Lovely little column from Jim Holden on Bobby Zamora, that starts with this gem:
BOBBY Zamora parks his car in a side street off the Fulham Palace Road and stops for a cup of coffee at Starbucks on the way to most home matches at Craven Cottage.
He’s always wearing his Fulham tracksuit but nobody pesters him as he waits patiently in the queue for his cappuccino. Nobody asks for his autograph. Nobody starts pointing at him and shouting, “Look, look, who’s there.”
Actually, nobody even turns a hair.
Zamora is the anonymous hero of English football. So, we should forgive the 29-year-old striker a wry shrug and a cynical grin when he hears that he’s being touted as a last-gasp call-up for England’s World Cup campaign this summer.
It ends with a favourable contrast with England’s footballing glitterati.
The fact that Zamora is on a hot scoring streak is a bonus. The fact he is that rarity in the modern game, a down-to-earth footballer, an ordinary bloke who goes quietly for a coffee in Starbucks, is altogether wonderful.
Doesn’t the England football team need a few characters like that rather than the celebrity cavalcade surrounding David Beckham, John Terry and Ashley Cole?
It’s a yes from me – and you suspect Bobby’s not finished yet this season.
Unfortunately, whilst there is no doubt that Zamora deserves to go, it is business as usual at the FA with the usual suspects included in every squad regardless of form.
If Capello has real cajones, then he should take 5 strikers to the world cup, Rooney, Defoe, Bent, Zamora and Heskey/Crouch.