LONDON -- Had the Turkish Football Federation hatched a plan to severely disrupt England's preparations for Saturday's decisive Euro 2004 qualifying tie they could not have done a better -- or worse, depending on your viewpoint -- job than the visitors have done themselves.
Whatever the result in Istanbul, English football will never be the same following an unprecedented show of player power with the squad threatening to go on strike and a blistering criticism by David Beckham and company on the Football Association.