The Armoury

Home Nations Agreement wouldn't allow it anyway.

Pointless issue this. Chap plays 1 decent game and the English media are raving on about him playing for England.

Also kind of hypocritical of the FA to be giving out to Prem clubs for not giving English youngsters a chance, then going ahead and asking about some random foreigners eligibility.

Define 'English'.

It's ignorant at the least, xenophobic at its worst. Januzaj won't play for England anyway, so that's irrelevant.

I assume he was gutted during the olympics when the Somalian Mo Farah won all of those golds as well.

He's a cretin.

In fact lets go further, how about the Ivory Coast born Wilfred Zaha? Jamaican born Raheem Sterling? Belgium born Bradley Wiggins? Chris Froome?

Define 'English'.

It's ignorant at the least, xenophobic at its worst. Januzaj won't play for England anyway, so that's irrelevant.

I assume he was gutted during the olympics when the Somalian Mo Farah won all of those golds as well.

He's a cretin.

In fact lets go further, how about the Ivory Coast born Wilfred Zaha? Jamaican born Raheem Sterling? Belgium born Bradley Wiggins? Chris Froome?

In the real world, outside of football, there's no circumstances in which Adnan Januzaj can be considered English. Was he born in England? No. Does he have any English heritage, as far we know? No. Has he lived in this country from a young age? No, he hasn't.

Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Stirling have grown up as Englishmen in this country and can quite comfortably be considered as English in non-footballing terms. Januzaj cannot and is only being considered because of some supposed eligibility laws that could have allowed someone like Manuel Almunia to represent England.

As I've already said, what Jack Wilshere has come out with today is no different from what plenty of other people involved in football have said across the years in regards to this debate. It's just cool to hate on Jack Wilshere at the moment and that's why Ninja has come out and accused him of being a xenophobe, which is fucking nonsense.

Out of interest, what age would he have had to move to the UK to be considered English? 5? 10? 14?

Januzaj moved here to be a professional footballer.

Zaha/Sterling/Welbeck/Berahino/Moses/Ameobi etc. didn't.

I don't know - it's a messy argument - but my point is there's a clear difference between Wilfried Zaha, who's lived here since he was four and grew up in British schools, than Januzaj, who's lived in this country since he was sixteen. There's just no way, in the real world, Januzaj can be considered an Englishman. Am I wrong in saying that?

There is an obvious difference, but if there's no cut-off age for eligibility then it just depends on your own opinion. Technically, outside the world of football if Januzaj (or anyone) decides he wants to become a UK citizen and has lived here for five years, then he can do, and he'll be as British as you and I (legally speaking).

With regards to your suggestion of having to live here for five years before the age of 18, I could just as easily argue that it should be five years before the age of 21 and he would qualify. I would draw the line there though as I wouldn't have wanted the likes of Almunia or Arteta to be eligible.

(For the record I'm not advocating Januzaj playing for England, but it's an interesting argument).

There is an obvious difference, but if there's no cut-off age for eligibility then it just depends on your own opinion.

You're taking it completely out of context which is no surprise considering your dislike of him.

What Jack Wilshere said today has been said by numerous journalists and pundits over the past few days and in recent times - that English players should play for the national side. There's obviously a clear fucking difference between Wilfried Zaha, who moved to England when he was four years old and has spent the majority of his life in England, and Adnan Januzaj, a Belgian-born kid of Albanian and Kosovan heritage who has lived in England for two years. Janujaz, clearly, can in no way be interpreted as English, whereas the likes of Zaha and Sterling, who have lived in this country for the majority of their lives, clearly can.

You're just deciding to be outraged because it's Wilshere. What he is saying has been said by so many people before. There have been debates before about Mikel Arteta and Manuel Almunia potentially playing for England - are the people who said they shouldn't be chosen, because they're clearly fucking Spanish, xenophobic as well? Obviously not.

Pathetic.

My what?

I've been a pretty consistent defender of Wilshere on here. In fact, I don't think I've ever said a bad word against him.

Odd one to talk about biases though, seeing as mostly everyone thinks Wilshere's been a bit out of order but you're first to the defence of him. Not because you're an Arsenal fan, of course.

No, for me if you are English you are English and you play for England. The only people who should play for England are English people. If you live in England for five years it doesn’t make you English. You shouldn’t play ... it doesn’t mean you can play for a country. If I went to Spain and lived there for five years I am not going to play for Spain.

You called him a cretin. That probably constitutes as a 'bad word' against him.

Also, why have you completely ignored every one of my points?

Like all fans, I'm slightly biased towards my own team, but in this instance the entire thing has been blown way out of proportion and his comments completely twisted and taken out of context. You've mentioned Stirling and Zaha, neither of whom were born in this country, but not once did Wilshere say you had to be born here to be English. It's fucking ridiculous and I'm more inclined to defend him because so many people are criticizing him and having a go at him for things he hasn't even said.

Because plenty of other people have taken the debate up. The problem people have is 'England for the English', its rhetoric thats painfully close to EDL crap. Seeing as Wilshere hasn't defined what makes you 'English' I think it's perfectly fair to talk about the amount of foreign born players that play sport for the country.

And everyone is taking Wilshere's comments that way, apart from you, which is why he's taking flack from all quarters.

'England National team for the English!'

What a Nazi.

Callum, you are wrong in this and his stupidity (that is all it is really as he is thick) was shown up during an exchange with Kevin Pieterson on Twitter about it.

Anyway, I'm sick of fucking talking about it because I'm clearly fighting a losing battle. People have made up their minds about him without actually reading what he's said and applied some logic and context to the situation. If it was someone like Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger saying that Englishmen should play for the national side and not foreigners, there would be little to no uproar whatsoever. That's what does my nut in.