The England team have called on the Football Association to show consistency in its squad selection in the wake of Alan Smith's botched call-up for the Denmark friendly.
The Leeds striker was summoned to the squad to play in Sunday's match late on Thursday as a replacement for the injured Darius Vassell. But he was then dropped on Friday morning when it emerged that he had been arrested for throwing a bottle into the crowd during a match last month.
The Smith shambles followed the FA's decision to leave Rio Ferdinand out of the Euro 2004 qualifier against Turkey after the Manchester United defender had failed to turn up for a routine drugs test.
A statement released Saturday by the England players said: "We feel this has left us with no option but to ask of the FA that from this day forward, they make clear their criteria of selection for the England team so that there is no room for ambiguity and misunderstanding.
"We have a concern that the FA are reacting to outside pressures which impacts unfairly on the manager and the players. By the FA's actions in withdrawing Rio and Alan from the squad, in both cases the players have been assumed guilty before the due process has been completed - a right which should be afforded to every individual in not only football but society as a whole."
England captain David Beckham described the mood in the England camp as one of bewilderment. "We are all quite astonished that we are in this position again. This time we are talking to the FA about it and have told them in future we want things changed," the Real Madrid star said.
He added that all the players, staff and coach Sven Goran Eriksson felt strongly over the issue. "We want consistency and if we have to stand up for ourselves again then we will. We will take it as far as we can but it will not affect people who come to see us play."
He described the relationship between the players and management as "not the best. It has to be better. We have to be together. We are a bunch of players, a team that needs to be supported by its organisation. Of course we want a better relationship and that is what we plan to have."
But he insisted that despite the problems England's performance would not suffer. "The enthusiasm will always be there to play to play for your country. You saw that in the last game. We all stuck together. It just gives you doubts about how players are going to get looked after."
Filed by James Boylan
