adminLONDON. — The horse bolted 12 years ago, when Jack Wilshere was nine. Slamming the stable door would be impossible as well as small-minded. When the Football Association appointed Sven-Goran Eriksson as England manager in 2001 it erased forever the concept of the country’s team as a single-nation entity, drawn only from English maternity wards.
After Eriksson — with Steve McClaren in between — the FA did it again, hiring Fabio Capello from Italy. Twice in 12 years the game’s governing body trampled the idea that international football is the players, coaches and fans of Nation A against the players, coaches and fans of Nation B.
It resorted to supranational financial doping (through vast salaries) to correct the congenital flaws of players who met the very narrow criterion for being “English”.
Wilshere thinks those restrictions should remain in force.
He is wrong.
The world has changed.
No longer is the location of the bed into which a professional athlete is born the sole determinant of who he should play for
Wilshere has been drawn into an extraordinary Twitter row with Kevin Pietersen amid a backlash against his call for non-English players not to be picked for England.
The Arsenal and England midfielder’s views were also branded “too extreme” by Greg Dyke, whose two predecessors as Football Association chairman also rejecting the youngster’s stance.
The row was sparked by Wilshere’s attempt to clarify comments he made on Tuesday related to the debate over whether Manchester United’s Belgian teenager Adnan Januzaj should be allowed to play for England.
Wilshere claimed on Twitter his views had been misrepresented but then preceded to repeat them, prompting a withering response from Pietersen, who was born in South Africa but is widely regarded as one of England’s best ever batsmen.
The 33-year-old, whose decision to pledge his allegiance to his adopted country has seen him suffer abuse from his former compatriots, asked Wilshere: “Interested to know how you define foreigner . . . ? Would that include me, (Andrew) Strauss, (Jonathan) Trott, (Matt) Prior, Justin Rose, (Chris) Froome, Mo Farah?”
Wilshere responded: “With all due respect Mr Pietersen the question was about Football! Cricket, cycling, Athletics is not my field!”
Pietersen hit back: “Same difference . . . It’s about representing your country! IN ANY SPORT!”
Wilshere initially signed off with, “I agree thats exactly what I was saying . . .”, leaving it unclear whether or not he felt Pietersen should be allowed to play cricket for England.
But he added last night: “To be clear, never said ‘born in England’ — I said English people should play for England.
“Great respect for people like KP, Mo Farah and Wilf Zaha — they make the country proud.
“My view on football — going to a new country when ur an adult, & because u can get a passport u play 4 that national team — I disagree.”
Former England captain Alan Shearer went a step further than Wilshere, telling the BBC: “I’m of the opinion that to be English you should be born in England.”
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger also came out in support of his midfielder .
In an interview with BBC Sport Wenger said: “I agree with him. I always said also an Englishman should manage the England team.”
But Dyke disagreed, insisting it was wrong to ignore players simply on the basis of their birth certificate after confirming the FA was exploring whether Januzaj was eligible for selection.
“We wouldn’t have had Mo Farah on that basis,” he said, speaking at the Leaders in Football conference at Stamford Bridge. “I think that is too extreme.”
Wilshere’s stance also failed to find favour with Dyke’s two predecessors.
David Bernstein said: “I don’t agree with Jack. If the rules permit you to include players who have lived in the country for five years then I believe the football fans of this country would want to see the best team put together, as other sports allow.
“We should be inclusive and try to get the best team that we can on to the pitch. England have underperformed for a long time and if we can get the right team through these means, then I think we should.
“Society is much more fluid and complicated than it was and we shouldn’t be too narrow in our thinking. People from minority communities ought to be able to show how well they have done.” Lord Triesman added: “We live in a world where footballers move around much more, it is a much more global environment.
“The only sensible way to try to deal with it is to have a proper qualification period, a very clear set of rules, and then not to tinker with those.” — Telegraph.
Online Reporter