Fantasy England football team managers will never know the pressure faced by Roy Hodgson

Despite the fact that they’ve never kicked a ball professionally in their entire lives they can all be relied upon to know better than Roy Hodgson

Roy Hodgson, the England manager (Getty)

One of the many reasons why the job of England manager is as thankless as it is difficult is that almost every living room, pub lounge, office and factory in the land harbours its quota of know-it all, would-be, unaccountably-passed-over-for-the-job fantasy England team managers. Despite the fact that they’ve never kicked a ball professionally in their entire lives, or that they have known anything approaching the ludicrous pressure an England manager is exposed to: they can all be relied upon to know better than, this time round, Roy Hodgson, and his provisional choice of players for the Euros. Should Theo Walcott have been in the squad? Will young Marcus Rashford make the final cut? Is it wise to have Wayne Rooney start ahead of wunderkind Jamie Vardy?

Soon we will all know. A friendly against Turkey in a fortnight or so will be an early test. There is no parallel universe, even in football, we can never know if Hodgson’s choices were right or wrong. All we can do is wish them, Wales and Northern Ireland the very best of luck, and hope they all defy the armchair pundits. They all deserve 110 per cent support.