Roy Hodgson’s Redmond snub further reaffirms presence of ‘big club bias’

Sunday afternoon saw England boss Roy Hodgson call-up Manchester United winger Jesse Lingard to the national set up ahead of Tuesday nights friendly against France. A move which is a blatant demonstration of the ‘big club bias’ that has manifested the Hodgson era.

Jesse Lingard has participated in just 169 minutes of action this season. He has transformed from being almost surplus to requirements at United at the beginning of the season to a member of the national squad. After just two starts which yes, he did perform well in, and yes, he did score in the second of these starts vs West Brom - but can you really say it was a warranted call-up after such a brief burst onto the scene?

I can’t help but wonder what kind of message it sends out to the likes of Marc Albrighton, Wilfried Zaha, Jason Puncheon and, as a Norwich fan, Nathan Redmond - all players who have been pipped to the winger birth by Lingard, and all players who have far greater experience and proven themselves far more than Lingard at the highest level.

I discussed something similar earlier in the season when Andros Townsend was selected for the dead rubber European qualifier against Estonia. While it seemed unfair, especially as Townsend was barely making the Spurs squad, at the time of selection Townsend had scored 3 goals in 9 appearances for England. Such a record is deserving of further selection, and I essentially put it down to the fact that Hodgson is, to say the least, a conservative manager that likes to stick with his ‘tried and tested’ - even in dead rubber scenarios. This conservatism would explain why he wasn’t throwing Nathan Redmond or the like in for their international debut, as he was clearly fearful of trying anything new.

However, in one action, Hodgson’s inclusion of Lingard has completely shot down this theory.

He is indeed more than willing to give youthful and inexperienced players an opportunity.

But only if such youthful and inexperienced players play for a fashionable club.

After struggling for consistency in his first Premier League season when City got relegated in 2013/14, Nathan Redmond has transformed into a completely different player. Being a catalyst to our success at the back end of last years promotion campaign, capped by a goal at Wembley, Redmond has continued his form into this season. Despite not being a consistent starter, the ex-Birmingham star has scored 4 goals, created 24 chances and made 1 assist. While the assisting side of his game is still a work in progress, there is no doubt that in a more prosperous side this figure would be a lot higher.

And he would be playing for England.

It is not just us Norwich fans that have just cause to feel aggrieved. Referring back to the original trio of players, Marc Albrighton has had a superb start to the campaign in a flying Leicester side with 4 assists and 1 goal, Wilfried Zaha has been similarly impressive while Jason Puncheon’s 6 goals and 7 assists of last season ought to have given him more than a claim at the position.

The strikingly common denominator that links all of these players? They play for unfashionable clubs. Norwich, Crystal Palace and, increasingly less so, Leicester are not necessarily viewed as hotbeds of English talent and as a result our players are so often criminally overlooked.

And, sadly, I don’t think this will ever change.