Lescott omitted from England squad
PA Photos
Joleon Lescott has played regularly for Manchester City
Manchester City defender Joleon Lescott has been told he will not be included in the England squad to face the Netherlands when it is announced on Thursday.
Lescott was at the heart of the Three Lions defence that recently kept a clean sheet in victory over Spain late last year, and was expected to be included in temporary manager Stuart Pearce's first squad for the friendly.
However, he has already been informed he has been overlooked on this occasion, with Pearce keen to evaluate other defensive options.
"I have been told I am not involved," said Lescott. "It is a chance for other players to get involved and prove what good players they are."
It is widely expected that Pearce will name a youthful squad for the friendly encounter, with Tom Cleverley and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain expected to be among a number of uncapped or inexperienced players named.
Lescott's club team-mate Micah Richards will also be hoping to be included, after being frequently overlooked by Fabio Capello during the latter stages of his reign.
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I remember the good old days when talent scouts from football clubs used to take on kids who were kicking a ball round the streets and them as playing footie on the local pitch.
It were a reet celebration if your nipper were taken on by local club, the bigger the better.
They used to train em up, and look after em til they were old enough to play.
Thirty bob a week they used to get until they got into the first team then they got a fiver.
We could eat Hovis for tea, all week.
Them were the days.
None of this namby pamby, no contact football like we have today. If it were wet and you headed the ball then, it would give you brain damage, not like these table tennis balls they use today.
When you were fouled you knew it. If the magic sponge and cold water didnt work, the ref said,"Bugger off", an you were taken off to the local infirmary by the St Johns Ambulance.
Transfer deals were talked of in big money in them days. I remember one player, I forget his name, went from one club to another and five hundred pounds changed hands, along with a bottle of pop and a fish supper.
I remember, not long after that we won the world cup, around 1966 and we had a bigger street party than when old Queen was crowned.
I never did work out who Accrington Stanley was, though.
most successful teams have a blend of experienced players ,journeymen and emerging players. the art of the manager is to get the right recipe from the talent available to create a winning formula. by creating a team from untried and inexperienced players at international level would be quite radical, whether it would work or not ? sod knows
hope jt is fit and well for the euros , otherwise england , just like cfc , might just suffer from a leaky defence. as yet both teams cannot find a suitable replacement
I'd like to see a team picked from the developing talents. Look at the youngsters who are out there now. They look like the best crop of talent that any England Manager has been able to call on for a generation. You'll all be able to add in your favourites but picking from these gives me a real buzz: Hart, Micah Richards, Jones, Smalling, Walker, Adam Johnson, Cleverly, Welbeck, Sturridge, Even Milner and Rooney are hardly pensioners . Feed a core of experience in [and with Gerrard playing his best for two years he'd be a good start] and you've got the makings of something special.
Fair comment Nikita, but I can't stand this sort of slimy comment. There's no point in shouting about racism in the game if you ignore it in any form on these pages. Thank God that many of the intended victims have the intelligence and maturity to treat it with the contempt it deserves and ignore it. But when its in a wider arena and can be emulated by the brain dead thugs that support it its surely right to say "Not on this patch, Son. Shut up and sod off".
