'Arry gives opinion on Almunia 4 England debate

[donny1013]

Manuel Almunia has once again been championed for an England call-up after his Champions League heroics on Wednesday but Harry Redknapp, Tottenham manager, has ridiculed the very idea that a Spaniard could turn out for Fabio Capello’s side.

Almunia was Arsenal’s stand-out performer as The Gunners somehow came away from Old Trafford with only a 1-0 defeat, making a string of top-class saves to deny the likes of Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Spaniard has never been capped for his country and, in July, will be eligible to apply for a British passport having lived in North London for five years.

In two months he could be the only ‘English’ keeper appearing regularly in the Champions League but Redknapp has reacted furiously to suggestions that a call-up could be in the pipeline for Arsenal’s number one – claiming he would rather not win the World Cup with a Spaniard between the posts.

“An exclusion zone needs to be enforced around Wembley,” wrote Redknapp in The Sun. “I am referring to the repeated calls for Arsenal’s Spanish keeper Manuel Almunia to be called up for England — simply because he has lived here for five years.

“I don’t care. I could not disagree more. He is not English. If it came to a choice between England winning the World Cup with a Spanish keeper or not winning it, I’d rather not win.

“For a start, if we cannot produce our own footballers, our own generation of keepers to play for England, then we don’t deserve to win anything in the first place.

“And secondly, I would not be interested in an England team that was full of non-English players. You’re English if you were born here or your mum and dad were born here. In that case, I don’t care if your family comes from India, Australia, Pakistan or Jamaica — you’re English in my mind.

“But someone like Almunia, who comes here from Spain and spends a few years playing for Arsenal, does not suddenly become English.”

Redknapp continued: “I have nothing against Almunia. He is a good keeper and he had a good game for Arsenal on Wednesday night against Manchester United. But he is no better, in fact I don’t think he is as good as, David James, the current England number one.

“David is English, Manuel isn’t. Almunia should play for Spain, that is his country. But he is not exactly knocking on their door, is he?

“Yes, the Three Lions coach Fabio Capello is Italian. That is different. Playing in the England team is completely different.

“What can I say Manuel? ‘Lo Siento’ — sorry old chum.”

Vintage 'Arry. I get the impression that he doesn't want Almunia playing for England.

 

[RobinLeonard]

Look at athletics and the number of ex russians or africans now representing european countries after living there for a year or so - no one seems to care much about that.

I remember when there was talk about Afonso Alves getting a swedish passport and being eligible for our national team everyone I talked to seemed to welcome the idea of an Alves/Zlatan partnership. It may be that we are a smaller footballing nation but I would welcome Almunia with open arms into the swedish side because at the end of the day... who cares?

James is a million years old and Foster/Hart are not top class international keepers yet. Go for it.

 

[mil1lion]

I think they exagerate his performance from Wednesday night. He was good, but not special. It was more to do with Man Utd players not taking their chances. The Tevez shot was a bad miss, and he pretty much hit it straight at Almunia. The Ronaldo header was similar, he hit the keeper more than anything else. It was a good game for Almunia, but not all that great. And i sure hope we never have him in goal for England.

 

[KingKay]

If were going to be completely honest having a foriegn manager of england is pretty bollocks aswell.

 

[SpurSince57]

Look at athletics and the number of ex russians or africans now representing european countries after living there for a year or so - no one seems to care much about that.

I remember when there was talk about Afonso Alves getting a swedish passport and being eligible for our national team everyone I talked to seemed to welcome the idea of an Alves/Zlatan partnership. It may be that we are a smaller footballing nation but I would welcome Almunia with open arms into the swedish side because at the end of the day... who cares?

James is a million years old and Foster/Hart are not top class international keepers yet. Go for it.

I'll bet they're a bit less keen now after a season-and-a-half of him being useless for Boro!

Jackie Charlton used a lot of English-born players of Irish descent, and of course in cricket we've had players born in South Africa or Zimbabwe to English parents (or at least one English parent) representing England. You've also got plenty of French-born players turning out for their parents' countries, Hargreaves, Podolski—and I suppose Zlatan could have played for Bosnia or Croatia if he'd wanted! But that's very different.

Harry's dead right. No way.

 

[Coyboy]

He isn't any better than what we have. Dead argument.

 

[VegasII]

James, Foster, Green, Carson, Hart, Robbo...can't say any of those keepers inspires me. Aluminium doesn't either. England are screwed when it comes to keepers.

Although it would be good to see Robbo re-find his form.

 

[donny1013]

I think Foster can only really be judged after having a proper season in the EPL, and with VdS signing a new one year deal he may have to wait a little longer, in the WC year he may not want to do that. Carson is not a good GK, way too many mistakes.

 

[worcestersauce]

Look at athletics and the number of ex russians or africans now representing european countries after living there for a year or so - no one seems to care much about that.


James is a million years old and Foster/Hart are not top class international keepers yet. Go for it.

That's because nobody cares about athletics, it's a minority sport.


I can't help thinking that if almunia played for Stoke the subject wouldn't come up nobody would suggest him playing for England it's just the media and their club again.

 

[spursandbarca]

hed be about tenth choice in spain thats why. he is awful. all 3 of Barcas keepers are better than Almunia

 

[ripley]

How English was Hargreaves before his first game for England?
Yes...i know his Dad was English, and therefore he qualified, but he was born in Canada and played in Calgary until he was about 16 before being scouted by Bayern and playing for them. Prior to being transferred to Utd he, probably, never had a residence in UK. At least Almunia has resided in England longer than Hargreaves.
I think that if he wants to become a British citizen and wants to try out as England's keeper...then he should go for it and if he can meet Capello's standard, then fine.
If an Italian can manage the team, then a Spanish keeper with British citizenship has one more passport than Capello does.
This is the same argument that the Portuguese had about Deco being on their national team.
...and Harry should only worry about this stuff if he ever becomes England's manager. Until then...he should only be worrying about Spurs in the media.

 

[Supersonic]

Its the English team.

A foreign manager is acceptable, but foreign players arent. And Almunia is a foreign player. And an average one.

And a fucking gooner.

So as far as Im concerned Harry is completely right

 

[Kendall]

I dunno. Its not like we would be the first team to do it.

Deco is Brazilian
Eduardo is Brazilian
Senna is Brazilian

 

[Kendall]

How English was Hargreaves before his first game for England?
Yes...i know his Dad was English, and therefore he qualified, but he was born in Canada and played in Calgary until he was about 16 before being scouted by Bayern and playing for them. Prior to being transferred to Utd he, probably, never had a residence in UK. At least Almunia has resided in England longer than Hargreaves.
I think that if he wants to become a British citizen and wants to try out as England's keeper...then he should go for it and if he can meet Capello's standard, then fine.
If an Italian can manage the team, then a Spanish keeper with British citizenship has one more passport than Capello does.
This is the same argument that the Portuguese had about Deco being on their national team.
...and Harry should only worry about this stuff if he ever becomes England's manager. Until then...he should only be worrying about Spurs in the media.

Slight different to having been living in a country for 5 years, after your 25th birthday.

 

[NickHSpurs]

Not to mention he's shit, oh he did mention it, politely lol.

 

[riversmonkey]

It's more a case that nobody is challenging David James, you need to always keep your number one goalkeeper on his toes. Look how well Gomes responded to the arrival of Cudicini.

Rob Green has looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights everytime he has played for England. Joe Hart and Ben Foster are now struggling to get games. Chris Kirkland is injury prone and Paul Robinson has not been the same keeper since that night in Zagreb. The Goalkeeping situation is so bad that Peterborough's Joe Lewis got a senior squad callup.

So really picking Almunia, who is in form, is number one for his club, has big game experience is a solution to the problem, we need somebody to keep David James keen and to step in and do a job if necessary.

England's rugby and Cricket teams have in recent years picked New Zealanders and South Africans, these players have won the Ashes and World Cup's.

If the player can add to the team then I'm all for it.

 

[SpurSince57]

It's more a case that nobody is challenging David James, you need to always keep your number one goalkeeper on his toes. Look how well Gomes responded to the arrival of Cudicini.

Rob Green has looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights everytime he has played for England. Joe Hart and Ben Foster are now struggling to get games. Chris Kirkland is injury prone and Paul Robinson has not been the same keeper since that night in Zagreb. The Goalkeeping situation is so bad that Peterborough's Joe Lewis got a senior squad callup.

So really picking Almunia, who is in form, is number one for his club, has big game experience is a solution to the problem, we need somebody to keep David James keen and to step in and do a job if necessary.

England's rugby and Cricket teams have in recent years picked New Zealanders and South Africans, these players have won the Ashes and World Cup's.

If the player can add to the team then I'm all for it.

I don't follow rugby very closely at all, but the cricketers have all been eligible to play for England because of their parentage. Apart from that, our latest 'import', Kevin Pietersen, would walk into the Proteas, whilst Lopez and probably half-a-dozen others at least would be ahead of Almunia if Casillas got injured. He's really nothing special.

 

[riversmonkey]

Ok, lets look at Senna and Eduardo, both are Brazilians, both players could not get into their national sides, so they take advantage of the residency rules. Both players have become excellent players for Spain and Croatia. Almunia would be a very handy understudy to David James.

Pietersen was primarily an off spinner, his batting came on in county cricket. His reasons for choosing England were based on the South African quota system. However at the time he was nowhere near the South African team and saw England as his best chance of playing international cricket. He followed a long line of fine English players that came from South Africa, the likes of Robin Smith, Allan Lamb and Tony Greig. This is all going a bit off-topic but England is an island of immigrants and this dates back centuries, that's what makes the place so damn great and diverse. The hostility on the Almunia issue is really unnecessary, and comes across as ignorant Daily Mail-esque bile.

 

[animal]

The hostility on the Almunia issue is really unnecessary, and comes across as ignorant Daily Mail-esque bile.

Doesn't help that he's a gooner though does it. :wink:

 

[speccy_spur]

Doesn't help that he's a gooner though does it. :wink:

Exactly. He's a gooner. And for that reason alone should not be england team. More the french team.

And I believe that Harry always objected to Capello or any foreign manager for england (admittedly 'cos he wanted the job himself, and still does), but is keeping quiet on that now to not get in the way of Spurs players' england ambitions.