Goodbye England, hello Wanderers (From Bucks Free Press)

Goodbye England, hello Wanderers

10:08am Saturday 3rd July 2010 in

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Was anyone really surprised that England’s World Cup adventure ended in misery and disarray against the Germans on Sunday? Was anyone really surprised to see our hyped-up under-achieving millionaires flop like schoolboy novices as soon as they came up against a half-decent team?

Well, I certainly wasn’t in the least shocked. As I warned in this column two weeks ago, I was certain there would be more tears and mishaps in store for the Three Lions team.

But what I and other armchair pundits do not quite know is what the fall-out will now be. Not over the next few weeks, but over the next ten years.

I think this is a watershed for our national game. So many people are now so disenchanted by the sport that I believe the Premier League is in serious danger of going into terminal decline. Why would anyone pay a small fortune anymore to watch Rooney, Terry and Lampard play when they have been such a let-down for us when it really mattered?

I, for one, won’t be bothering to follow them and I’m looking forward instead to watching Wycombe Wanderers in League 2. Suddenly the allure of following your local team, even a relegated one, is much more attractive than handing over any more cash for the pampered prima donnas who cannot measure up to a discip­lined team from another country.

Goodbye England, goodbye Premiership. I don’t care about you any more. I suspect that, up and down the land, most other football followers will be feeling the same.