Johnny Foreigner

Chelsea and Manchester United fans, you know those two players who electrified last season for you, Didier Drogba and Cristiano Ronaldo? Yeah, well it's their fault that England are rubbish. Arsenal supporters, you shouldn't be cheering on Cesc Fabregas because just by being here he's harming your country. And any Liverpool fan bearing the name 'Torres' on the back of your shirt, hang your head in shame. Because apparently it's Johnny Foreigner's fault that Steve McClaren's men are languishing mid-table in their Euro 2008 group.

I mean honestly, are we supposed to believe this rubbish? England's problems are all of their own doing, and no amount of blaming and pointing at the Premier League's foreign legion can change that. How about instead of looking at the foreign players, you look at who you have got to choose from, namely players from three of the top clubs in the world in Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool and top performers from a dozen or so clubs in a rapidly improving Premier League.

Why should top flight managers care about the England team? Only eight out of the 20 are English. Should Rafa Benitez ditch Pepe Reina, Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres in favour of Chris Kirkland, Danny Murphy and Emile Heskey? No, because the Spanish trio are much better players.

Offer any English supporter of a Big Four club the choice between their club winning the Champions League or their country winning the World Cup and 99 times out of a 100 they'll choose the former. Fans of Liverpool and Manchester United will laugh at you for even posing the question.

Because that is the cold hard fact. The Premiership doesn't care about England. The national team's supporters are mainly made up of fans of lower league clubs. Sure when the big tournaments come around the hype will begin, you'll be given the illusion that the whole country is cheering on the 'Three Lions' (those of us in Wales aren't by the way) but fans of the big clubs couldn't really care less.

Until England realise that the problems lie with their poor management and not the Spanish, African and Portuguese influence in the top league, then their problems will continue. How do they sort it out? That's for another day...