Apparently Sven Goran Eriksson is furious about interruptions to the England squad’s preparation for this year’s World Cup. However, Sven is neither concerned about the players’ frenetic domestic schedules, nor about media speculation over the England managerial post. No, Sven is angry about the ridiculous British custom of putting our clocks backward an hour for the winter, then forward again in the spring. Sven called the WCH headquarters today (an hour late) to share his feelings:

“For sure, I am angry. In every other country which will be at the World Cup, today their players will be waking up at the normal time with no problem. But nearly all of my squad are waking up not knowing what time of day it is! Twice a year we go through this nonsense in England and I am not sure why. We put the clocks back in October to make evenings darker in the winter for some reason - which cannot be good for the players’ mental wellbeing. Then we put them forward in spring, so in effect giving them an hour of jetlag. This, for me, is ridiculous. Club managers complain about their players returning tired from international duty, and here we are in England needlessly tampering with their sleep. For those who have young children, like Frank Lampard, it must be extra difficult having their routine disturbed. I know that many other international managers who have players based in England share my feelings, but for them at least it is a small number of their squad.
 
“So, if we have a bad World Cup, don’t blame the players for not trying hard enough or me for not jumping up and down on the touchline – blame yourselves for putting up with this ridiculous hour change nonsense.”

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