Big Ron Atkinson joins our team
Ron Atkinson has signed up for the Express & Star's World Cup team with a message for England boss Fabio Capello - Pick Joe Hart.
Ron Atkinson has signed up for the Express & Star's World Cup team with a message for England boss Fabio Capello - Pick Joe Hart.
The former Villa and Albion boss believes the youngest - at 23 - of England's three goalkeepers can solve the thorny issue of who goes into the tournament as Capello's first-choice.
Big Ron will be giving readers his thoughts on the finals, now just 24 hours away from starting for England with the opening group game against USA, during the tournament.
Atkinson started by today naming the last line of defence would be occupied by the Shrewsbury-born young keeper, who did so much to help Birmingham record the club's best season in 50 years.
He said: "In goal I would have Joe Hart - definitely. I saw a lot of him last season, he was inspirational at Birmingham, quite instrumental in everything they achieved, and when you have a lad on a run of form like that, I always believed you should stick with him.
"I don't think Capello will. I think Robert Green will get the nod and he has had a steady enough season.
"I don't have a problem with what might be seen as Hart's lack of experience, although I would have liked to have seen him play more in the last three games.
"We've got to remember the days when we had a line of world-class keepers from Banks through to Shilton and Clemence have gone.
"They were the best in the world and goalkeeping was never an issue for England.
"We don't have that any more, but Hart is a guy who is on a high at the moment and I would go for him."
Atkinson also believes the players must learn from the lessons provided by the last World Cup winners, Italy, in 2006.
He said: "It's the World Cup and of course we are all excited - every fan in the country would love to see us bombing forward and winning games with lots of goals.
"But we have to learn from how Italy won the tournament in 2006. We do not have the players to play gung-ho.
"We have to make ourselves hard to beat, hard to score against and focus on the quality players we do have in certain areas."
