The day that the walls come down on the integrity of earning an England cap will be the death of International football in its present form.
Instead the Champions League will get just that little bit more important and club football will be elevated, shoving the international game further down the pecking order.
what do you even mean by this?
this type of thing has been going on for ages the world over
the day thugs like Terry get given the captaincy well integrity has went out the window along time ago
Arteta is a British citizen now which is more than I can say about our manager
i totally agree with you PT. If we start letting "citizens" get a cap for our country then it just wont be the same anymore. It will signal the beginning of the end as soon as we do it once - yes i know others have done it before, but we havent done it to this extent and i hope that doesnt change. So many of the players mentioned earlier in the thread do have relatives of their new nationality - Arteta qualifies purely because he has lived here X amount of years. If we were to start including the likes of Arteta then it would be just like watching club football. I love watching a team full of englishmen represent our country and hope that never changes
The world is changing, its globalised. John Barnes was born in Jamaica to Jamaican parents, yet he still played with distinction (well, sometimes) for England.
As others have said, Portugal, Spain, Germany, they have all had naturalised citizens playing for them, its this small island mentality that has held us back.
I am not saying bus in players from everywhere and stick them in the 3 lions, but for exceptional cases, why not embrace true talent?
Take a look at Germany with all the polish.
The moment the gates are opened we go the route of Arsenal. Also let's be honest, if players of other original nationalities can't get a cap off their home nation, why should England give them the honour of an international cap which would only sit awkwardly with them in their dotage.