By Chris Crees WITH international week upon us once again and therefore depriving the fans of the top two divisions (and one or two further down) the chance to watch their beloved teams, the question has to be asked, Should the league fixtures be postpon

By Chris Crees

WITH international week upon us once again and therefore depriving the fans of the top two divisions (and one or two further down) the chance to watch their beloved teams, the question has to be asked, "Should the league fixtures be postponed?"

My answer is an emphatic yes. I firmly believe that success of national sides throughout the world is of the utmost importance and that every resource should be made available to, in my case, the England side.

Nothing riles me more when I see players being pulled out of national squads because of minor scratches, only to miraculously return on the Saturday as if nothing had happened.

The managers are to blame too as they want to protect their players, but my view is "Why bother to sign international players if you're then going to complain about them playing international football?"

I wonder how many frustrated footballers are out there who have been deprived of that chance, because they're too valuable for their league clubs or have a really important fixture coming up?

I was half expecting the England team against Belarus to be 'injury' hit this week, as from a result point of view it doesn't really matter.

In my opinion, any sort of success for the national side brings the country together, if only for a few days. It gives us the chance to support the players we sometimes despise on a weekly basis and give them our support as Englishmen!

I'd challenge any English QPR fan to wish a penalty miss by John Terry in an England shirt if it meant going through to the next round of a World Cup match!

Who can forget Beckham's goal against Greece or the revenge match against Argentina, or getting up at 6:30 in the morning to head off down the pub to watch England play Brazil over breakfast? Come on don't lie, we were all out of our seats, weren't we?

I wouldn't miss the World Cup or European Championships for anything and would happily cancel out the fixtures for a month if I thought it might help the national side. Probably just as well I'm not running the game really!

Anybody else feel proud watching Martin Rowlands run out against Italy for a match of great importance? I certainly did and hopefully he'll play a major part in South Africa if the Irish qualify.