Former footballer turned pundit Jamie Carragher slams the “phonies” and “bandwagon jumpers” over their England support at Euro 2020.
Gareth Southgate’s side have advanced through every stage of the tournament so far, winning all but one game on their way to a second successive major tournament semi-final.
After winning their group, the manager’s squad claimed a famous win over Germany in the last 16 thanks to goals from Raheem Sterling and captain Harry Kane.
That set up a quarter-final tie with Ukraine, with England thrashing Andriy Shevchenko’s side thanks to a double from Kane and headers from Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson.
England will now take on Denmark at Wembley on Wednesday night, hoping to reach their first major tournament final since the 1966 World Cup.
However while many in the country have rallied around Southgate’s troops as they have once again delivered, some HAVEN’T always been so supportive across the campaign.
Southgate and his team took the decision before the tournament began to take the knee before each match in call for equality for all.
When they did this in the two warm-up games as well, boos could be heard around the Riverside Stadium, something that has continued at Wembley, and what footballer wants to hear the backlash and something they stand up for getting criticised just before starting a match, especially going into and during the Euros?
Politicians have also hit out at the England team for taking their stand, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel failing to back Southgate’s side, before then posting video and tweets congratulating, something we’ve seen Gary Neville left angered by.
Conservative MP Lee Anderson went a step further than his party colleagues, stating before the tournament that he would boycott England games altogether. Just a bit extreme lad.
With Gareth Southgate having guided his side to the latter rounds of the knockout stages, these politicians have been left with egg on their face to be quite frank, going back on their stance and comments from earlier in the competition.
And as many of them now release tweets supporting the Three Lions, Carragher has blasted their hypocrisy.
“I can’t stand seeing all the bandwagon jumpers as England progress through the rounds, especially from politics. They are phonies,” he wrote in a column for the Telegraph.
“Southgate and his players have constructed a new idea of what the English national team is.
“So much so that the politicians who criticised them for bringing various social issues to the fore are now desperately trying to associate themselves with this winning team.
“Fans around the country can see through that hypocrisy.”
This is England’s first appearance in a European Championship semi-final since 1996, yet Carragher believes that the current England squad have already achieved far more than their predecessors.
“As with any England side, they will ultimately be defined by what happens on the pitch in the closing stages of this tournament,” the former defender added.
“Anything less than victory will see this squad placed alongside those in Italia ‘90 and Euro ‘96 as players who galvanised a nation but fell short.
“But with respect to those teams, this squad has already achieved something more. This is not just any England squad. This is a squad for all of England.”
As Jamie Carragher slams “phonies” and “bandwagon jumpers” over England support, fans reacted to what he had to say overall…
An honest and brilliant column from Jamie Carragher. This paragraph couldn’t be more true. https://t.co/rUC77vonBt pic.twitter.com/DCquAPnCTr
— Sam Farley (@FarleyWrites) July 7, 2021
@GrantGordon_: Nail on the head from @Carra23
@Barrymore_Jones: Well said Jamie
@50kopyears: So, it’s not just me?
@adamguest: Fantastic honest column Jamie
@Boofy89: Well said and completely agree. Up the ‘mega woke’ 3 lions!
@DepalaR: This is a fantastic piece Carra. Can relate to it quite a lot 👍🏻
@Freddy_Russel: Brilliant piece Jamie.
@boroboy151: Excellent column by @Carra23 & true that this group of players actually represent what is good about this country. Southgate is also a true leader exemplified by his courage in 96 to step up to the penalty spot as a young player, when more experienced ones shirked responsibility
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