FA desperate for fans to support England

What would have been a totally meaningless friendly international for England against Hungary at Wembley on 11th August took a new significance with the abysmal performance of the side at the World Cup.

Culls

Now we will be watching and waiting to see if Fabio Capello brings in new young faces and culls the so called ‘Golden generation’ or whether the likes of Terry, Lampard and Gerrard retain their places.

Despite the game having some significance the Football Association are well aware that the football watching public in England are at a low ebb in terms of love for their national side.

Director

Managing director of ‘Club England’, Adrian Bevington told the FA website,

“We accept it is going to take time to rebuild the trust with the fans. It may be the crowd for the Hungary game is low in comparison with other Wembley crowds. That’s understandable.”

As a result of the anger and disappointment about England’s pitiful show in South Africa the FA have slashed ticket prices for the game.

Family

Some prices will be cut by up to a third with a family ticket for two adults and two children reduced to £60.

Seats in the family enclosure will be £20 for adults and £10 for children, while individual tickets will range from £20-£40.

When asked how many tickets had been sold, the FA wouldn’t comment so I would imagine the answer was probably about ten!

Bevington added,

“We fully understand the fans and the wider public anger and frustration. We appreciate that thousands of people spent huge amounts of money to travel to South Africa and understandably feel very let down. We have a responsibility to put immediate and long term plans in place to give England a genuine chance of success in tournaments to come.”

I think Bevington is right when he says it will take time to rebuild the trust with the fans. This generation of players has under-performed and regularly let the fans down. The fiasco of failing to qualify for Euro 2008 under Steve McClaren was followed by the arguably bigger fiasco of performances in South Africa.

Enthusiasm

Unless Capello makes wholesale changes to the side, I cannot see the English public getting up the enthusiasm to support this group of players anymore.

The arguments about whether or not you should boo your own players will no doubt surface again although it is questionable as to whether there will be enough fans there for the players to hear it!