It is a well known point of conversation in the footballing community to bring up the 2007 Daily Mail article that attempted to predict England's starting team at Euro 2016, and got it horribly wrong as they predicted now Trinidad and Tobago international Gavin Hoyte and Stevenage midfielder Dean Parrett to feature in the Three Lions' starting line up. However, when considering this team (that can be seen below) I wondered that if the Daily Mail had been right, what kind of 2007 players would they have been selecting? And so, I decided to do a little research and present a short piece on what the current England first eleven (or rather starting side against Portugal in the last friendly) were doing in 2007.
GK- Joe Hart- The now first team Manchester City goalkeeper and shampoo connoisseur, Joe Hart was starting to garner quite a bit of attention in 2007, having just completed a £100,000 transfer from Shrewsbury to Manchester City. He spent much of the 06-07 season on loan at League One's Tranmere Rovers and Blackpool, however he did make one first team appearance in October 2006 against Sheffield United in the Premier League when first choice goalie Andreas Isaksson (now at Turkish club Kasimpasa) and second choice Nicky Weaver (who retired at Aberdeen in 2014) were both injured. Hart kept a clean sheet that day, and by June 2008 he had made his England debut vs Trinidad and Tobago.
RB- Kyle Walker- Kyle Walker is currently one of Tottenham's stand out players, but before his move in July 2009 Walker was at Sheffield United. Like Hart, Walker was not yet a first team regular, however unlike Hart, Walker was not even playing first team, lower league football. The then 17 year old was struggling to get in the Sheffield United reserve team, and so it is no surprise that he was not fancied in front of Chelsea's promising young right back Sam Hutchinson, who now plays for Sheffield Wednesday.
CB- Gary Cahill- By the start of the 06-07 Premier League season, young English centre back Gary Cahill had made seven first team appearances for Aston Villa and had even scored a goal. At the age of just 21, it was obvious then that young Gary was destined for big things. In the 06-07 season itself he was a regular for Aston Villa making 20 league appearances, and following his moves to Bolton and then Chelsea, he has now become the first choice for England.
CB- Chris Smalling- In 2007, Chris Smalling was just 17 years old and was playing for lowly Maidstone Town. He made his debut for 'The Stones' in April 2007 against Tonbridge Angels in the Kent Senior Cup. Meanwhile, the Daily Mail's choice for captain, Micah Richards, had played 41 times in the Premier League for Manchester City by the end of the 06-07 season, which is why it is no surprise to see why Richards was picked by the Mail and Smalling was not.
LB- Danny Rose- Another Tottenham fullback, Daniel Lee Rose was just 16 in 2007 and was working his way through the ranks at Leeds United. He was on the bench for a Capital One Cup game in September 2006 against Barnet; however the manager who named him there was sacked after the game. Money troubles meant that the youngster was sold in the summer of 2007 and that was when he joined Tottenham Hotspur for around £1 million. The rest, as they say, is history.
CDM- Eric Dier- Another position, another Tottenham player, however this time it's not a full back but a tough tackling defensive midfielder. Dier is said to have been a player tipped for greatness from the start, with Sporting Lisbon's scouts being alerted to him when he was just eight years old. He joined the Portuguese club's academy at the age of 9, and in 2007 he would have been just 13 years old, still 5 years away from his first appearance from the Sporting Lisbon B team. It would have been pretty spectacular for the Daily Mail to have called this one.
CM- Jack Wilshere- Jack Wilshere would have been 15 in 2007, meaning that firstly, just like today, he would have been acting like a teenager off the field and secondly, that he was still in the Arsenal academy ranks. Despite this, Jack was touted for special things from a young age, and I remember personally having heard of him in around 2008. So it wouldn't have been impossible for the Daily Mail (with professional journalists who weren't 8 at the time) to have heard of and then subsequently to pick Jack, who would go on to be a passionate, skillful and rather injury prone talent in the middle of the park, over Michael Johnson, who would go bald and then eventually retire. Although as a side-note, Johnson was himself a very talented player that names like Roberto Mancini and Dietmar Hamann had described as the next big thing, and so it's easy to see why he was picked.
CM- Dele Alli- After a short break looking at Wilshere we hop back upon the Tottenham players express in order to look at Dele Alli, the former MK Dons man who is turning out to be a real star. He has scored some excellent goals for both club and country, and is a creative heartbeat in both the England side and for Spurs. However, it is still impossible to lament the Daily Mail for their oversight of Alli, because in 2007 he was just 11 and had only just joined the MK Dons academy.
CAM- Wayne Rooney- When it comes to the current England skipper, this is where the Daily Mail really dropped to the ball. The now record goalscorer for England came to prominence in English football in 2003 when he was playing for Everton and scoring screamers against Arsenal. In 2004 he signed for Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United for a fee of £25.6 million. In the 06-07 season, Rooney scored 23 goals for United in all competitions, and had already played for England 36 times, scoring 12 goals and getting sent off in the World Cup Quarter Finals against Portugal. It was obvious that the then 21 year old was not going away any time soon, and although the Daily Mail was trying to pick players that were relatively unknown, they should have recognised that Rooney would still be playing in 2016.
ST- Harry Kane- The 2015-16 Premier League Golden Boot winner Harry Kane was just 13 in 2007, and was playing for Tottenham's youth academy, following spells in Ridgeway Rovers, Arsenal (yes really) and Watford's youth systems. He would go on to score 49 goals in 83 games for Tottenham Hotspur. The striker has a bright future, and is just 3 England goals behind Theo Walcott, despite having played 31 less games than the man picked by the Daily Mail. Let's hope that the Tottenham striker gets those 3 goals and more at Euro 2016.
ST- Jamie Vardy- To be fair to the writers of the Daily Mail, you would have been laughed at in 2014 for picking Jamie Vardy to be one of England's leading two at Euro 2016, let alone in 2007. However, the fairytale story that is Jamie Vardy has kept rolling on and now Vardy ,with a Premier League winner's medal to his name, is set to go to his first major tournament with England and hopefully continue rising above expectations. As Vardy is 29 now in 2007, unlike many of the other players in the squad now, Vardy was playing first team football. However, this football was at Stocksbridge Park Steels, after Vardy had been released by Sheffield Wednesday. In 2010 Vardy had impressed enough at Stocksbridge to get his move up to the 7th tier of English football with Halifax Town. He then went on to join Conference side Fleetwood Town in 2011 before being signed by then Championship side (now Champions League side) Leicester City for around £1 million, in a move that was ridiculed and was a non-league record. If Vardy can go on and fire in enough goals to win England the Euros, then to England fans at least, he will be worth 100 times that amount.
So there you have it, that's what the current England side was up to in 2007 when the Daily Mail made their article. To be honest you can't really blame the Daily Mail, with most of the current side being unknown academy players in 2007. However the omissions of Gary Cahill, Joe Hart, Wayne Rooney and Jack Wilshere are notable. Overall the main thing that the Daily Mail seem to have got wrong was the age of the 2016 side, with many of the players in the article being around 27/28 now whilst many of the actual side are closer to 23/24. Anyway, I hope you found this article interesting, and let's all hope that England can go on and end the 50 years of hurt this summer!
Thanks for reading,
James
Like the blog on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/anotherquestionofsport/ for updates and opinions.
GK- Joe Hart- The now first team Manchester City goalkeeper and shampoo connoisseur, Joe Hart was starting to garner quite a bit of attention in 2007, having just completed a £100,000 transfer from Shrewsbury to Manchester City. He spent much of the 06-07 season on loan at League One's Tranmere Rovers and Blackpool, however he did make one first team appearance in October 2006 against Sheffield United in the Premier League when first choice goalie Andreas Isaksson (now at Turkish club Kasimpasa) and second choice Nicky Weaver (who retired at Aberdeen in 2014) were both injured. Hart kept a clean sheet that day, and by June 2008 he had made his England debut vs Trinidad and Tobago.
RB- Kyle Walker- Kyle Walker is currently one of Tottenham's stand out players, but before his move in July 2009 Walker was at Sheffield United. Like Hart, Walker was not yet a first team regular, however unlike Hart, Walker was not even playing first team, lower league football. The then 17 year old was struggling to get in the Sheffield United reserve team, and so it is no surprise that he was not fancied in front of Chelsea's promising young right back Sam Hutchinson, who now plays for Sheffield Wednesday.
CB- Gary Cahill- By the start of the 06-07 Premier League season, young English centre back Gary Cahill had made seven first team appearances for Aston Villa and had even scored a goal. At the age of just 21, it was obvious then that young Gary was destined for big things. In the 06-07 season itself he was a regular for Aston Villa making 20 league appearances, and following his moves to Bolton and then Chelsea, he has now become the first choice for England.
CB- Chris Smalling- In 2007, Chris Smalling was just 17 years old and was playing for lowly Maidstone Town. He made his debut for 'The Stones' in April 2007 against Tonbridge Angels in the Kent Senior Cup. Meanwhile, the Daily Mail's choice for captain, Micah Richards, had played 41 times in the Premier League for Manchester City by the end of the 06-07 season, which is why it is no surprise to see why Richards was picked by the Mail and Smalling was not.
LB- Danny Rose- Another Tottenham fullback, Daniel Lee Rose was just 16 in 2007 and was working his way through the ranks at Leeds United. He was on the bench for a Capital One Cup game in September 2006 against Barnet; however the manager who named him there was sacked after the game. Money troubles meant that the youngster was sold in the summer of 2007 and that was when he joined Tottenham Hotspur for around £1 million. The rest, as they say, is history.
CDM- Eric Dier- Another position, another Tottenham player, however this time it's not a full back but a tough tackling defensive midfielder. Dier is said to have been a player tipped for greatness from the start, with Sporting Lisbon's scouts being alerted to him when he was just eight years old. He joined the Portuguese club's academy at the age of 9, and in 2007 he would have been just 13 years old, still 5 years away from his first appearance from the Sporting Lisbon B team. It would have been pretty spectacular for the Daily Mail to have called this one.
CM- Jack Wilshere- Jack Wilshere would have been 15 in 2007, meaning that firstly, just like today, he would have been acting like a teenager off the field and secondly, that he was still in the Arsenal academy ranks. Despite this, Jack was touted for special things from a young age, and I remember personally having heard of him in around 2008. So it wouldn't have been impossible for the Daily Mail (with professional journalists who weren't 8 at the time) to have heard of and then subsequently to pick Jack, who would go on to be a passionate, skillful and rather injury prone talent in the middle of the park, over Michael Johnson, who would go bald and then eventually retire. Although as a side-note, Johnson was himself a very talented player that names like Roberto Mancini and Dietmar Hamann had described as the next big thing, and so it's easy to see why he was picked.
CM- Dele Alli- After a short break looking at Wilshere we hop back upon the Tottenham players express in order to look at Dele Alli, the former MK Dons man who is turning out to be a real star. He has scored some excellent goals for both club and country, and is a creative heartbeat in both the England side and for Spurs. However, it is still impossible to lament the Daily Mail for their oversight of Alli, because in 2007 he was just 11 and had only just joined the MK Dons academy.
CAM- Wayne Rooney- When it comes to the current England skipper, this is where the Daily Mail really dropped to the ball. The now record goalscorer for England came to prominence in English football in 2003 when he was playing for Everton and scoring screamers against Arsenal. In 2004 he signed for Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United for a fee of £25.6 million. In the 06-07 season, Rooney scored 23 goals for United in all competitions, and had already played for England 36 times, scoring 12 goals and getting sent off in the World Cup Quarter Finals against Portugal. It was obvious that the then 21 year old was not going away any time soon, and although the Daily Mail was trying to pick players that were relatively unknown, they should have recognised that Rooney would still be playing in 2016.
ST- Harry Kane- The 2015-16 Premier League Golden Boot winner Harry Kane was just 13 in 2007, and was playing for Tottenham's youth academy, following spells in Ridgeway Rovers, Arsenal (yes really) and Watford's youth systems. He would go on to score 49 goals in 83 games for Tottenham Hotspur. The striker has a bright future, and is just 3 England goals behind Theo Walcott, despite having played 31 less games than the man picked by the Daily Mail. Let's hope that the Tottenham striker gets those 3 goals and more at Euro 2016.
ST- Jamie Vardy- To be fair to the writers of the Daily Mail, you would have been laughed at in 2014 for picking Jamie Vardy to be one of England's leading two at Euro 2016, let alone in 2007. However, the fairytale story that is Jamie Vardy has kept rolling on and now Vardy ,with a Premier League winner's medal to his name, is set to go to his first major tournament with England and hopefully continue rising above expectations. As Vardy is 29 now in 2007, unlike many of the other players in the squad now, Vardy was playing first team football. However, this football was at Stocksbridge Park Steels, after Vardy had been released by Sheffield Wednesday. In 2010 Vardy had impressed enough at Stocksbridge to get his move up to the 7th tier of English football with Halifax Town. He then went on to join Conference side Fleetwood Town in 2011 before being signed by then Championship side (now Champions League side) Leicester City for around £1 million, in a move that was ridiculed and was a non-league record. If Vardy can go on and fire in enough goals to win England the Euros, then to England fans at least, he will be worth 100 times that amount.
So there you have it, that's what the current England side was up to in 2007 when the Daily Mail made their article. To be honest you can't really blame the Daily Mail, with most of the current side being unknown academy players in 2007. However the omissions of Gary Cahill, Joe Hart, Wayne Rooney and Jack Wilshere are notable. Overall the main thing that the Daily Mail seem to have got wrong was the age of the 2016 side, with many of the players in the article being around 27/28 now whilst many of the actual side are closer to 23/24. Anyway, I hope you found this article interesting, and let's all hope that England can go on and end the 50 years of hurt this summer!
Thanks for reading,
James
Like the blog on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/anotherquestionofsport/ for updates and opinions.
