Martin Samuel ,the Chief Football Correspondent of The Times, and all-round football-writing God, reckons that Shaun Wright-Phillips made a glorious decision is moving from the Chelsea bench to the Man City first team, and that he is even out Brazilian-ing the Samba stars at Eastlands.

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Martin “Sammy” Samuel writes:

“Fabio Capello, the England manager, could not have made it any clearer. He does not tolerate senior members of his squad hiding behind their wallets in the reserve teams of elite clubsThose under consideration for an England starting place must be first-team regulars. When England walk out against Kazakhstan on Saturday, at least two in the starting line-up are likely to be players who swapped walk-on parts in Hollywood blockbusters for what can be termed meatier roles in more low-key productions.”

“Wright-Phillips left Chelsea for Manchester City and is expected to get his reward with an international return in place of the injured Joe Cole. Johnson appears to have claimed Wes Brown’s berth at right back. Not far behind are Portsmouth’s striking partnership of Crouch and Defoe, installed as understudies to Emile Heskey and Wayne Rooney.”(The Times)

And it’s hard to say much more than that. The more players realise that playing for an inferior team is far preferable to shambling around a “BIG” team’s reserve side, the better. Maybe this will see the big teams lose their ability to hoard talent in the reserves – let’s all hope so.

Anyone in a Krakatoan funk of molten fury over this article, why not discuss it on the COS Forum?!….