Messrs Budtz and Ryan on Brazil 2014.
The World Cup is just hours away and staff at Doncaster Rovers – including former players Jan Budtz and Tim Ryan who work for the Club’s Education Foundation – are getting in to the spirit of what is dubbed the “greatest tournament on earth”.
Former England C international Ryan, who congratulated former teammate Dean Barrick on his Senior World Cup success, says Roy Hodgson’s troops can be competitive, “I think they’ll do okay to be honest. I think they’ll scrape out of the group in second and from there it opens up and then maybe we can go for the quarters or semi finals.”
Expectation is relatively low for a World Cup around the country, but that could be raised should England’s young guns light up the tournament. “To be honest, I think (Ross) Barkley is the best player we’ve got by a long way,” said Ryan.
“I’m not the England manager, but if I was Roy Hodgson then he’d be my first pick. I think he’s the nearest we’ve had since (Paul) Gascoigne.”
Meanwhile Danish stopper Budtz, who had his say on the current Doncaster Rovers goalkeeping situation recently, says that Brazil are the team to beat. “I’ll go for Brazil, they’re on home soil, they’ve got a strong squad and I think Neymar can be the top goalscorer this summer,” he said.
“We’ll be watching with the family as we’re part English, part Danes so we’ll be rooting for England.”
The pair agreed that a positive England performance could give the area a lift, “It could give the place a massive boost, to get kids attending weekend football clubs and then economically, for Doncaster, you could generate more bums on seats next season in League 1 and get people involved and get some talent through the youth systems and have the potential for the future,” finished Budtz.
The full interview with Jan and Tim is available on Rovers Player NOW.
Keep up with the latest activity at the Keepmoat Stadium during the close season via:
www.doncasterroversfc.co.uk