Players Retiring from International Football

(22-07-2014 20:40 )feetlover1 Wrote:  dont if you're a slave

Enforced labour is slavery, whether you get paid or not.

(22-07-2014 20:32 )4waydiablo Wrote:  If it's not acceptable for players to retire from international duty we are surely condoning slavery?

Hence the last part of my original post...

(22-07-2014 18:37 )Goodfella3041 Wrote:  (Bear in mind that by "acceptable", I don't mean whether or not is should be "allowed". We obviously can't regulate for this and no one can force a player to play if he doesn't want to. I simply mean that, as supporters, should we be so accepting of this trend or should those players be more harshly criticized by supporters and the media).

suppose they can't win either way, can you imagine if gerrard and lampard were in the starting line up at euro 2016, people would go crazy, if we don't have any decent midfielders in two years time and gerrard is playing well for liverpool i bet gerrard will come out of retirement just to play in the euros, personally i think 34-35 is about the right age to retire, terry and scholes retired too early, but there is more of a clamour for youth these days and if rooney has a poor euro 2016 campaign people will say he should retire even though he'll only be 30

(22-07-2014 21:02 )Joey 27 Wrote:  i bet gerrard will come out of retirement just to play in the euros

If so, he won't get picked anyway.

It depends. If the player feels that he's too old and can't contribute enough and that there are younger players (who need the experience) he's going to keep on the bench then yes it should be accepted.

(22-07-2014 20:22 )7 stars of the orient Wrote:  

(22-07-2014 19:31 )harri Wrote:  none of the current english players would want to be captain right now

I bet Rooney is desperate to be captain.

It says a lot about the state of the game in England when the only player who wants to be Captain is the last person who should get the job.

(22-07-2014 20:50 )Goodfella3041 Wrote:  Hence the last part of my original post...

(22-07-2014 18:37 )Goodfella3041 Wrote:  (Bear in mind that by "acceptable", I don't mean whether or not is should be "allowed". We obviously can't regulate for this and no one can force a player to play if he doesn't want to. I simply mean that, as supporters, should we be so accepting of this trend or should those players be more harshly criticized by supporters and the media).

OK that's fair enough.

Question - what about someone who retires from all football? I mean if Gerrard was retiring from all football would it be an issue that he wasn't available for England anymore? if not, why would his decision to play on for Liverpool make it an issue?

^^^ Fair question, although it may be a bit academic. I can't think of many players that retired from football altogether when they were still near their peak and likely to be selected. Scholes? Zidane?

Anyway, to my mind, retirement from football would make it more, but not altogether acceptable. At worst, a fully retired player who refuses a call-up can be accused of a lack of patriotism. But if that player has simply chosen club over country, then that feels more mercenary to me.

Again, I am sympathetic to the Gerrard argument because he really is approaching the end of his career. I am less sympathetic to the others, especially Terry, who I think refused to play at a time when they were sorely needed. (And I say that as a Chelsea supporter!)

Yes - i think its up to them - like those who are constantly selected for the squads yet never ever play and so waste their time travelling around the world for nothing when they could be say spending time with their families - and like when Scholes retired from England because he was constantly played out of position by eriksson (I.E on the left wing) so other favourites could be accomodated.

Dwight Yorke retired from international football 3 times, including his eventual retirement from all football. Can anyone beat that?