England through to the World Cup

England beat Austria and Poland to win their World Cup qualifying group. They will be going to Germany in the summer of 2006 to take part in the greatest football competition of all and take with them the hope and expectation of one of the worlds great footballing nations.

Brazil, Argentine, Germany, Italy, France, Holland all await them as do teams from Africa, Asia and from everywhere. There are only 238 days to go.

The Premiership returns and footballers from around the world again gather in the cities of England, to forget their national ties, to lose their loyalty to home and to play for the shirt of clubs founded in the industrial centres of a once green and pleasant land.

International players now adorn all the Premiership clubs and the openess of the English game to outsiders reflects an openess of a society that offers refuge and a place for incomers. The crowds want to watch talent and skill, to see verve and passion and fairplay and a level pitch for all.

The players that now represent England have at their clubs played and trained with the very best from around the world and often been managed and developed by the best managers from around the world. The game in England is stronger and better for the contributions and influences of footballing cultures from other nations and other continents.

Our players and clubs have gained and the fans thrilled by Ronaldo, Zola, Hasselbaink, Henry, Okokcha, Viduka, Cisse or any other local hero cannot think of these young men as just foreigners.

Strangely as the England team progressed to the World Cup finals the newspaper writers filled their time by another round of attacks on the team manager, a Swedish man called Eriksson. Eriksson was given a contract by the English Football Association to manage the team but now its seems that some people think this contract is too generous.

Some people also think that the manager should be an English man and some people think that the manager of Middlesborough, who has won the Carling Cup, should be the new boss.

Strange stuff but no stranger than a lot of other rubbish that has emanated from the what they call they corridors of power and what Premiershipdiary calls "the Snakepit." (no.5 - www.premiershipdiary.com)

Manchester United visit Sunderland and they will be able to field eleven of the most talented footballers you could wish to see. Of all the talent they can put out on the pitch, of all the talent that England can put out on the pitch there is one young man who seems to be on a little level above the rest.

Wayne Rooney graces the game with natural ability and vision and power and control and a superb footballing intelligence. Fans adore him and on his youthful exuberance the hopes of England in Germany may rest. Hopefully the fools who write rubbish in newspapers will learn to treat him, his family and girlfriend with respect and hopefully he will grace the world stage in 2006.

Whatever, he plays for England and the beautiful game and the World Cup is coming and its only 238 games to go.