The Rovers Return

It came as a shock to pretty much everyone, I would guess Frank Fielding included, when the Rovers youngster was picked for the full England squad today.

And it has been said by some that maybe his inclusion is a sarcastic retort by Fabio Capello at Paul Robinson, the man who snubbed him after his England recall earlier this week.

It’s unlikely Fielding, or Watford’s Scott Loach who also received a call-up after Ben Foster pulled out of the squad with an injury, will see any action. That is unless Joe Hart adds to the England chief’s misery.

Personally, I think it’s a great idea to include players like this in the squad.

I’ve thought for a while that the answer to some vital transfer money lay in our goalkeeper situation. We have three experienced stoppers, all of whom could be first choice for a top flight club, vying for the number one jersey at Ewood.

There’s only one man who’s ever going to keep that jersey, though, and that’s Robbo.

Jason Brown has stepped in on a number of occassions for the odd match and has always looked comfortable. When Rovers sold Brad Friedel to Aston Villa two years ago, I said at the time we should simply promote Brown, and I firmly believe he would have been a solid first choice keeper for Rovers.

Mark Bunn is the same, in fact he was something of a fans’ favourite at Sheffield United last season I have been led to believe.

Let these two players go. They must be desperate for a game. They are both wasting away in the reserves, sitting on the bench and playing the odd cup match.

Sell them for a combined £2million to swell the coffers. That would give us £4.5million in the transfer kitty, although it’s getting a bit late for transfers as it is …

Then promote Fielding to the number two spot as Robinson’s understudy. I saw him play for Wycombe Wanderers at Lincoln City while I was at university in Lincoln and he was unbeatable. To me, there seems little point having so many keepers in the rank when we have one who has the potential to step up to the plate within our own ranks already.

As for his selection in the England side, I reckon this should be done in all positions.

Now, in goal, we have three keepers all under the age of 25. Do that everywhere. Drop the has-beens. They were classed as the Golden Generation back in 2006 and weren’t good enough then, so they are certainly not good enough now.

Drop the lot of them, bring in a team of under-25s and breed a team capable of winning the World Cup in 2014.

• In other news, a quick well done to Phil Jones on his England Under-21 debut. Apparently he could have scored as England beat Uzbekistan 2-0. Fielding also played in the game but by all accounts had absolutely nothing to do.