DANNY DYER has insisted he is not a “grass” after clarifying his comments on “friction” in England’s family camp at Euro 2024.
Dyer returned to the UK after attending Sunday’s Euro final in Berlin where he was supporting son-in-law Jarrod Bowen.
Dyer, 46, joined talkSPORT earlier this week to lift the lid on life inside the England camp at a major tournament.
But the West Ham fan has found himself in the eye of a storm.
While sharing his experiences following the team around Germany, he suggested there was “friction” with some families over some squad members’ lack of game time at the Euros.
Dyer said: “Some of the families are there and some of their sons are not getting enough game time so there’s a little bit of friction.
“Gareth Southgate did seem to stay with the same team, so some people didn’t get any minutes. At least J (Bowen) got some earlier minutes.
“It’s very frustrating to sit on the bench and you can’t get any minutes.
“There’s nothing you can do about it so you take it on the chin, you learn from it. Hopefully whoever comes in fancies Jarrod again and he gets to go again at the World Cup.”
Bowen, 27, came off the bench in the first two group games, but didn’t play a minute in the knockout rounds.
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The legendary EastEnders actor returned to the talkSPORT studio on Thursday as a special guest co-host of Drivetime to clarify his comments.
He insisted there was no bad blood between the families at all.
He told Andy Goldstein: “I just mentioned about the families and friction, but that wasn’t between each other.
“I went to the final and I had the honour of being with the families and it’s a very, very emotional thing watching England anyway.
“But when you’ve got a connection to the squad, like I have with Jarrod and you’re sitting with Trent Alexander-Arnold’s mum and Kyle Walker’s mum and dad, it’s a thing.
“And it’s just parents watching their kids, they’re all very working-class people, I love them all, they’re right up my street.
“And there’s been this clickbaity thing where I’m saying, ‘There’s friction between them’, like I’m some little grass.
“But that’s not the case. The friction is that all of those parents and brothers and sisters and children want to see their boy playing football and they don’t all get that opportunity, unfortunately.”
By Dave Kidd
There is a natural preference to appoint an English successor.
And in an ideal world, the England manager should always be English. But this is not an ideal scenario.
So the FA must be ambitious in sounding out the best man for the job, regardless of nationality.
Because England need a manager who would gain instant respect with players, who would be tactically bold enough to take on Spain and a strong enough character to deal with Jude Bellingham’s Real Madrid Galactico status, which threatens to cause future issues within the England squad. Yes, when the FA have gone foreign in the past, it hasn’t worked out well.
Yet the problem with Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello was that neither had any previous involvement in English football.
They lacked knowledge and understanding of the football culture — indeed, Capello barely spoke the language.
Now there is a wealth of overseas managerial talent with significant Premier League experience, including Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettino, Carlo Ancelotti and Thomas Tuchel.
Read more from Dave Kidd on who England should turn to.
