ROY KEANE criticised the “arrogance” of England fans for “expecting to win every major tournament for 30 years”.
The former Manchester United and Republic of Ireland star was part of ITV’s coverage for England’s semi-final against the Netherlands.
In the buildup to the match, Mark Pougatch, Ian Wright, Gary Neville and Keane were talking about whether the England shirt “weighs heavily” on England players at major tournaments due to the pressure of fans.
But Keane felt that was an arrogant comment, and urged England’s players to “focus on winning” rather than worrying about expectations put on them by fans.
He explained: “You talk about England not having won anything for 30, 40 years, that’s not on this group of players. Focus on winning the game of football and history will take care of itself.
“When you talk about the weight of the jersey, I think there’s a bit of arrogance that comes with that.
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“The consequences of a mistake, that is part of top level sport, you have to deal with that and over the years maybe they haven’t done that well enough.”
Keane’s co-pundit Wright interrupted him to say: “Roy, you say about arrogance, we’ve got players who are good enough to win. We’ve got players that are capable of winning this tournament.”
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But Keane hit back: “We’ve been hearing that every tournament, for 30-50 years. To say you’ve had players to win every tournament over the last 30 years, I don’t agree with that.”
Gareth Southgate’s England side has been the most successful of England’s modern era.
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Under his stewardship the Three Lions reached the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2018 and the final of Euro 2020.
Neville, who was part of England’s ‘golden generation’ said that while his England cohort had talents such as Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, they underperformed thanks in part to the weight of expectation put on them by fans.
The former Man Utd right-back said: “As the golden generation, we underperformed. Players had unbelievable reputations, but put the England shirt on and were worried if it went wrong.
“It’s heartening to see that Gareth said at start of tournament they were worried about outside criticism. This time they’ve had to come through it.
“It’s heartening to see that Gareth said at start of tournament they were worried about outside criticism. This time they’ve had to come through it.”
Keane was characteristically unimpressed by Neville’s comments on his ‘golden generation’ and said: “Please educate me on the golden generation. Having good players doesn’t make you a good team. If you have solid good group of players, proper men, they’ll deal with the pressure, it’s part of the pressure of winning tournaments.”
BBC and ITV’s Euro 2024 line up in full
Here’s how each channel will line-up:
BBC presenters:
Gary Lineker, Alex Scott, Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman
ITV presenters:
Mark Pougatch and Laura Woods
BBC pundits:
Alan Shearer, Micah Richards, Rio Ferdinand, Ellen White, Frank Lampard, Ashley Williams, Wayne Rooney, Joe Hart, Cesc Fabregas, Thomas Frank, David Moyes, Rachel Corsie and James McFadden
ITV pundits:
Ian Wright, Roy Keane, Gary Neville, Karen Carney, Graeme Souness, Eni Aluko, Ange Postecoglou, Danny Rohl and Christina Unkel
BBC commentators:
Guy Mowbray, Robyn Cowen, Vicki Sparks, Steve Wilson, Steve Bower and Jonathan Pearce
ITV commentators:
Sam Matterface, Clive Tyldesley, Seb Hutchinson, Pien Meulensteen and Joe Speight
BBC co-commentators:
Danny Murphy, Martin Keown, Jermaine Jenas and James McFadden
ITV co-commentators:
Lee Dixon, Ally McCoist and Andros Townsend
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
