I was in England squad for 12 years yet only went to one major tournament – but that's football

Wes Brown has opened up on the "devastating" feeling you have to take on the chin when being left out of an England squad.

The former Sunderland defender made his international debut in 1999 after breaking through at Manchester United. Injury ruled him out of Euro 2000, but he was selected for the World Cup in South Korea and Japan two years later.

However, that was to be his one and only major tournament with the Three Lions. Speaking on Reach's new Euro Thrash podcast - which you can find on YouTube, Apple and Spotify - Brown reflected on his international career.

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He said: "I never thought I'd definitely be in the squad. I only went to one tournament, which is the World Cup 2002. People don't know this, but I was probably in the squad for 12 years, but not necessarily go to a tournament.

"Early on, I had so many knee injuries and I was just happy to get back in the squad. Later on, if you look at the calibre of players in my position, guys just had the right-back position sort of in lockdown. You are just happy to be there and it was great training, great to be involved and obviously fun playing for your country as well."

Brown considered himself to be in contention for Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup under Sven-Goran Eriksson, when Gary and Phil Neville were favoured. And England of course didn't qualify for the following Euros with Steve McClaren in charge. There was more heartbreak for him when Fabio Capello looked elsewhere for the 2010 World Cup.

But he simply had to accept the decisions to leave him at home on those occasions, despite the anguish it brought, admitting "that's football". He felt he was in contention for both tournaments under Eriksson, adding: "I remember 2004, 2006, I thought I've got a chance of getting in this and getting to that sort of prime age, and I didn't get selected.

"Obviously you were devastated for a little bit. But that's football, I know football and sometimes you can get picked, sometimes not. We had a lot of good players."

Brown therefore knows exactly how the likes of Jack Grealish and James Maddison are feeling this time around after their snubs from Gareth Southgate. He offered some advice on how he'd now look to react and handle the disappointment.

"Different personalities take it differently, if you know what I mean. If there would have been social media for me, I wouldn't have read anything, hundred percent," he explained.

"You always want to prove to the manager and to everyone that the selection is wrong. And you do start the season quicker and think 'I'm going to show you what I'm about, I should have been selected or I'm going to be selected next time because I'm going to put everything into it'."

Watch and listen to Euro Thrash on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify with regular new episodes throughout Euro 2024