A choice tonight between watching England or an mtb ride with a couple of pints after.
Difficult decision to make.!

Difficult decision to make.!

Combine the two. Have the pints first, then push your bike around your local loop for 70 minutes, reach the top of your favourite steep descent, remove your brake pads, and go for it!

All the sensations of watching Engerland, plus biking!

A choice between watching England and doing almost anything else does not a difficult decision make.

You’ve all got old and you’ve all found perspective. Embrace it. There’s very little spectator sport I don’t get twitchy watching now thinking I could be using this time to ride my bike.

i’m actually going to the match tonight 😆

Birthday present from Mrs Doris. Maybe Eng vs Slovenia in a WC qualifier isn’t the most thrilling prospect, but it’s the first time I’ve been to an England match, and the first time at Wembley since Shrewsbury Town made it to the final of the Auto Windscreens Trophy in 1996 😀

I don’t know what she paid for the tickets but i hope she doesn’t see that they seem to be going cheap now 😮

I’ve given up expecting England to do anything useful in a tournament – in fact I can pinpoint the moment. October 2001, the 93rd minute of England vs Greece. We’re 2-1 down, Beckham crosses his fingers, wallops in one last desperate free kick, the pub goes wild. We had snatched a draw against Greece in injury time and yet the next day all the papers were full of headlines like BIG HERO MAN GOAL.

I realised that if we were celebrating a draw against the (then) 57th ranked team in the world like that, the odds probably weren’t great for the actual world cup.

But then there’s always hope, right? I was reading that we’re probably gonna line up tonight with Rashford, Kane and Sterling upfront. What football fan could read that without thinking, in some distant part of their brain, “actually, that could be really really fun to watch”?

We’re surely not just gonna lump it up to Kane all night and watch the Ox run down cul-de-sacs for no apparent reason. It’s actually going to be good.

Isn’t it?

What football fan could read that without thinking, in some distant part of their brain, “actually, that could be really really fun to watch”?

I’ve been through that stage. The excitement of having Lampard/Gerrard/Beckham/Rooney (in his pomp)/Owen in the same team, then watching them pass sideways and fail to score against mediocre opposition.

I’d have a little wager on a 1-1 or 2-2 draw tonight whilst at the ground if I were you. Slovenia need the points to have any chance, I’ve a feeling they may come out all or nothing and everybody likes to turn England over at home….

Think I’ll put a load of random bets on. Final score 1-1 (courtesy of an Engerland defensive howler), then maybe how many time Sterling spoons it into row Z (double figures), how many balls aimed at Kane are over-hit aimlessly, bouncing harmlessly out for a goal kick, Kane to limp off with a hamstring injury halfway through the second half, and will be out for 3 months, that type of (standard Engerland) thing….

Anyone think TV has killed the Game?

All the talk of ludicrous sums of money being paid by TV companies to stream the live game.. do you think thats turned a lot of folk off?
F’rinstance.. the Sky/BBC wars a few years ago whereby £m’s being touted as a 4/5 year streaming deal with the FA.. and the Grass Roots teams falling by the wayside as they train players for them to be snapped up by the bigger teams who reap more money, disproportionately more money than the lower leagues…
Its supply and demand in its truest sense, but is the demand there and if so how does someone measure it?

Quite what goes on in the England Women’s Football setup is quite beyond my simple brain, didn’t the coach recently get booted out for some infringements or other and for us to find out the guy had the same attitude and infringements in previous roles?

Who, dear Lord, makes these appointments and quite how the decision making process is formed is astonishingly lax…

Are the FA really just a bunch of Jaguar drivers dribbling onto their M&S check shirts?

Are the FA really just a bunch of Jaguar drivers dribbling onto their M&S check shirts?

Yep. As long as they get their freebie VIP tickets for themselves and their family, everything else is unimportant.

All the people moaning about Premiership clubs being ruthlessly run as money-making businesses… this is the alternative

Final score 1-1 (courtesy of an Engerland defensive howler),

Sounds about right.

Slovenia to score earlyish (15mins). England to play with no urgency and few chances until the 70th minute, when a wingback will be taken off and an extra forward put on. Turns out the wingback was actually our best player. However, Raheem to ‘make an intelligent run between the centrebacks’ in 82nd minute, fall over someone’s leg and win a penalty. Slovenia hit post in 89th minute.

Slovenia to score earlyish (15mins). England to play with no urgency and few chances until the 70th minute, when a wingback will be taken off and an extra forward put on. Turns out the wingback was actually our best player. However, Raheem to ‘make an intelligent run between the centrebacks’ in 82nd minute, fall over someone’s leg and win a penalty. Slovenia hit post in 89th minute.

There’s a Ladbrooks next door – I’m going to see what odds i can get on this…

There’s a Ladbrooks next door – I’m going to see what odds i can get on this…

Evens?

What’s that you say? A 6-1 victory, driven by a scintillating display of pace, creativity and incisive finishing from our unstoppable young attack? Splendid, splendid. I’ll enjoy that with my £7 pint of Carling later 😀

Incidentally, I have paid £30 for parking this evening. can anyone beat that for value?

English qualifying campaigns are totally pointless. Every time they are top seeds with minimal competition and are pretty much guaranteed to qualify. It’s a bit like celtic in the Scottish Premier league.

The big difference however is that whilst celtic have no competition, at least the fans have a trophy to cheer at the end of the season.

All England ‘win’ is the biennial opportunity to fail miserably as soon as they play anyone remotely useful. The qualifiers are pretty much pointless.

Incidentally, I have paid £30 for parking this evening. can anyone beat that for value?

That’s excellent value, and you can enhance it further by not leaving your car for the duration of the match.

I’ve just had a look and a draw is 4/1

1-1 is 9/1
0-0 is 11/1

Got to be worth a few quid on those odds 🙂

Mrs Binners is usually better at this than me. I should ask her. She correctly predicted Engerland losing 2-1 to Iceland. Paid for a couple of good nights out, did the winnings off that one 😀

90 minutes of the Great Escape

they need banning from the stadium, its awful, id rather listen to a vuvuzela

at least theres usually a story (2-14 excluded, just dire)

Thuggery?.

Surely Cricket is what you’re after or a bit of gratuitous violence?….. 😆

Thug

Hey I was first to shout the 1-1 but I think you’ll be better off with the 2-2. May even get up to 15’s on that? But that will of course require us to score twice…

There was a time when we’d all be predicting a 3-0 win, but all optimism has been slowly and painfully extracted from our bodies and I suppose predicting a draw is at least better than a loss! 😥

When I was younger I may have gone to the pub with mates to watch it, when I was a bit older than that I may have watched it on telly. Now, I’m barely aware of the England games as they are happening.

Footy was never really my game, but I think that people have been put off of England games – especially attending in person – over a number of year by a number of factors.

Increasing ticket prices.

Decreasing quality of performances and ‘brand’ of football – oh no, don’t pass forwards, we might lose the ball, better to pass back, laterally or just hoof it into the box.

Decreasing commitment of players – at the end of the day it is not England who pay them £50k+ per week.

The sheer amount of cheating that goes on.

That’s obviously all my opinion, of course. 😉

I reckon England should create a royal Brexit tournament in which Prince Harry gets to choose a selection of Commonwealth countries for England to beat every four years.

With an oversized trophy and the guarantee of triumph, it would be a great way to avoid ever having to be reminded that England is just another country.

right, well I’m off.

You lot won’t be laughing when Kane scores a hat-trick of bicycle kicks.

Enjoy doris. The atmosphere at my last game (poland) was pretty full on. It was very much like being at an away game on the walk from the tube. Poland in full voice and out chanting us and numbering at times by easily 3 to 1. Have a good one!

Life really is too short to watch Engerland games.

This.

a hat-trick of bicycle kicks.

You won’t even be able to say that after 90 minutes of watching paint dry England.

Of course, I could be wrong and this could be the solitary 3-0 win which allows the English media to crown the team as ‘world beaters’ and ‘among the favourites to lift the World Cup’.

Hope you have a good evening, Doris. Watch out for the Slovenian Ultras.

Thinking of Mexico 86, Italia 90 or Euro 96, you got the feeling that the team was giving it a really good go and could get behind them. I can’t remember the last time I thought England likely to do more than spineless capitulation. I gave up watching them altogether after the Euro debacle last year – watching Wales was way more fun.

I’ve had bets on a draw (0–0 or 1-1) with Rashford as the only England player to score

Kane has the weight of expectation/kiss of death on him from the press and fans, which often goes hand-in-hand with a season ending injury.

I couldn’t get odds on ‘will you lose the will to live while watching this match?’ 😀

loved watching England in the past , one of the highlights of my life was being in Munich with my dad in 2001 to see us beat Germany 5-1 , the genuine excitement of Rooney in Portugal ripping teams apart .
But now i feel like im stuck in some never ending loop of watching a bunch of turgid qualifiers and a sense of dread about tournaments ending with listening to the now traditional Chris waddle rant on radio 5 .
With regards the seats at wembley , its a pain in the arse to get to even if you live in the south east let alone anywhere else in the country . Get the team out round the country , better atmospheres maybe lifting the team to put in watchable performances at best , at worst at least more people will get the chance to watch England live .

The big problem is that in general international football is pretty dull and the best teams hardly play each other. Look at the last Euros, Portugal won it by playing super negative football and hardly won a match in normal time all tournament. The Greece Euros win was even worse. People are fed up with it, then combined with England being rank average and it’s no surprise no one wants to go.

At Wembley stadium in a week or so Spurs play Real Madrid, now which match would you rather blow your money on that or England?

the genuine excitement of Rooney in Portugal ripping teams apart

agreed, was great to watch

Get the team out round the country

and very, very much this

moonsaballoon – Member

loved watching England in the past , one of the highlights of my life was being in Munich with my dad in 2001 to see us beat Germany 5-1 , the genuine excitement of Rooney in Portugal ripping teams apart .
But now i feel like im stuck in some never ending loop of watching a bunch of turgid qualifiers and a sense of dread about tournaments ending with listening to the now traditional Chris waddle rant on radio 5 .What did John Cleese say – It’s not the despair, I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand (think he’s a Spurs fan). It’s easy to ignore England these days.

The Eriksson years were aggravating to watch as the players were actually good – just lacked the mental fortitude that differentiates a QF from a SF / finals side. A serious coach would have made that difference, in hindsight.

Currently sat in the dirty sex pool with a Stella putting a few bets on. How many stereotypes have I just ticked!!!!
Pizza to be cooked and then settle down to huge disappointment. C’mon Engerland prove me wrong.

It looks like i’m the only person on here who’s actually looking forward to to watching it.

Wrightyson getting ready for kick off….

🙂

😉

Whilst i’m spending the time productively, racing digital avatars on an imaginary island.

As soon as the game came on ITV tonight there was a collective groan and the TV went off.

Now if it was an England Rugby Union international that would be a different story 🙂