England will be captained by Harry Kane for the first time when they take on Scotland this weekend as they look to cement their place on top of their World Cup qualifying group, but ahead of the clash manager Gareth Southgate was eager to increase the team spirit in his camp.
The England boss brought his squad to a military assault course as a team bonding exercise in the hopes of bringing them closer together while also breaking up some of the monotony that is part and parcel with being an international footballer in between matches, but the event has been mocked by many on social media too.
Johnny Giles has also had a pop, as it's clear that he's not a fan of the idea at all and used it as an example as to why Ireland's current crop of players should be praised, because they don't need stunts like this to show a bit of desire.
In his regular column for The Herald [via Independent.ie], Giles labelled the decision to take the England players on a military assault course as 'madness' and claimed you can't manufacture heart.
Talent is no use if it doesn’t come with heart, commitment, energy and discipline and every one of those 28 lads [in the Ireland squad] have those qualities hard-wired.
The other example I had in mind was Gareth Soutgate’s decision to bring his players on a military assault course for ‘bonding’.
It was utter madness and nothing more than a stunt to make Southgate look as if he has the kind of grit which they hired Sam Allardyce to bring to the party. I’m sorry, but if players don’t have those qualities in their locker from the start, sending them to wallow in mud and climb over tall obstacles won’t give it them.
We know from last summer that England were gutless against Iceland. Put simply, if you’re not born with the will to fight for something in life, it cannot be learned.
A harsh view from Giles there, off the top of our heads we would cite Rachel Green from 'Friends' as an example of someone who learned the meaning of honest effort, although granted that's a fictional person.
Giles was equally as complimentary of the Irish squad as he was critical of that of England, and he pointed to the open training session midweek which featured ever player, even some who had no hope of playing, as a sign as to how much our current crop love playing for Ireland.
As for Southgate, he's got some way to go before he pissed Gilesy off as much as Sam Allardyce did.
