Am I right in thinking that apart from Shearer NUFC have no representatives who currently play for the club at Euro 2000? If I am, does this have a bearing on our future and current predicaments?

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000

Answers

Hmmm. With Paraguay, Scotland, Argentina, Wales, Greece, Georgia, Northern Ireland and Rep of Ireland missing from these championships, not much to worry about really. We've also got a youngster who nearly made the cut for the squad and a veteran right back who should have done. An injured English centre half who has been in, a veteran midfielder who is only just too long in the tooth to risk getting injured in the competition, a pair of French defenders who have youth and injury keeping them out and a Spaniard who was tipped to be an international but has spent virtually the whole season injured. Not quite as worrying as it may at first appear.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000

Not sure there was ever much chance of Paraguay or Peru ever being involved in this tournament :-)

Although there is some cheer to be gained in the youngsters coming through, we still have no regular senior internationals from European nations of high quality (Bergkamp, Viera, Desailly, Figo etc). Rob Lee is probably the nearest other than Dyer who should be there. I think it was a good thing neither was, because Lee needs to keep his fitness, and Dyer because he's mentally drained (see the interview in The Mag...he gets better and better the more I read and hear from him!).

I hope I'm not becoming too Dougal-esque in my cynicism and paranoia (meant in the kindest way, Dougie) but other championship contenders have an embarassment of riches on display. Arsenal, Newton Heath and Chewsee are all represented in several good sides. We have only memories of Pav (good ones) and JDT (nightmare ones) to recall, as well as Big Al (please score!).

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000

It is indicative of the last three seasons when mid-table has been the norm. Hopefully we will now pick up a bit but it's going to take a couple of seasons at least.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000

However, Big Dunc would walk into most squads, Dyer is a definite for the future, Big Al has elected to retire from international football, Griffin would have been in the under 21s had he been fitter this season... blah blah, Don't worry - Di Canio isn't playing for Italy. Does that make him crap?

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000