Retiring after international call-up

[FC Silver Fox]

What is it with players announcing their retirement from international football AFTER they've been called-up to represent their country? We've seen Brown, Robinson and now Simon Davies do it. You'd think they could announce their retirement, for example, after the World cup or at the end of the season so that the manager can make future plans and not waste time selecting them.  Perhaps they're on a power trip and want to make a statement saying "See! I'm good enough to be selected but I've decided to retire at the top."   Alternatively, they may think they won't even be considered for selection to the squad so will just bow out naturally. Their selection just comes as an unwelcome surprise. In the case of Brown and Robinson, they may just feel they're there to make up the numbers so can't be bothered going.

[Lighthouse]

A pointless game a few weeks after a World Cup and a few days before the Prem starts has made players realise what a waste of energy International football is. Both Brown and Robinson are not players that will ever make it as more than fillers for England. They have a big season ahead. Same with Davies. He is carrying an injury and wants to stop all this needless strain of playing games for a team that is not as good as the team he plays for at club level. The World Cup, as I have stated before, is of a lower standard than the Prem.

The pride of playing for your Country has gone. Just look at how players played in the Charity Shield compared to the display for their Country. The reason they didn't retire before being picked is that thay would be a backlash usually from the fans. But everybody can see what a waste of time the games coming up are.

[os5889]

Its a strange one Brian, it seems to me that the World Cup has changed the minds of a lot of players as to what is the pinnacle of a career.

Where for me playing for my country (The Mighty Wales) would be the highest honour and something I would keep doing until my legs fell off and I was told to sod off the tables appeared to have turned. Nowadays the pressure of playing for your country can lead to you being villainised and making your and your families lives uncomfortable.

Take for example the charity shield yesterday, I dont like the players who were booed so vehemently throughout the game (Rooney, Cole, Lampard and Terry) but they gave up their summers and played for England donating all their salary to charity (something I believe started in 2009). Yes they were tripe but I have no doubt they gave their all. Would they have suffered the abuse if they'd done a Scholes or Shearer and gone to the beach...

Playing internationally takes away your holiday and recovery time reducing your career prospects (we wouldn't do community service during our holidays), pays little in comparison to the club football and in todays game the players dont need the money, risks serious injury during meaningless friendlies (Davies was meant to be playing against Luxembourg this week), adds pressure and expectation, and can destroy your career if you make a mistake. Look at Green now, he could very easily become the next Carson.

Is it worth the angst?

[LBNo11]

...although Simon Davies would be a very likely starter for Wales, Brown & Robinson are as stated, just in the squad to make up the numbers. If they all feel that they have had their chance and genuinely want the younger players to be given room for the next step up, then they are to be applauded.

That said, an International match this close to the start of the season is utterly ridiculous, nobody is going to take a chance on being injured before the season starts and so the match will just be a matter of going through the motions. If it is shown on terrestrial TV I will watch it only because Bobby Zamora and Zoltan Gera could feature, but other than that it would have no interest to me.

Maybe International players would have more desire to feature for their respective countries if they weren't subjected to so many pointless friendlies that seem to dilute the exclusivity of wearing the shirt. Certainly under SGE and his trying out 20 players in a game didn't make gaining a cap such an achievement...

[Jimpav]

It seems to me that Paul Robinson has a large chip on his shoulder about not being taken to the world cup. The fact is that they are better keepers than him though.

He has cut off his nose to spite his face it seems because if he had put in a good performance on Wednesday then he would be back in contention.

I can not see David James getting much game time as Championship keeper so that leaves a short list of including Robinson.

[jarv]

I suspect a lot of these retirements is due to capello. Scotland had many under Voghts and then Burley but in between, they came back. I agree with everything said by the rest of you but if the manager is someone you just do not want to deal with, it must be the final straw, on top of travelling to train and then sit and watch the game. You do get a good seat though, and it is free.

[TonyGilroy]

Amongst the reasons that England teams fail is that the priority for most players is their club.

If they don't instinctively feel this they'll soon understand that their club managers demand that their international careers should figure well down their list of priorities.

England won't succeed until English qualified players really want to succeed in the national team as their number one career goal and are fully backed by their clubs. In other words - never.

Allardyce fully backs Robinson of course because it's good for Blackburn that he won't be involved with England but the irony is that he yearns to manage England.

[Jimpav]

All very true Mr Gilroy.

I also think that players need to have more time to train for major tournaments.

Players need time to relax and also to bond. The premier league is so intense. The Chelski and United players took some stick but imagine if you had played the best part of fixtures, plus a lengthy run in FA cup, Carling cup and also Champions league.

Then you have our own players like Pantsil who has done all of this as well as the Africa cup of nations (not this year granted, because of injury bit some of the Chelski players did).

Players need time to bond and form an understanding. Spain disappointed on the footballing masterclass front but they play well as a team. No cliques there.

[HatterDon]

Mr. French Connection, I don't see anything sinister in the timing of Robinson's/Brown's "international retirement." If either had called a press conference three weeks ago to make such an announcement, everyone would have fallen over laughing -- "Who told you Fabio was going to pick you in the first place?"

As for Simon, I don't think there's much more he could have done for Wales than he has done. He's missed a significant patch of the last two seasons and he's fighting for a place on the pitch with Fulham and a new manager. It's the intelligent thing to do to play fewer matches.

In the 45+ years I've been following football, it's been normal for players to announce their international retirement while they're still featuring for their clubs. I don't know many Americans who hammered McBride, Friedel, or Keller for doing the same thing.