Rio

[Acker79]

Why do people say "It's showing disrespect" by not picking Rio....has Rio got the divine right to be picked? Anybody think he has done well but now reaching the end of his international career....time to blood new players.....

I should imagine the disrespect isn't not picking him, it's the not being honest with him as to why. By telling him and the world he is not being picked for football reasons, then selecting someone who played half as many games (with fewer average mins played per match) for a worse team, with worse tackling success, worse passing success, exposes the idea that it is football reasons.

If, as Easy 10 suggests, it's clear to everyone it isn't about footballing ability, why not admit that to him? To lie to him, and publicly is disrespectful. When it is so clear to pundits and fans and everyone that the footballing reasons are bull, it is disrespectful to continue to claim that's why he's not being picked.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

I should imagine the disrespect isn't not picking him, it's the not being honest with him as to why. By telling him an the world he is not being picked for football reasons, then selecting someone who played half as many games (with fewer average mins played per match) for a worse team, with worse tackling success, worse passing success, exposes the idea that it is football reasons.

If, as Easy 10 suggests, it's clear to everyone it isn't about footballing ability, why not admit that to him? To lie to him, and publicly is disrespectful. When it is so clear to pundits and fans and everyone that the footballing reasons are bull, it is disrespectful to continue to claim that's why he's not being picked.

You ARE Jamie Moralee and I claim my free transfer from Crystal Palace.

 

[Falkor]

I f***ing hate Rio after all this shite im bored as hell, and that Muppet organisation Kick it out are now piping up, must be a major international tourn coming as England National team being dragged through the mud again

 

[leigull]

Has been the biggest sour note of Roy's reign so far. Whether it was his decision or not, to say it was for "footballing reasons" I don't know, but to pretend it was anything other than them not wanting Rio and Terry together is rather pathetic and leads to stories like this emerging when they were unfortunate enough to lose players through injury.

 

[Gullflyinghigh]

Long story short; the England manager didn't pick a player for his squad.

That should really be it but it's never going to be. If the race row has impacted RH's decision then only he knows (as it should be, admire him for not weighing in) but even so, he's taken Terry regardless which implies he sees him as the stronger option anyway.

'Footballing reasons' may be getting mocked all over the place but, personally, I honestly rate Cahill, Lescott and Jagielka (on this season) as being better than both of them regardless.

It makes sense to take a few seasoned campaigners (and we are/were) but England fans have been crying out for new faces for years, we're now being given them and it's being overshadowed by one player's feeling of entitlement.

 

[Pavilionaire]

1. Rio's reaction has vindicated Hodgson's decision not to pick him in the squad.
2. Rio is 32 with a poor injury record - he's a risky selection anyway.
3. Picking a younger player will give them experience as we work towards WC 2014.
4. This all relates back to John Terry. I think Hodgson would have been better dropping the pair of them. Even then there would have been some clamour for his selection after the Cahill jaw incident. I think Lescott, Jagielka, Richards and Jones-only would have been a very forward-thinking selection.

 

[Simster]

1. Rio's reaction has vindicated Hodgson's decision not to pick him in the squad.
2. Rio is 32 with a poor injury record - he's a risky selection anyway.
3. Picking a younger player will give them experience as we work towards WC 2014.
4. This all relates back to John Terry. I think Hodgson would have been better dropping the pair of them. Even then there would have been some clamour for his selection after the Cahill jaw incident. I think Lescott, Jagielka, Richards and Jones-only would have been a very forward-thinking selection.

Nicely put and I agree entirely.

 

[krakatoa]

If Hodgson's picked Jagielka and Kelly over Ferdinand for 'football reasons', then he knows less about football than my mum. What a piss poor squad we're sending to this tournament, none of our three available strikers are even regulars in their club sides, no proper goalkeeper cover, and 6 players from a club who finished much nearer the bottom than the top of the Prem points wise. Years of enormous wealth in the top flight and yet our squad is utterly underwhelming in almost every respect.

 

[Falkor]

If Hodgson's picked Jagielka and Kelly over Ferdinand for 'football reasons', then he knows less about football than my mum. What a piss poor squad we're sending to this tournament, none of our three available strikers are even regulars in their club sides, no proper goalkeeper cover, and 6 players from a club who finished much nearer the bottom than the top of the Prem points wise. Years of enormous wealth in the top flight and yet our squad is utterly underwhelming in almost every respect.

And thats roy fault how?

 

[Diego Napier]

1. Rio's reaction has vindicated Hodgson's decision not to pick him in the squad.
2. Rio is 32 with a poor injury record - he's a risky selection anyway.
3. Picking a younger player will give them experience as we work towards WC 2014.
4. This all relates back to John Terry. I think Hodgson would have been better dropping the pair of them. Even then there would have been some clamour for his selection after the Cahill jaw incident. I think Lescott, Jagielka, Richards and Jones-only would have been a very forward-thinking selection.

Good assessment.

It's interesting how many comments on this thread reflect the assumptions made by the rather indignant and overblown media response.

Still, as they say, we get the press we deserve

 

[Easy 10]

Is keeping Rio and JT out of the same dressing room for the sake of team morale / harmony not "footballing reasons" then ?

The bottom line is, Hodgson wants and needs to garnour a good team spirit during this tournament, it could be one of the few good things we have going for us. Thats "footballing reason" enough for me, because having Rio and JT glowering at each other and dividing the squad up into cliqués would just about destroy any semblance of team spirit we could possibly have.

 

[Big Jim]

Terry's the better out of the two, It's obvious the reason Rio isn't going is because he's more injury prone and doesn't get on with Terry. In a way it's a sensible decision but I still would like to see our best players there at the Euro's, if they both loved the country then they'd put the problems aside and show professionalism and play to the best of their ability.

This is exactly as I see it. Hodgson is no idiot, and I wish everyone would respect his decision as he's only been in the job a few weeks.

Also makes me laugh that the Sun took the mick out of his voice inpediment, yet how many languages can Roy Hodgson speak? Must be more than a few. The journalists at the sun struggle to speak the queens english, yet alone a foreign language.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Hasnt even started yet and Im bored of England already, lets hope we get knocked out early again and then we can enjoy the football

 

[leigull]

Is keeping Rio and JT out of the same dressing room for the sake of team morale / harmony not "footballing reasons" then ?

The bottom line is, Hodgson wants and needs to garnour a good team spirit during this tournament, it could be one of the few good things we have going for us. Thats "footballing reason" enough for me, because having Rio and JT glowering at each other and dividing the squad up into cliqués would just about destroy any semblance of team spirit we could possibly have.

Not really to do with football is it, more to do with off the pitch issues that lead one to having a real disgareement with the other. Roy also tried to say it was because Rio had only played 1 game for England in the last year as another reason. This is of course rubbish as I'm sure there are plenty of others in the squad who haven't featured much recently.

Just wish he'd come out and said it was because of 'differences in character' or something, that he was forced to choose either Terry or Rio, just didn't think there was any need to try and dress it up as something else which then leads to follow on stories and drama when he is forced to call up Martin Kelly because of Cahill's injuries. There would have been a media storm for a few days over the original squad announcement but it would have died out in the following week, instead it's all being dragged up a few days before the tournament starts.

 

[Easy 10]

Not really to do with football is it, more to do with off the pitch issues that lead one to having a real disgareement with the other. Roy also tried to say it was because Rio had only played 1 game for England in the last year as another reason. This is of course rubbish as I'm sure there are plenty of others in the squad who haven't featured much recently.

Just wish he'd come out and said it was because of 'differences in character' or something, that he was forced to choose either Terry or Rio, just didn't think there was any need to try and dress it up as something else which then leads to follow on stories and drama when he is forced to call up Martin Kelly because of Cahill's injuries. There would have been a media storm for a few days over the original squad announcement but it would have died out in the following week, instead it's all being dragged up a few days before the tournament starts.

As Roy is unfortunately finding out, being England manager is as much about being a diplomat as anything else.

If he'd have said "I'm not selecting both of them for my squad because John's been accused of calling Rio's brother a n****r", then I suppose everyone would've be happy ? We all KNOW why they're being kept apart, it hardly needs to be spelled out by Roy or anyone else, but as usual everyone has to micro-analyse it to find fault somewhere.

After stating this, we'd then be going down the road of "well Rio is being punished by being omitted from the squad, whilst the accused gets to play in the Euros", and round and round we go.

Roy had a choice to make - either JT or Rio, NOT both. For footballing reasons, out of those two he selected John Terry. Subsequent injuries made a case for bringing Rio along, but the original reason they weren't both selected still stands. They can't stand the sight of each other, and it would end up being a problem.

Thats a footballing reason enough for me, as it would end up affecting our football at this tournament.

 

[Falkor]

any think Roy might not have a say on this matter

 

[leigull]

As Roy is unfortunately finding out, being England manager is as much about being a diplomat as anything else.

If he'd have said "I'm not selecting both of them for my squad because John's been accused of calling Rio's brother a n****r", then I suppose everyone would've be happy ? We all KNOW why they're being kept apart, it hardly needs to be spelled out by Roy or anyone else, but as usual everyone has to micro-analyse it to find fault somewhere.

After stating this, we'd then be going down the road of "well Rio is being punished by being omitted from the squad, whilst the accused gets to play in the Euros", and round and round we go.

Roy had a choice to make - either JT or Rio, NOT both. For footballing reasons, out of those two he selected John Terry. Subsequent injuries made a case for bringing Rio along, but the original reason they weren't both selected still stands. They can't stand the sight of each other, and it would end up being a problem.

Thats a footballing reason enough for me, as it would end up affecting our football at this tournament.

Fair do's, just think the storm he would have created by being honest originally, would have subsided by now and England wouldn't be in the position of still getting negative press over the decision 2 days before it all starts.

Saying that, if that Belgium eejit hadn't have pushed Cahill then none of this would have come up again!

 

[Hotchilidog]

As Roy is unfortunately finding out, being England manager is as much about being a diplomat as anything else.

If he'd have said "I'm not selecting both of them for my squad because John's been accused of calling Rio's brother a n****r", then I suppose everyone would've be happy ? We all KNOW why they're being kept apart, it hardly needs to be spelled out by Roy or anyone else, but as usual everyone has to micro-analyse it to find fault somewhere.

After stating this, we'd then be going down the road of "well Rio is being punished by being omitted from the squad, whilst the accused gets to play in the Euros", and round and round we go.

Roy had a choice to make - either JT or Rio, NOT both. For footballing reasons, out of those two he selected John Terry. Subsequent injuries made a case for bringing Rio along, but the original reason they weren't both selected still stands. They can't stand the sight of each other, and it would end up being a problem.

Thats a footballing reason enough for me, as it would end up affecting our football at this tournament.

I would argue that there are football in reasons for leaving JT out, although these have been ignored by the Terry propaganda machine. Given the age of both Rio and JT and their ability to contribute to future campaigns surely the best footballing decision would have been to leave both at home, have a circus free build-up and give the 2014 hopefuls some valuable tournament experience.

It's not so much the omission of Rio that bothers me, it's the inclusion of that repugnant carthorse Terry, who is as likely to prove as much a liability on the pitch as he is off it.

I'm glad Roy got the job, and once he has discarded a discredited old guard I look forward to getting fully behind his team, at the moment I am still indifferent.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Good assessment.

It's interesting how many comments on this thread reflect the assumptions made by the rather indignant and overblown media response.

Still, as they say, we get the press we deserve

Interesting that The Sun was laying into RH today, or rather its football columnist (a certain Harry Redknapp), saying what a bad decision it was, and how he should have been honest, blah, blah, blah.

Rio is old, Kelly is one for the future. If it was me, I would have taken something similar to a development squad to give them the tournament experience and then prepare properly for 2014/2016.

FWIW I'm not overly excited about England and Euro 2012, but I would find it amusing to see the media's stance change, if they manage to get to the semis, or even the final.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Thats a footballing reason enough for me, as it would end up affecting our football at this tournament.

And the media storm will NOT affect England's football?