PATRIOT GAMES
The club v country row has come a long way. In the 1990s it only generated headlines when Alex Ferguson withdrew his entire first-team squad, the under-14s and the canteen staff from the upcoming international break. Now it involves something a little more sinister. Ben White, a man who had the effrontery to be born with the name of the predominant colour in the St George’s Cross flag, has declined the opportunity to sit around watching other people play for England. Worse still, he has done so in this of all weeks, when the ink isn’t even dry on that Photoshop.
