Yawns all round down at Turkey barbecue

Well, Sven, over here, they've been talking about little else but football. There may have been the odd reference from the Turkish coach Senol Gunes about the need for "brotherhood and peace" but even the security concerns bear no comparison to their worries over the fitness of key players, Sergen and Ilhan Mansiz.

Maybe the old comic strip ' Welcome to Hell' stuff may still be unleashed once England arrive today - and, of course, it is going to be the usual exercise in friendless intimidation when the visitors-step into Fenerbahce's Sukru Saracoglu stadium on Saturday - yet you wonder which of these two footballing countries has the PR and image problem?

Yesterday, on the city's Asian shores, the Turkish FA offered an invitation to meet the team and their families at a barbecue " picnic" held next to a stream in a wooded retreat at Bekistas's impressive training complex.

It all felt a bit surreal, with the players' glamorous wives pushing their babies around in prams while their hubbies were happy to chomp steak while chewing the fat with reporters from both home and abroad. The only squeal of mutiny seemed to come from a kid who didn't want her feta cheese.

Still, you could not help comparing this refreshing event to the secret squirrel discussions-which must have been going on among their opponents closeted in a St Albans hotel. Indeed, watching the Turks offering this public embrace was to be reminded once again just how distant England's players have become in the FA's nanny state.

Beckham and Co would never be subjected to an open house affair like this. They are just about the most cosseted, pampered, protected team in world sport - funny how England made their World Cup hotel in Japan out of bounds to supporters while Brazil were quite happy to mingle with their fans in the lobby ever day - so it's no wonder that they have lost touch with their public.

How else to explain their arrogant decision to keep pursuing those idle threats about a boycott yesterday even after being made aware that England faced disqualification from the championships if they kept their word?

They did not worry about supporting a colleague who, at the very least, was guilty of irresponsibility. They did not care that their attitude seemed to reek of arrogance since it appeared that rules designed to stop the biggest cancer in sport didn't apply to millionaires like them. Did Australia's cricketers threaten to pull out of the World Cup because Shane Warne had made a supposedly innocent mistake? No.

Only if they gain the point they need for qualification, you suspect, will there be any widespread inclination to forgive and forget all this nonsense. Yet the hosts now appear to be in the mood to make sure that they receive no such let off.

"We'll be pleased if they come on to the field worried and demoralised," mused Gunes. "They need to solve by themselves whatever problems they're having. We only have one thought and that is that we're going to go out and win."

It sounded ominous enough but, putting his PR hat back on, he grinned: "Regardless of what happens, England should come - and afterwards I hope both teams can have a picnic together sometime." What a good idea. It could be a chance to welcome our would-be mutineers back to the real world.