Time to Drop Beckham Once and For All

I notice that ex-England manager Bobby Robson has told Fabio Capello that he should make a decisive decision to leave out David Beckham from his starting line-up ahead of their upcoming World Cup qualifying campaign.

I couldn't agree more, and, have thought as much for some time, years in fact.

I have never been a Beckham fan. O.K. he is a very good player, I have never doubted that, but never the world class 'star' the press and his marketing team have made him out to be.

My main concern is that his individual style of play hasn't helped England through the years.

Now people (maybe you are one of them) will say; "Look at the great crosses and free kicks that have brought England goals.."

True, but success in a long tournament is more than some goals here and there whether they are spectacular or not.

The fact is he has never had pace and never had the ability to go past a defender to the opposition's goal line where he could deliver a consistent stream of devastating crosses where it really matters.

His lack of pace means he has always played his football wide right but around the centre line, so that most of his crosses are delivered at 45 degrees to the penalty area - a snip for top quality defenders. He has always been poor at getting wide into the last third.

So that when he plays for England, their shape is like an open envelope, with the body covering their half, and with the 'point of the flap' at the opponents penalty box. No width where it matters most!

The outcome of this is that defense has never been a problem, but scoring goals against quality opposition has.

This has been England's greatest problem, lack of width right up to the opposition goal line where you can really hurt them.

Compare that with the very best, most successful teams during this period. They all have real penetrative width with pace right to the 'byline'.

I agree with Bobby Robson, Capello should show who's the boss and do the best for the England TEAM not for an overrated player just because the media love him.

Rangers' Season Ended Before It's Even Begun

Rangers early exit -- at the hands of Kaunas in Lithuania in mid-week -- from both European competitions is a devastating blow to their finances.

A team of Rangers stature has to rely on the millions of pounds generated from one or other of the European competitions. And you can bet an assumption on this income had been built into their business plan for this year.

What this means is that they will be under huge pressure to sell at least one of their star players this season to help make up the shortfall.

The obvious candidate is Spanish central defender, Carlos Cuellar, Scotland's Player of the Year last season. Both Newcastle United and Tottenham have shown an interest in him in the past, and Ranger's lamentable failure last week will have put them in a much stronger bargaining position now, should they wish to pursue their interest in the player.

If Rangers don't win the SPL this season, manager Walter Smith won't get much sympathy from the fans should Rangers get rid of him.