The View from the Spaghetti Factory

We already know that some European police forces have a rather more… let’s say “physical” approach than our own Boys in Blue. So when I heard about the trouble at the Man Utd – Roma match last week, the claims of “over-reaction” rang true. Various reports (including BBC Radio 4 news) spoke of innocent families being trapped at the mercy of the ruthless Italian police. I was ready to fume at length about the irony of the situation… while Italian football has hit yet another grim low point, hooliganism in England has been vastly reduced since the bad old days of the 1970s and 80s. And yet we’re still judged according to that outdated reputation. Who are they to batter our fans when they can’t keep their own house in order?

And then I saw the TV footage.

For all I know, there may well have been innocent families trying to enjoy the match, but they weren’t evident. What I saw was a couple of hundred bullish men facing up to the Italian police, their chests and chins thrust forward in the “CAAAAHN THEN YOU FAKKIN WANKAHS!” stance, beer-reddened faces glistening in the floodlights. I’m no expert in crowd behaviour, but I’d suggest that’s probably not the best way to stay out of trouble.

We’ve become smug about our gentrified football industry with its prawn sandwiches, celebrity guests and sponsored family enclosures. However, there’s a danger that we’re blind to a new emergence of violence. Alex Ferguson isn’t always a reliable commentator on wider football matters; the protective leniency he shows to his own players is like that of a proud grandfather. However, I thought he was right on the mark when he claimed that a “mocking culture” in our society was behind the negative behaviour of England fans in the recent Euro 2008 qualifiers.

It doesn’t take a huge psychological leap to see how that could be connected with the prevalent “Me Me ME!” attitude in England… and from there to the self-righteous, seething arrogance of that small minority of Man Utd fans at the Roma match. Far from being unfairly victimised by over-zealous policemen, some of our football “fans” are starting to believe that they have a divine right to set their own standards of behaviour.

Can readers suggest a well-known London resident and friend of George Bush who is also guilty of this, I wonder? ;-)

When you hear football fans booing their own team, you generally conclude that the team is underperforming quite badly. This is nothing to do with the result; there’s no shame in being thrashed by a much better team if the players have tried their best. We don’t expect to win all the time (I can’t speak for fans of certain Premiership corporate marketing conglomerates, obviously) but we expect some passion and determination from the players.

The general consensus is that England showed none of these qualities during the two recent Euro 2008 qualifiers, but even during my eyeball-poppingest, hair-tearingest moments watching the matches, I couldn’t feel comfortable hearing the boos, jeers and taunts *during* the match.

Speaking on the Guardian’s football podcast, Kevin McCarra pointed out that the whole hysteria has been largely media-driven, and I totally agree. Yes, the England team is going through a very shaky patch, but there would have been considerably less bravado among certain sections of the supporters if it hadn’t been for the spluttering ad hominem attacks on McClaren in the tabloid press between the two matches. Jeering the players and coach during the match is not going to solve anything. Nor is making aggressive advances on the England team bench, as a small number of knuckle-draggers apparently decided to do.

That said, though, it’s pretty clear that we have reason to criticise Steve McClaren. The warning signs were there in the friendly against Spain, when he made random scattergun substitutions without any semblance of tactical planning. This cluelessness continued through to the Israel qualifier. Why was the fast, creative right-winger Aaron Lennon on the left? Why was solid central defender Carragher at left back, uncomfortable with the attacking wing play demands of that role? And for the umpteenth time, why did he perservere with the unworkable pairing of Gerrard and (out-of-sorts) Lampard in central midfield?!

The selection was better in the next match, against Andorra, but even victory couldn’t disguise the low morale. Amid the unpleasant taunts and jeers, the chant of “only one David Beckham” was at least excusable for the playful humour… and, let’s face it, uncomfortable aptness.

One of Beckham’s main contributions to England was his ability to take charge and increase his workrate when the rest of the team was in disarray; thankfully, Steven Gerrard showed exactly this spirit in the Andorra match, taking charge in every area of the field and scoring two vital goals. If he can keep doing that, we might not need a Beckham revival, but then it wouldn’t hurt to have them both doing that!

At the other end of the scale, the ignoble award for the week’s football goes to Wayne Rooney. At only 21, he’s a bit young to be trading on past glories, but that’s what he seemed to be doing in both matches. Acting like a petulant teenager, he pouted, swore and underperformed his way through the two matches, reinforcing the theory that McClaren tends to pick teams based on reputation rather than current form. If anything, Rooney had a better attitude at 16 than he does now… sure, he gets the worst of the barracking and niggling fouls from defenders, but so did Lineker, so does Owen, so does Del Piero. Their response has always been to run faster, to try more elaborate tricks, whereas Rooney’s response is to look like the biggest waste of an England shirt in years.