Before the World Cup started a large number of you said you weren’t interested in watching England. Has the positivity and success got you back like many others in the country?

If given the choice, I still rather see Burnley get to the League Cup final

I think this World Cup has truly brought back a large number of supporters back into the fold. Whether we get to the final or not my view is that it has re-ignited a passion for fans in the national team. I think also the weather has had a big play in the mood of fans.....

I'm holding my hand right high up!!!

I expected them to all be on a beach now or back at pre season training.

I did add I would love for them to prove me wrong....... and they're trying their hardest to do that!

So yes "I'm back" as you put it.

My only major concern now is Putin. He will surely have a plan up his sleve. I would seriously be keeping an eye on the hotel chef from Thursday onwards IF we do the business v Croatia.

I couldnt care less if we win it or not

Joe14 wrote:My only major concern now is Putin. He will surely have a plan up his sleve. I would seriously be keeping an eye on the hotel chef from Thursday onwards IF we do the business v Croatia.

I think the Croats need to be careful - they beat Russia after all and it leaves Putin free to get England to receive the trophy from him and that will be his chance to show the World he's such a nice guy...

cutsy123 wrote:I couldnt care less if we win it or not

What makes you dislike the national team so much then Cutsy?

What I've seen from this England team is the togetherness grounded approach with no billy big bo!!ox characters. The Sean dyche blueprint is in vogue I'm sure southgate as picked a lot up from his visits to turf moor.So it's all positive from me.

I'm delighted with England's progress. But no, I'm not going overboard. I follow England and want them to win as much as the next man; but to say I was an England fan would still be over stretching it.

I went into this tournament feeling a bit ‘meh’ about it all. Subsequently England, and the tournament itself, have surpassed my expectations.
I’m not quite singing ‘It's Coming Home’ yet, but I’m quite enthused by England’s success. I hope, regardless of result, the Team perform well on Wednesday.

The breweries, pizza companies and online betting firms will all
have been doing cartwheels when we beat Sweden, thus continuing the binge fest.

They're lovin' it. Big time.

If we win it I’ll be very pleased for my 6 year old boy who gets the chance to witness a possible once in a lifetime scenario.

As for myself, I’m still not really fussed either way.

Surely you are kind of born in to supporting England (insert country here) as you are to supporting Burnley.

Always considered it one and same thing, albeit the Burnley moments are more personally rewarding given the intensity and the personal sacrifice we all make to support them.

One things for sure, there's no need to be churlish about it. If you can't feel there's a palpable swagger in the national psyche and can't recognise some creditable characteristics in this particular England squad, then you are following the wrong sport.

Makes no difference to me at all. I'm a Burnley fan who watches England and wants them to win. I hope England win the World Cup, really do, but my concern was, is and always will be Burnley.

I don't give a toss either, never cared about the England team and don't now they're doing better. International football just doesn't interest me, it's a bit crap. I'd take Burnley getting to the next round of the Europa League over England winning the World Cup.

I know some who's yet to watch any of England's games in this world cup.

He won't even come round mine whilst the games are on.

I didn't think I was that bothered about the National side.

Turned out that was all pretence given how I reacted to the penalty win on Tuesday. I went bleedin' mental

Pearcey wrote:What makes you dislike the national team so much then Cutsy?

Il be happy if we win it but the national side doesnt interest me. Jus looking forward to next season

I expected England to finish bottom of the group, so have been surprised by their success so far.

It’s been an excellent World Cup, but I can’t get excited by this England team for some reason. I’m really not bothered if they win on Wednesday or not. I think their performances at the previous 4 or 5 tournaments has killed off the excitement I used to have for the national side.

I am still not bothered, but then I'm not English

Given the choice between England winning the World Cup and Burnley losing their opening league game of the season or England getting beat by Croatia and Burnley winning their opening game which one would you prefer to see happen?

sculptureofman wrote:I expected England to finish bottom of the group.

In a group with Panama and Tunisia, really?

sculptureofman wrote:I expected England to finish bottom of the group, so have been surprised by their success so far.

It’s been an excellent World Cup, but I can’t get excited by this England team for some reason. I’m really not bothered if they win on Wednesday or not. I think their performances at the previous 4 or 5 tournaments has killed off the excitement I used to have for the national side.

You sound like my mate

I’m loving it! Like others I really wasn’t that excited about the prospect of a World Cup this year, maybe because I was too wrapped up in our own success. But I very much do care about what happens over the course of this week. Seeing England win a World Cup would be the footballing experience of a lifetime. I’m don’t understand those who say ‘I’m just a Burnley fan, I’m not that bothered’ as I’ve never found it difficult to support both. Domestic and international football are completely separate entities and I’m loving the fact that my teams in both those spheres are delighting me this year.

I understand that it’s a given that Burnley comes first and I wasn’t suggesting otherwise. I fell out of love with England after following them Home and away for 10 years. My last game was against Croatia with the Wally and Brolley in charge. I’d had enough. All I ask is that the players want to play and give it their all. We’re getting that now and I’m being sucked right back in.

Can't understand any football fan saying their not bothered about the result in a world cup semi-final game.
It's a real difficult tournament to win as we have seen with the pedigree of teams that went out early doors
Get behind your national team you miserable sods

There has been some fantastic games this time round, and it has grabbed the nations attentions, even more so with our country doing well and we have every chance, i admit i wasnt too bothered until our 6 1 hammering of Tunisia and our gutsy performance against a disgraceful, cheating Columbia, so like most patriots i will be cheering the lads on, they have put so much effort in, unlike previous tournaments ive watched in the past, it must be good stuff even the missus has watched a few games. COME ON ENGLAND, oh and COME ON OUR BELOVED CLARETS.

I can never understand these "given the choice" arguments that always crop up. It's not mutually exclusive to want England and Burnley to win things.

Plenty of hypocrites on this forum. I’m sure almost every single person who said that they didn’t care about England, and those that still do, will be tuning in on Thursday.

For some people it became cool to tell everybody how little you cared about the national team, blind to the sheer irony.

And why the comparisons to Burnley? I love fillet steak but that doesn’t mean that I don’t care for a curry. In fact, if you’re a Burnley fan then you would surely want England success considering that one of our players could be coming home with a winners medal. Strange bunch, some of you.

Ric_C wrote:I can never understand these "given the choice" arguments that always crop up. It's not mutually exclusive to want England and Burnley to win things.

They are not arguments they're just throwaway hypotheticals, you know the kind of stupid things you discuss on a messageboard. Do you really think some people believe they have to choose one or the other in real life?

For me I was just interested how many posters on here would value Burnley winning a single game over England winning the world Cup. It seems ludicrous that any Burnley fan would think this (non-English excluded) but seeing how obsessive some people are about Burnley on here I bet there's a fair few that would rather Burnley win a single league game over England winning a World Cup.

Rileybobs wrote:I love fillet steak but that doesn’t mean that I don’t care for a curry.

you can have a filet steak curry, you know.

quoonbeatz wrote:you can have a filet steak curry, you know.

That would be the culinary equivalent of a Burnley player scoring the winning goal in a World Cup final.

The World cup has been a success so far because:

a. We in the UK don't have to get up in the middle of the night to watch a game.

b. There has been a complete absence of the media digging the dirt on the England squad.

c. The England squad is low profile, no WAGS headlining the show and no tripe about what 'goody bags' each player will be getting from Apple & Armani et al.

d. There is a lack of nob headedness from the Inger Land nob heads at the venues.

e. The England manager isn't from the 'look at me' brigade.

Long may it continue.

I was 100% against Southgate getting the job because his U21's were incredibly dull to watch. He's changed my opinion of him because of his calmness, modesty, enthusiasm and the fact this is the first squad I've seen any real togetherness in since 1990.

Whatever happens from now I think he/the team have done very very well

Pearcey wrote:What makes you dislike the national team so much then Cutsy?

I was thinking this. If you are a football fan why wouldn't you want your national team to do well? I used to say that many United fans were shocking for only being United fans and having no actual interest in football generally, but it now seems to become almost the norm. It's a bit like the ones who think that football starts and ends with the PL, there's no football league, no non-league, nothing of interest happens outside the PL. South America is not a rich place to live and many of the fans of clubs there have to save up for 2/3 games a season, hence many of their leagues, even Brazil, don't have massive average attendances, but look at the sheer numbers at the World Cup. It was almost shameful that Colombia outnumbered us so much at that game, and look at the Argentinians and Brazilians.
If you are a football fan shouldn't you take an interest in things other than just your own club? I watch Stanley occasionally and thoroughly enjoy it, I watch other football because I love the game, even Scottish football (don't scoff).

Get behind the team guys because when a country wins the world cup it causes a surge of interest that in some cases lasts for life. Even my wife, who knows nothing about the game and actually hates it, has figured out that Sterling has been sh!te, she said so, so it must be true.

Rileybobs wrote:Plenty of hypocrites on this forum. I’m sure almost every single person who said that they didn’t care about England, and those that still do, will be tuning in on Thursday.

I really care. But even I won’t be tuning in on Thursday!

martin_p wrote:I really care. But even I won’t be tuning in on Thursday!

D’oh. It’s been a long week.

tim_noone wrote:What I've seen from this England team is the togetherness grounded approach with no billy big bo!!ox characters. The Sean dyche blueprint is in vogue I'm sure southgate as picked a lot up from his visits to turf moor.So it's all positive from me.

Yes this is true,also the squad isn't dominated by the big six,obviously there is Pope,Pickford,Butland,Maguire,Vardy and Loftus-Cheek,even if the adventure ends on Wednesday,and i don't think it will it gives hope too all the Premier League players that if you are performing,Gareth will consider picking you.

England lost me as a fan a long time ago. I just can’t get behind them, which is a shame because Southgate seems to have brought a real unity to this squad (something previously missing).

Still not feeling proper excited but I wonder how much of that is down to the fact that England can never make me feel how Burnley can make me feel. In real terms for me, the height of us reaching the Europe league is bigger than England winning the World Cup. Only Inmho. I am enjoying the atmosphere and togetherness it is bringing though!

tiger76 wrote:Yes this is true,also the squad isn't dominated by the big six.

Every outfield player belongs to one of the big 6 except for Vardy and Maguire. Non of the big 6 have an English keeper so we have the keepers from 7th and 8th in the league.

Not sure why people get obsessed with players getting picked from the big clubs. They tend to play for the big clubs because they are the best players and Southgate has shown if you manage them well and get the togetherness as a team then it doesn't matter what club they play for.

I think, in general, national teams mean more to the people in countries that don't have strong leagues (due to demographics and the economics of today's football). None od the players who've worn a Croatian shirt in this WC play in Croatia and some never have done e.g. Rakitic. Apart from a handful of games in Split very few people attend matches in Croatia as the level is low. Many of the Croatian fans in Russia don't live in Croatia.

Same is true of the Scandinavian countries (except that most of their fans live in their country of origin).

Devils_Advocate wrote:Every outfield player belongs to one of the big 6 except for Vardy and Maguire. Non of the big 6 have an English keeper so we have the keepers from 7th and 8th in the league.

Not sure why people get obsessed with players getting picked from the big clubs. They tend to play for the big clubs because they are the best players and Southgate has shown if you manage them well and get the togetherness as a team then it doesn't matter what club they play for.

I don't think it's just players getting picked from the big clubs per se,in this squad there are no superstars ala Beckham,Rooney,Joe Hart wasn't picked because Gareth rightfully deemed he wasn't playing well enough,Jack Wilshere is another that missed out because the squad wasn't picked just on previous reputation,it's refreshing that a manager is prepared to sacrifice "big" names for the sake of the team/formation.And England are now reaping the rewards,long may this policy continue,it gives hope to people like Tarks that if they impress for their club,it will be noted.

tiger76 wrote:I don't think it's just players getting picked from the big clubs per se,in this squad there are no superstars ala Beckham,Rooney,Joe Hart wasn't picked because Gareth rightfully deemed he wasn't playing well enough,Jack Wilshere is another that missed out because the squad wasn't picked just on previous reputation,it's refreshing that a manager is prepared to sacrifice "big" names for the sake of the team/formation.And England are now reaping the rewards,long may this policy continue,it gives hope to people like Tarks that if they impress for their club,it will be noted.

Yep I agree with most of this and no doubt a Big Sam team would have looked nothing like this for all the wrong reasons. Even so I think its still too clichéd and lazy to just lump big stars as being the problem. Eriksson's teams in 2002 and 2004 were full of big names and stars like Beckham and Gerrard really led by example. We had a real team spirit and fight in those teams and played some brilliant football.

Its about picking the right players whether they are superstars or not and no matter who they play for and then man managing them correctly and I think this is what most of us agree Southgate has done brilliantly

Hi JohnMac,

Your post is spot on.

"The World cup has been a success so far because:

a. We in the UK don't have to get up in the middle of the night to watch a game.

b. There has been a complete absence of the media digging the dirt on the England squad.

c. The England squad is low profile, no WAGS headlining the show and no tripe about what 'goody bags' each player will be getting from Apple & Armani et al.

d. There is a lack of nob headedness from the Inger Land nob heads at the venues.

e. The England manager isn't from the 'look at me' brigade.

Long may it continue."

Were the Welsh getting as excited two years ago after reaching the semi-finals of a major tournament?

Perhaps that's why the English mentality is often looked down upon and why supporting the National team can be a bit of a turn off!

Spijed wrote:Were the Welsh getting as excited two years ago after reaching the semi-finals of a major tournament?

Perhaps that's why the English mentality is often looked down upon and why supporting the National team can be a bit of a turn off!

I don’t understand your point.

Pearcey wrote:Before the World Cup started a large number of you said you weren’t interested in watching England. Has the positivity and success got you back like many others in the country?

I am back and loving it

Rileybobs wrote:I don’t understand your point.

Me neither but that’s no surprise from spijed

Devils_Advocate wrote:Given the choice between England winning the World Cup and Burnley losing their opening league game of the season or England getting beat by Croatia and Burnley winning their opening game which one would you prefer to see happen?

I'd rather see England win the World Cup.

However, if you asked England win the World Cup Final or Burnley win the FA Cup final then it's Burnley every time.