Arteta for England?

[chicoazul]

Ok some fact checking in order...Ozil is of Turkish heritage - born and raised in Germany. Zidane - Alegerian parents. Born and raised in France. Viera - moved to France when he was 8. Grew up in France. Desailly's mother married a Frenchman and moved to France when he was 4. Thuram was born in Guadeloupe...which is part of France. Podolski was raised in Cologne. That's his home regardless of his parents nationality.

Arteta has nothing in common with these guys. They are all French or German either by birth or by having grown up there. Not the same.

A better example would be Marcos Senna for Spain. Me personally? I don't like it. Some things are sacrosanct. Playing for your country means playing for YOUR country. The place you grew up. The place you call home. The place you have citizenship.

effortlessly off the ropes into a finishing combo of much elegance Jim, this kids got it all, a real prospect"

 

[RFUS]

Cacau is not at all German. As German as Mikel is English. But the rest of the German squad are half German and so on.


But whatever happens I'll support Mikel. And if he does play for England, I guess I'll have to support them too *cringes*.

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

Just bear it in mind during the next all blacks rugby match any of you catch, then google the feckers and you'll see that they are like a conglomeration of pacific islanders and blokes eligible to play for England.

 

[johnnydawg68]

Cacau is not at all German. As German as Mikel is English. But the rest of the German squad are half German and so on.


But whatever happens I'll support Mikel. And if he does play for England, I guess I'll have to support them too *cringes*.

True. I'm not a fan of using a passport as a reason to get into a national side. I think if you moved to a country for non-footballing reasons, it's ok. If your first taste of a country is as a professional footballer then no.

 

[johnnydawg68]

effortlessly off the ropes into a finishing combo of much elegance Jim, this kids got it all, a real prospect"

*wipes tears of pride away from eyes and thanks "all the little people" who helped along the way.

 

[RFUS]

Decent article: http://www.skysports.com/opinion/story/0,25212,16708_6331511,00.html


Loved this bit:

Since joining Everton in 2005 from Real Sociedad, who must have wept every day since at selling for just £2million, Arteta has been the fulcrum for all that has been good about David Moyes' tenure at Goodison.

Can't believe how little we paid for him

 

[Lao]

Probably a non-starter. He's 28 and it would take nearly a year for his citizenship application to go through, so is Fabio likely to bring a 29/30 year old into the squad when he has said about bringing in a new generation of younger players. Besides that, Capello refused to look at Almunia when that idea was being touted.

.....But if he gets British Citizenship I think the rules state that he could be called up by Wales, SCOTLAND or NI.

McMikel Arteta anyone?

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

mrs tets would up the wag rating wherever he decided to play.

apparently when speaking in the Basque language it is usual to add 'so I did', 'in-ett' ,'ya kin' & 'over the moon', so he would fit in anywhere really.

 

[billycopper]

Ok some fact checking in order...Ozil is of Turkish heritage - born and raised in Germany. Zidane - Alegerian parents. Born and raised in France. Viera - moved to France when he was 8. Grew up in France. Desailly's mother married a Frenchman and moved to France when he was 4. Thuram was born in Guadeloupe...which is part of France. Podolski was raised in Cologne. That's his home regardless of his parents nationality.

Arteta has nothing in common with these guys. They are all French or German either by birth or by having grown up there. Not the same.

A better example would be Marcos Senna for Spain. Me personally? I don't like it. Some things are sacrosanct. Playing for your country means playing for YOUR country. The place you grew up. The place you call home. The place you have citizenship.

I take on board your point. My argument was, where do you draw the line? Isn't Deco Brazilian, but plays for Portugal? What about Eduardo? If I lived in Spain for 5 years, I would consider myself attached to that country. We're only handicapping ourselves by taking the moral highground.

Mark Lawrenson echoes your point in today's Daily Mirror. I can see the reasoning for it. What was such a strong draw for him to play for the Republic though when he was born and bred in Preston? He's English. Surely he must have considered his international future and decided that he'd have more opportunities with Ireland. I don't believe that it was because he wanted to honour his roots.

If it was Cahill rather than Arteta, I think it would have been much less of a talking point. Having English as a first language and looking like a Brit would have undoubtedly helped him to integrate. We live in a multi-cultural society and Arteta is now naturalised here. Denying him the right to represent his adopted country is discrimination as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

If anyone can field a ringer, then it's deffo the crims.

 

[Umbongo]

.....But if he gets British Citizenship I think the rules state that he could be called up by Wales, SCOTLAND or NI.

And this is why it won't happen. Because the moment a "British citizen" is called up for the England team FIFA will do everything they can to force a British team to replace the current system. At the moment the gentleman's agreement between the home nations is what holds them off.

 

[TMc]

Probably been said but all questions about whether it's proper aside, I really hope he doesn't play for England.

I wouldn't wish it on Mikel that he plays for that circus, picks up injuries, plays loads of pointless games damaging our season and then gets dumped on by the press and every thick **** who supports 'ENGURLAND!' whenever he has a bad game.

He'll miss a penalty one game the rags and white van men across the land will be bemoaning a bloody foreigner playing for our 'Proud Nation.'

Mikel is better than England, he has too much class for them.

 

[billycopper]

Sadly, you're probably right. The England team don't appear to enjoy their football and Arteta would be under even more intense scrutiny. I don't think it will happen. In principle I have nothing against it though.

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

And this is why it won't happen. Because the moment a "British citizen" is called up for the England team FIFA will do everything they can to force a British team to replace the current system. At the moment the gentleman's agreement between the home nations is what holds them off.

so are you saying that it's only a gentlemans agreement that stopped say Graeme Sharp from representing England ?

 

[chicoazul]

so are you saying that it's only a gentlemans agreement that stopped say Graeme Sharp from representing England ?

Correct.