Wright-Phillips clinches place in England squad after leaving phone switched off

SHAUN Wright-Phillips has admitted that he secured his place in the England World Cup 2010 squad by turning his phone off on Monday morning.

Fabio Capello had planned to cut Wright-Phillips from his final squad of 23, but with the winger’s Nokia 6700 Slide constantly going straight to answerphone, the England boss decided it would be easier to drop Theo Walcott and blame it on his poor final ball.

“Fabio spent an hour on Monday ringing round all the players who hadn’t made the cut,” said England director of director of football Sir Trevor Brooking. “He couldn’t get through to Shaun, and he hates using ringback as it’s considered unlucky by Italians.

“In the end, good management is about what is easiest for everyone, and Theo will always pick up as his Orange tariff is pretty comprehensive.”

While many may doubt if Wright-Phillips deserves his place in the squad, Capello’s assistant Franco Baldini explained that the phone incident highlighted why the diminutive winger should be going to South Africa, saying “To adapt your tactics to any delivery, be it mobile, email or post, shows an ability to play the continental way.”

This is not the first time England players have gone incommunicado in an attempt to seal a place at the World Cup. In 1990 Steve Bull purposefully lost his pager, and in 1986 Steve Hodge left his fax machine off the hook.

Perhaps the most dramatic attempt to avoid bad news about not making a World Cup squad was in 1954, when Nat Lofthouse gunned down a series of pigeons that approached his house, fearing they were carrying bad news from boss Walter Winterbottom.

However, Lofthouse was living in the Sainsbury wing of the National Gallery at the time, and the pigeons were merely flying towards their usual haunt in Trafalgar Square. As a result of his error of judgement the tricky Bolton inside half back was fined a total of 3 and 4/7 d and lashings of ginger beer for cruelty to the pigeonfolk of London.

Published June 3, 2010

Related Posts