England ‘deserve to be jeered’

Gerrard said he understtod the England fans’ ‘frustrations’ [GALLO/GETTY]

Captain Steven Gerrard said England deserve to be jeered by their own fans when they play Hungary on Wednesday in the first match after their dismal World Cup campaign in South Africa.

Gerrard told a news conference at England’s base north of London that he knows Fabio Capello’s side will be booed at the start of the friendly.

Asked if he would boo if he was a fan in the crowd at Wembley he replied, “Yes, I probably would.”

He added: “I’m expecting a mixed reaction. I’m sure there’ll be boos but we have to take it on the chin like men.

“We deserve it, we let them down, but hopefully, in time, we can show them we are a good team and we are desperate to make them happy in the future.”

England, tipped as being one of the favourites for the World Cup, disappointed throughout and were eliminated after losing 4-1 to Germany in the second round, their worst-ever defeat at a World Cup finals.

“Everyone believed we were going to come back with our heads held high after a successful tournament,” said the Liverpool player on Tuesday.

‘Difficult moment’

“We are in a difficult moment as a group. But football being the way it is you can always turn it round and given time, we hope to get the confidence and belief back for the most important people, the supporters, which everyone wants.

“This is a proud nation with a massive following. We have supporters who follow us all round the world and spend large amounts of money doing so. I can understand their frustrations.”

Capello said on Monday that he planned to start with his senior players who played at the World Cup because he knew the team were going to be jeered by the crowd.

Wednesday’s match is England’s only warm-up before the start of their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign in September in which they are grouped with Bulgaria, Wales, Montenegro and Switzerland.