Stephen >> monday july 12 - 18:40

Fan of Italy criticising another team's player for diving. Did that really just happen?

Alex Seymour >> monday july 12 - 18:53, Edited monday july 12 - 18:54

'No British fans remained at the stadium to attend the awards ceremony. You have to know lose'

I had no idea. I had switched the TV off by then. Anyway, we're well aware of how to lose.

Numpty >> monday july 12 - 18:59

All I take from that remark is you don't know how to win! 

Joey Zyla >> monday july 12 - 20:38

So many legitimate reasons to criticize the behavior and conduct of (a significant portion of) England fans and you choose to focus on... an awards ceremony.

Numpty >> monday july 12 - 21:06

First rule of winning is about knowing how to be gracious in victory. You don't criticise the losers. 

They might well deserve criticism, but if they do then it's never the winner's responsibility.

Dragontao >> tuesday july 13 - 00:30, Edited tuesday july 13 - 00:41

The other thing is, unless you've been to Wembley, which I have many times, don't criticise losing fans for disppaearing quickly and not hanging about to see the presentation to the winners, many don't even hang about to see their team pick up their runners up medals (I do). Getting out of Wembley and back to the tube, or out of the car parks is a nightmare. As is the traffic around Wembley if you drive in.

One time I was there, they jammed the cars into the car park so badly to maximise revenue, they couldn't get them out again. It was chaos. They had to get the police to try and sort out the mess. Some people were blocked in by fans of the winning team, so couldn't get their cars out. Others had been told to park in rows that had then been blocked in. It took 3 hours just to get out of the car-park that day.

As for the tubes, you can queue for a fair while to get on at Wembley Park, or walk to Wembley Central and queue there. Or go for a little walk to a station a way down the line and hope there's space on one of the carriages by the time the tube reaches you.

I used to park near Eastcote or Ruislip Manor Station and get the Metropolitan Line to Wembley Park on the way there. Last time I went, a couple of seasons back, it was still free parking very close to Ruislip Manor, very rare for London, especially near a tube. Afterwards I'd walk the two Km to Preston Road station rather than queue and shuffle along to Webley Park station.

Now imagine the queues and traffic if everyone stayed in the ground to the very end, which it can be like after a concert at the stadium.

Wembley might look good on the TV, but it is an absolute shitehole and there is zilch to do in the area if you get there too early, which many do, apart from mill about aimlessly until they let you in. Limited food options except for expensive street vendors or Wembley's rip off prices.

Much preferred the Millennium (Principality) Stadium in Cardiff when they held cup finals there while Wembley was being rebuilt. Close to the city centre, lots of amenities and a much better atmosphere before matches. Though traffic after matches there is a bit of a nightmare too.

Stephen >> tuesday july 13 - 07:20

^^^ I was going to post something similar to this, but couldn't be bothered.  I've been once (my team lost in the last minute of injury time) and it took forever to get back to central London. The transport links don't seem to be able to support a 90k capacity stadium.

Emanuele >> tuesday july 13 - 07:59

Okay what you say, but I don't think if England had won the fans wouldn't have stayed at the stadium to celebrate.

In Italy everyone talks about the unsportsmanlikeness of the English fans who even criticized with insults their players who missed the penalties. 

Stephen >> tuesday july 13 - 08:06

There are morons in every country, unfortunately.

The abuse of the players who missed has been completely unacceptable. But it would be wrong to pretend that every or even most English fans had been handing out the racist abuse.

Ar4ers >> tuesday july 13 - 08:41

There need to be investigation why they missed penalties. It would be sad if they do that on purpose. You cant disagree that missing 3 penalties in a row is mathematically  impossible

Numpty >> tuesday july 13 - 09:03, Edited tuesday july 13 - 09:06

It's true in life, sadly, that most people seem to prefer criticising the perceived failings of others than being generous and kind towards them. 

At the root of most criticisms is the word "I". I would behave differently, I am better than them. My moral code is better than theirs.

It's so much easier to point the finger of blame at others and by implication I am the one who is great and good and worthy.

Garfman >> tuesday july 13 - 15:42

People seem to forget that if you point the finger at someone else, there are always 4 fingers pointing at yourself.

In the end, it's a football tournament. Great entertainment, but not a matter of life and death. No need to make the lives of others miserable over their perceived failing to do what you, as a fan, would want them to do. In the end, all it does, is that it reveals the racist undertones in the country (any country has those, for that matter). And with the advent of social media, I'm afraid that it's a phenomenon that will never truly disappear unless better ways are found to identify culprits of such behaviour. Because it has made it very easy for everyone to spout that which they would never dare to utter in a normal face-to-face conversation (meaning people actually know that it's wrong).

Aad Mansveld >> monday july 19 - 13:22

i remember very well that after the masterclass  Netherlands-Italy 3-0 in Siwtserland at Euro 2008 the Italian fans gave a standing ovation to the Dutch team. Thats how to loose a match :) 

holt >> tuesday july 20 - 16:14

There was a video which had all of Le Tissier's penalties. Shame it got taken down.