Joe Brolly tears into English fans who 'still think the rest of the world are beneath them'
The Derry native slammed the arrogance of English football fans and pundits alike on his podcast
Joe Brolly took aim at England fans following the country's most recent failure to win a major tournament, highlighting the hooliganism and drunken antics that so often follows them.
The former Sunday Game pundit spoke about why there were scenes of celebrations in the likes of Dublin and Belfast on Sunday after the final, as Spanish flags flew high in some areas, bars went wild, and guttural roars were let out in celebration of England going home emptyhanded once again. Brolly says that this culture of celebrating English losses is down to the reputation that the Three Lions fanbase has built up of troublemaking and hooliganism over the years.
When talking about the beautiful game, Brolly ripped apart the England team, their fans, and their pundits following their loss to Spain in Berlin, calling them "lost people."
READ MORE: Roy Keane gives verdict on England's Euro 2024 final loss - 'take your medicine'
READ MORE: James McClean savagely trolls TalkSPORT with 'cocky' jibe after England's Euro 2024 final loss
Speaking on the Free State podcast with co-host Dion Fanning, Brolly recounts a time when he was in Spain with his wife and came across English hooliganism first hand.
He explained: "The English supporters came out of the Irish Pub just up, sort of in La Cala. I mean, first of all, this girl fell over on the ground, and her underwear came off. A man then wearing a Union Jack, sort of, you know, those wee bowler hat things tried to lift her and fell over her. And it was just, he just thought, like you're so, you know, crass and aggressive, as though the Empire was still there, and so the rest of the world were beneath him, you know."
Brolly talked about the experience of seeing the hooliganism and trying to stay calm.
He said: "And they come into a bar, and everybody's on edge immediately. It's a new tone, you know, a new tone of belligerence that's just there. And you have to be careful. Then everybody goes into sort of, you know, negotiator mode, you know, you just keep your head down. You don't, you know, let them. You let them do their sort of aggressive chanting, and they're, you know, that sort of thing is just simmering there all the time, and it's very, very noticeable."
Brolly also hit out at BBC pundit and former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand for his analysis of England's performance.
He stated: "Rio Ferdinand had his notepad, a BBC notepad in front of him, right? And Juan Mata, the great Spanish player, he had the same notepad. His(Mata) was absolutely covered in careful handwritten notes, and Rio Ferdinand's notepad was a single word, "vibes."
He continued: "You compare the crassness and the banality of the punditry by the English commentators, the English pundits, with their foreign counterparts, who speak better English than they do when they actually, you know, they can conjugate and use verbs, and they understand past tense and, you know, perfect."
It wasn't all grief given out by Brolly towards England though, as he sang the praises of Chelsea player Cole Palmer who scored the equaliser for England in Berlin.
"He's an absolutely extraordinary player, and Real Madrid, or someone should buy him, because they would get him," stated the All-Ireland winner.
The Dungiven man believes that Southgate's downfall as England manager came from picking a team politically to satisfy headlines.
He said: "And then you see Gareth Southgate, you know, it just sums up banality, caution." He continued: "What will be politically expedient for me? And that's how he selects his team, instead of selecting the team on the basis of, you know, youth, talent, you know, and a philosophy that's going to work at this level and, and, mean, you know, you can clearly see that what you're talking about when you see them playing on the field, because you have a lot of really superb players, you know, very well equipped to play at that level."
Brolly also believes that England will not win a tournament unless The FA get a manager who can play with a philosophy instead of political football.
He added: "Unless there's a unified philosophy and a clever manager who can select players not based on their reputations, but based on how they can play within that philosophy. Then, you know, England are doomed and will remain doomed."
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.
Related
Share this page
Guest Posts by Easy Branches
