My piece for Joe Mott's column in The Star last Sunday

Capello - Another Flash in the Pan

It looks like another false dawn for England fans. Have we really lost so much ground on the rest of the world that we cannot find 11 decent players to pull on the shirt or are they just over-paid primadonnas who couldn’t care less because they know win lose or draw for their country they’ll still get their huge paychecks from their clubs at the end of it. Or is it that the creation of the Premiership and the lure of big money to the foreign players has meant we no longer bring home-grown talent through. All I know for sure is that I haven’t seen a half decent England team play since they demolished the Dutch in Euro ‘96 and we’ll be lucky to qualify for the World Cup let alone do anything if we get there.

David Beckham

European Championships 2008 - Ruud van Nistelrooy

European Championships 2008: Ruud van Nistelrooy

A series of pieces I'm currently doing for the Euro Championships. This one featuring the first prolific Dutch Real Madrid striker is the first.

Rooney

barkerbites@hotmail.co.uk

Wayne Rooney

Something a little bit different today - football or rather a footballer. I'm no Man U fan, in fact I'm an Evertonian, so you may think Rooney would be the last person I'd choose to draw. But he made his choices and did what he thought was best for him. He is undoubtedly a great player and so I say good luck to him.