many times that John Terry, even when he is not the captain, is a massive leader for us.”

Cheers Wayne. How Rio could even consider playing for this man and amongst those players is beyond me. Every England player asked has said they’re “100% behind Terry” and not a single one of them has spoken out over how badly Rio has been treated. I’d love to hear what Gary Neville would have made of the disgraceful behaviour of the manager and team mates in light of the treatment of Rio. Turns out that Terry isn’t the only England player who doesn’t give a fuck about his team mate…

Sadly, less than a year later, Rio has had the armband taken away from him and Fabio Capello didn’t even have the decency to talk to him first.

He talked to the newspapers and basically said John Terry was going to get it because Rio gets injured. He didn’t confirm this was what was going to happen but more or less said that was the deal.

He then came to Old Trafford to watch United vs Bolton but didn’t make any formal arrangements to meet Rio, despite telling the press he intended to “talk to” our player then. I guess Rio wasn’t going to run around after him, Fabio didn’t run around after Rio, so they didn’t meet.

That evening, Capello announced that Rio was no longer captain and that after a year without the captaincy, Terry had been punished enough.

When Terry had the captaincy taken away from him, Capello met with him to explain why. We’re not just talking about the morals of the player, because where England players are concerned, Terry is no worse than plenty of others. The issue is with the dressing room. How can you have a captain who is having it off with the mother of his team-mates’ children behind his (and his wife’s) back? If it had been Coleen Rooney who had been wooed by JT and Wayne Rooney who said he wouldn’t be going to the World Cup, would Terry have even got near the team again, let alone had the armband returned? No way. If something is wrong and deserved punishment, it shouldn’t matter which team mate is getting fucked over, whether it was Bridge or Rooney, Milner or Lampard.

So, Terry deserved an explanation but apparently Rio, whose only crime is being injured, doesn’t. Still, maybe there’s some justification behind Capello’s decision, even if there is no justification for the way he has gone about it.

Let’s have a look at the injuries then in the 6 games that have been played since the World Cup.

vs Denmark – Terry played, Rio injured.
vs France – Terry injured, Rio played.
vs Hungary – Terry played, Rio injured.
vs Montenagro – Terry injured, Rio played.
vs Switzerland – Terry injured, Rio injured.
vs Bulgaria – Terry injured, Rio injured.

Both Terry and Rio have been injured for 4 of the 6 games.

So the injuries excuse is rubbish so essentially, for whatever reason, Capello wants Terry as his captain. He made the decision soon after Rio lifted the European Cup with United on a night when Terry missed what would have been the winning penalty and wandered around the pitch crying, making no effort to support his team mates. I can only assume Capello is drawn to losers… the reason why he took the England job in the first place no doubt.

So, what does Rio do now? Not face to face, but again through the press, Capello has said that Rio is still a very important player. Is that good enough for Rio? England have taken the piss out of him. If his injuries are an issue, then take the armband off him and give it to someone who isn’t injury prone too. If his injuries are an issue, then take the armband off him and give it to someone deserving, not someone who shamefully had it stripped off them after doing the dirty on an England team mate.

What consquences this decision has on the England team is not my concern, although you don’t have to be a genius to work out that JT isn’t the most popular man in the England camp, particularly after his World Cup press conference stunt, so it’s hard to imagine everyone in that dressing room will be overjoyed that Terry is captain and the more popular Rio Ferdinand got fucked over in the process. But what is important to us is how it effects our player. He’s been embarrassed by the decision of the FA and Capello and it’s not nice to watch. Will this have a negative effect on him?

Quite honestly, the only bad thing Rio could do in this situation is to carry on playing for England. Fancy having to endure lining up behind Terry, the new captain, knowing that the job should be yours. It’s humiliating.

Like Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs before him, Rio needs to get his priorities sorted, and England have given him a great excuse. Quitting International football will give him have a longer club career, representing a team who have always stood by him.

So come on Rio, do the right thing. Don’t just hand over your armband but your boots too.

UNITED > England.

“It gets out of hand, ridiculously so,” said Foster. “You have to perform amazingly well in every single game. You could win and people would still say Manchester United should be doing better than that, should be winning by four or five goals. I just thought it was too much. I see myself as a winner, I am competitive even if I am only playing a video game, but United is another step up the ladder of mental toughness and strength. There is not as much pressure even with England, where every little thing gets scrutinised. United have their own ethos that comes from within. Winning is all. Even practice matches were very intense, win at all costs. You’d see tackles flying in and little scuffles all the time, but that is what United are. That is what they carry on to the pitch on a Saturday and you’ve got to admire them for that. When they were 2-0 down at Blackpool, for instance, I knew they would come back and win. They have that toughness. It’s expected.”

Foster has previously called life at United “cut throat” and not for him, an opinion he stands by today.

“I don’t want to be accused of lacking ambition, I think every professional cares, but I can move on from a defeat pretty much as soon as I step off the pitch,” he added. “I want to enjoy my football, then get home to my family, that’s what matters to me.”

“That mentality comes from the confidence of winning,” he said. “Winning things would help. But we [at England] have to get into the situation to win things. And the truth is, we haven’t. Finding the formula, you could say, is part of management. The manager has it at Manchester United. You look at the game on Saturday. We’re down, he sends on two attacking players and that puts you on the front foot. You respond to that. It stems from the manager, you don’t want to go into the dressing room and face him if you’ve left something on the pitch. But that said, it’s not just management. Up till now as players we’ve not done our bit. There’s no hiding from that.”

Now, I am not pretending I have never heard our fans give the players stick or boo the team, because I have, and it embarrasses me. This season against Sunderland, for example, we went in 1-0 down at half time. The whistle was met with some boos from around the ground, which I found hugely shameful. Thankfully, a chorus of “we love United we do” was sung in response sharpish as the players walked to the tunnel, with far more fans understanding what the role of a football supporter is. Six minutes after the restart, Dimitar Berbatov scored.

You aren’t always going to like what you see at your football ground, regardless of how much money you’ve paid, but as a supporter, your job is to support the team.

Charlton Athletic finished 7th in the Premier League six seasons ago, just 7 points away from the top four. In the season just gone they were in League One and finished 4th, 11 points off top spot. Still, they drew an average attendance of over 17,000. A season tickets can cost £425 at The Valley.

Nine years ago, Leeds United were playing Champions League football. In the season just gone they were in League One and drew an average attendance of over 23,000. A season ticket can cost £480 at Elland Road.

A season ticket at Old Trafford for next season can cost £513, to put in to perspective just how much these two examples of fans pay to support their team.

If you pay for your ticket, are you paying for your right to boo if your players don’t perform? Your hard earned wage goes on spending the best part of one day of your weekend on a ticket for the football, whilst the players you are watching play earn several times the amount you earn in a year in just one week. The best doctors in this country earn in a year what Wayne Rooney does in a week.

Yes, the money in football is ridiculous, but then, the money football brings in is equally ridiculous. Our Champions League win alone in 2008 saw us collect £80m and Ronaldo earned £5.3m from us that season. So yes, footballers earn stupid amounts of money, but believe you me, the clubs can earn a hell of a lot more. But more often than not, when the team doesn’t play well and the fans moan about how much money they’ve paid to watch that performance, it’s the players they whinge about, on their massive salaries, not the clubs for ripping you off… or in the case of England supporters, the FA.

Last night, England put on a truly awful performance against Algeria and finished the game with a poor 0-0 draw. They now have it all to do in the final game of the group and may not get through to the next round, where they would have to play either Germany or Ghana. Let’s be honest, even with a few beers down my neck and “Vindaloo” playing full-blast through the pub’s speakers, there wasn’t much to enjoy about what we saw yesterday. With Rooney, the only player I was interested in, playing like dog shit and his team mates following suit, I was left wondering what on earth I was doing there.

The City fans were calling Rooney a twat, the United fans were giving as good as they got reminding the bitters that Rooney was their only hope and slagged off Shauny Wright Wright Wright and Gareth Barry, and everyone called Lampard a fat bastard, Terry a Chelsea rentboy and Gerrard a scouse bastard. Mmmm, one big happy England family. The anger and frustration built as the game went on and more alcohol got drunk. When the final whistle went there was total disbelief. As if England had played that badly and as if they couldn’t even come close to scoring against Algeria.

We carried on drinking and I milled about until I found company more willing to talk about United’s debt than England’s woeful performance and then I got a call. “You see what Rooney said after the game? Had a pop at all the England fans who were booing!”

I hadn’t heard any booing, although it didn’t come as a surprise to learn that’s what England fans had been doing, but I couldn’t quite believe that Rooney had openly come out to criticise them.

England fans will believe that because they’ve travelled all that way and spent all that money, they have the right to voice their displeasure at such a dire performance. I totally agree they have the right but it depends how they view their role as a “supporter”. I ask of them the same I asked of the individuals who ripped Berbatov to shreds at Ewood Park last season: what are you trying to achieve? Is booing the players going to make them play better? Are they playing like shit out of choice but now you’ve booed them they are going to make the choice not to play badly? Or are you totally demoralising them? Are you making them angry and frustrated and like they have nothing to play for? If their own fans hate them so much, then what is the point?

I sat in my seat for ages after the final whistle following our 4-1 defeat against Liverpool the season before last. Maybe I was just stunned or numb, I’m not sure, but there were quite a few of us around. We had applauded our players off the pitch and sung of our love for them, despite the agonising feeling that losing to your rivals, and possibly gifting them the title, brings.

“I am disappointed with the behaviour of those so-called fans,” said Evra after being booed off the pitch for France following their defeat to Nigeria in a friendly a few months after that Liverpool game. “They should be supporting their team instead of whistling. Manchester lost a big game at Old Trafford against Liverpool 4-1, however the fans still applaud us off the field. They understand there are off days in a football team’s life. After that defeat we won the league.”

Rooney’s outburst will be criticised. They’ll question his professionalism and they will wonder whether he is in a position to talk of the fans this way. But the point is, Rooney was subjected to something he is not used to. He played badly, likely saw the fans shouting all the abuse that comes with playing badly for England, and was booed off the field. At United, he is untouchable, but last night he experienced something pretty shocking.

I for one applaud what he said. England fans are out of control. If they want to boo, that is their right, but they will contribute to their own team’s downfall. Maybe that is what they want? Maybe they enjoy having something to bitch and moan about? But if you sit there booing your own team and slagging off your own players, don’t expect them to come out fighting for the shirt in the following game. I’d love Rooney to score in the next game and stick his fingers up at those mugs in the stands. Really give them something to boo about, lad.

Alternatively, just retire from International football and leave them to it. We’ll sing your name louder than ever next season because we appreciate you more than that lot ever will.

Being a football supporter doesn’t mean you never get fed up with your team and you’re never critical of your players. You obviously don’t become a robot stripped of emotion but you should be able to bite your tongue and get behind your team. If England’s campaign ends at the group stage, then booing the players off in that final game against Slovenia is more understandable, whilst still not a tact I would go for with my team. But to boo them now is madness. That is not a motivation to do well. When England go home, whenever that may be, the players and the manager will be blamed, but it is those fans out there, who’ve paid a shed load of money and who paint their faces, who have contributed to their own team’s demise, which surely totally contradicts their role as a football “supporter”.

United fans have high expectations, put in place by the all the trophies we’ve won, yet it is a rarity to see such a negative reaction from our fans. No set of supporters is ever perfect, but by and large, we get behind our lads, regardless of the performance or the score. The recent 4-1 defeat at the hands of Liverpool is a prime example. You look at England fans, whose team have won one trophy ever, and that was 44 years ago, and you think why do they expect to win. Why do they demand such highs from a team who have repeatedly disappointed them? Yet whenever the team fail to meet their expectations, they boo and berate them. Can you imagine if England lost 4-1 to Argentina? To Germany? Our ears would be ringing for days following those boos.

Regardless, we love you Wazza and like Ferguson has spoilt our fans with success, we’ve spoilt you with support. So, White Pele, come home soon and let us remind you what proper supporters do.

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Choose England
Rooney: Fact or fury?

“Nice to see your own fans booing you,” Rooney said. “That’s loyal support.”

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Choose England