DAVID MOYES HAS defended Tom Cleverley after an online petition called for the midfielder to be dropped from the England squad.
The Manchester United man was included Roy Hodgson’s 30-man party for Wednesday’s 1-0 friendly victory over Denmark at Wembley, and was named as a matchday substitute.
Cleverley did not make an appearance in the fixture, but was booed by sections of the Wembley crowd when his name was read out over the public address system before kick-off.
The petition – which has garnered over 17,000 signatures thus far – states that Cleverley has “been regularly selected by Roy Hodgson in his squads without possessing any genuine qualities whatsoever”.
Hodgson himself condemned the petition, and insisted the 24-year-old has “done an awful lot of good” for England. United manager Moyes has now also leapt to the defence of his player, and says it is “wrong” that the social media campaign has been given so much credence.
“First and foremost I am surprised that the media would be picking something up on social media and making a big case out of it because that is wrong,” he said.
“Tom Cleverley is a fantastic young player who is developing all the time. He is a great trainer and he is someone who is first out and every day does his best in training.”
Cleverley has made 13 international appearances since making his debut against Italy in August 2012.
Well I certainly wouldn’t condemn his taste is women!
Would love to see him prove the doubters wrong but genuinely don’t think he’s got the ability for man united or England
I may support Liverpool, but that petition is so wrong on many levels. To all those who signed it…tell us all your wonderful life accomplishments, that you can do better, rather than hide behind a monitor, greasing the monkey.
That petition is not right atall, should be ashamed..
Whatever his ability but an online petition is way out of order. Can you imagine what that would do to a person’s confidence and more importantly his mental state?
It seems to me that England fans just constantly need someone to blame for their failings.
Me? I don’t like him cos his GF is much MUCH hotter than mine *wolfwhistles*
17,000 muppets that you can bet your bottom dollar that average and all as Cleverly is,he would leave them all for dead.
Why is cleverly taking up serial killings now
Nothing more than bullies. I know he’s awful, but the amount of abuse he’s getting is ridiculous.
Unlikely that he will ever be good enough to play cm for united or England but to subject him to that level of essentially organised bullying is a really sad reflection on English society or maybe society in general.
He better go to the World Cup, they better bring Crouchy as well
Can you imagine the pics of his missus and Abbey Clancy on the beach !
He literally offers nothing in defence or attack. So so ordinary for an international player and man united player.
I think centre-mid is a very difficult position to learn.. I remember someone saying it can take 150-200 games to learn to an expert level i.e. playing CL, positioning is a huge factor which only comes from experience… he reminds me of Danny Murphy who developed into an excellent CM in his late 20s but had gone to Fulham at that stage & was out of Eng squad… Cleverly has obvious potential but hard to know yet if he’ll be a success for ManU, they’d need to be patient & stick with him…… I suspect Moyes will cut him in the summer as he needs a good CM now to save his own skin… he could be like Murphy & have a successful career with a mid table team in the future…
Met him after a match a few months ago, took time to sign autographs and take pictures with every fan, must of taken him 45 minutes before he finished up,other players got straight in their cars without so much as a wave.really nice guy. Anyone who actually takes the time to sign a petition like this is obviously an idiot but that won’t be any consolation to him. I’d love him to prove people wrong , he loves united and does his best for the team, been made a scapegoat for a terrible season. Haven’t seen him come out and blame anyone else , takes responsibility for his performances unlike a few of the other players who have taken cheap shots at the management
He must be doing something right with a pullet like that. F*ck the begrudgers.
Works out well for Cleverley, Hodgson will have to pick him now, because he can’t be seen to give in to a stupid petition.
True, that petition might have just guaranteed him a spot in the plane, slightly counter productive for all involved.
Typical English supporters! It’s not so long ago they thought scholes wasn’t good enough, beckham got awful abuse also along with a variety of players at different stages. It’s the reason why they will never win a World Cup again! What player would want to play for England, and put effort in for those yobs in the stand! What manager in the right mind would coach the team, unless it’s the end of your career and you need a few million to retire?! Clowns!
Im a Manchester United fan and as much as I wished, hoped and want him to do well. He has been well below average for the majority of the season and on these merits. He neither warrants a place in the Manchester United or England midfield. He should realize that all these people are talking about him for a legitimate reason. He should then use that to motivate and improve himself as a player.
He should fight for his position because he has it. It’s the managers decision if he plays not the words of a mob, who are getting far more attention than they deserve. No petitions should be allowed to make decisions on team selection.
Wouldn’t be surprised if cleverly retired internationally and couldn’t begrudge him for it.getting booed just when ur name is called out by your own ‘fans’ is disgraceful. Whatever there opinion about him, he was selected for his country and accepted the call. He gets abuse for being on the England team and gyrated if he declined call ups he would get abuse too. He is in an impossible position
Give moyes his contract extension now
If the best Moyes can say is he does his best and trains really hard its hardly a glowing endorsement of his skills
Chap doesn’t deserve this type of nonsense, he isn’t a bad player. Just has no confidence, this isn’t going to help.
Likely the amount the fans are who signed the petition are united fans and are shielding themselves behind the “England” facade…fickle and disgraceful bunch