I Love England

With England struggling to come up with much in terms of competition at the higher end of the international game, we look just how important money is in the domestic game, and I guess you'd have to say we're not exactly shocked with the results!

Believe it or not, if you spend an absolute fortune on players (like City have) you end up at the top of the pile, whilst if you are a selling club then you probably won't get too far - though Arsenal have proved that getting to the top four can be done effectively on a budget.

When Steven Gerrard announced his retirement from playing football at the international scene, the English midfielder said that he wanted to focus the remaining years of his career by spending it with Liverpool and not having distractions along the way.

The British Football Association has released their propositions and plans of changing the current system of English football and cut down the amount of non-European players that are allowed to play in the leagues of England.

The objective of this change is to help increase the homegrown talent in England as this can permit and given a bigger chance for younger players to rise and have the opportunity to be at the spotlight.

Former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton is regarded as one of the popular names when it comes to opinions on players. He is one of the respected goalkeepers due to his achievements in the game. He currently holds the record for the most number of appearances made by any player for the England national team. He currently stands at 125 appearances for the national team after having played for a period from 1970 to 1990. At this club career, he represented the likes of Leicester City, Nottingham Forest, and Southampton before retiring in 1997 after having played more than 1000 matches.

Former England international Gary Lineker has claimed that Roy Hodgson was responsible for England’s early exit from the World Cup 2014. England suffered the embarrassing group stage exit for the first time since 1958, as they came out of the World Cup after two defeats in the opening matches. The defeats against Uruguay and Italy proved catastrophic for the team, while they could only manage a 0-0 draw with Costa Rica in the final group match. As a result, England players have returned from the tournament much earlier than expected.

Costa Rica manager Jorge Luis Pinto appears to have begun the mind games even before the World Cup 2014 has begun after he suggested that their group stage opponents England do not have precision. England will come into the World Cup looking to win the trophy for the first time since 1966. However, they are not close to being considered as favourites for the title after their repeated failures in major tournaments until now. They also face a tough group stage since they will be up against former world champions Uruguay and Italy along with Costa Rica.

Ashley Cole has announced his retirement from international football after he learned that Roy Hodgson did not include him in the squad for the World Cup. Cole comes on the back of a very disappointing season with Chelsea during which time he has failed to win a major trophy. The 33-year-old is also out of contract at the end of the campaign and there seems to be little indication from the club that they are willing to extend it. Cole retires from England duty after having become the nation’s top appearance maker for a left back.

England will be going to the FIFA World Cup 2014 as one of the rank outsiders of the tournament after having failed to get past the quarter-final stage of a major tournament for the last few decades.

At the last tournament – the Euro 2012, they once again failed to get past this stage in what was Roy Hodgson’s first big job. After having been experienced with the team for the last two years, Hodgson says that they are in a good position to be challenges for the World Cup.

The future of Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole for the England national team has been highly speculated following the emergence of capable replacements in the last few months. Due to their age and concerns about longevity, it has been speculated that manager Roy Hodgson may consider leaving them out for the World Cup 2014.

However, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has insisted that his Chelsea players should be part of the plane to Brazil since he feels that the old-timers will offer a lot to the squad. Lampard and Cole were a major part of the squad that won qualification to the World Cup.

Despite England heading into the World Cup 2014 as rank outsiders to win the tournament, manager Roy Hodgson says that it will be wrong to write of the 1966 winners. England have not lifted a major tournament since this victory, which was achieved in home soil. They have also not been past the quarter-final stage in recent major tournaments.