Bournemouth fan view: Has Gareth Southgate got something against the Cherries?

We all love a good conspiracy theory. Don’t lie now, I see that tab open on your browser for the Infowars website.

Anyway, listen to mine – Gareth Southgate doesn’t like AFC Bournemouth. You could even extend Gareth Southgate to “the entirety of the FA” really.

Pretty crazy right? Well I intend to back up my spurious claim with evidence, don’t worry. So here I go.

Gareth Southgate closes the gate

Now I know fans of the smaller clubs in the Premier League complaining about their side’s players not being picked for England is something that happens a lot. As a result it’s got quite tiresome. I was quite bored while typing the words of the previous two sentences in all honesty.

That said, one more shout into the ocean won’t hurt!

The amount of times AFC Bournemouth players have been overlooked for England recognition over the last two-and-a-bit seasons has been ridiculous. Now admittedly many of our players won’t be playing for England anytime soon, as much as I love them. Players such as Simon Francis, Marc Pugh, or Tyrone Mings are either too old or too raw.

Age or experience – which one?

But we actually have the captain of the Under 20s England side playing for us regularly, Lewis Cook. A player Gareth Southgate has worked with in the past. A player that captained the aforementioned Under 20s to the World Cup this summer.

Now I wouldn’t mind if Cook wasn’t chosen because Southgate was preferring to focus on more experienced players. But that’s not the case.

Instead he’s selected Tammy Abraham and Ruben Loftus-Cheek for the senior squad this weekend, but completely ignored Lewis Cook. This despite the fact that Lewis Cook has played in the Premier League more times than both of them. It’s almost as if the fact that Abraham and Loftus Cheek are both Chelsea players is a factor…

READ MORE: Who deserves to be hailed as the best England defender of all time?

READ MORE: Inexperienced England hold World champions Germany at Wembley

Old guard also rejected

When you see players like Jack Cork getting into this weekend’s squad even more questions have to be asked as well. Cork has played a mere 8 games for Burnley this season after all, and is far from a young and exciting prospect.

Then you have Harry Maguire being selected, who has played just one full Premier League season – and that was in a Hull City side that was eventually relegated.

So what makes him better than defenders such as Charlie Daniels or Steve Cook? Players who are now into their third seasons in the Premier League – and that’s in a team where attacking football means they’ve had plenty of time to brush up on their defending. To say the very least.

A problem for us moving forward?

Yes, I may be overreacting. But when I see players from teams such as Burnley, Swansea, and Crystal Palace getting selected for England I do wonder what our players have to do to get chosen.

Worryingly our own players could see it that way too. So they may decide that they have to move on if they ever want to achieve the dream of playing for the national side. All because we’re not a big or fashionable enough club.

So Gareth Southgate, please do me a favour – actually come down and watch a Bournemouth match for once. You might be surprised at what you’ll see.