Whatever happened to the battle-bruised England footballer shedding blood in the service of his country? Paul Ince spills blood for his country against Italy in 1997 Never again will we see the likes of Butcher and Ince ignoring the kind of injury that might have given pause to Monty Python's Black Knight. Never again will we see the white national shirt turned pink in the cause. And not simply because modern health and safety regulations insist on a change of outfit at the very first hint of spilled blood. But because when it comes to bleeding for the team, England is now well down the list of a modern footballer's priorities. On Wednesday, Wayne Rooney was photographed out with his wife and baby, gifting an autograph to a fan. On the top of his head is clear evidence of an ugly wound. But enough about his hair transplant. Just below the borrowed hair, can clearly be seen the cut accidentally inflicted by his team-mate Phil Jones during training last week. It is not an insignificant slice, at least five inches long. Theo Walcott's florid description this week on seeing pictures taken immediately after it had happened was that Rooney's forehead resembled "something out of a horror movie." Yet, when the pictures of him out shopping - the wound, albeit filtered through the telephoto lens, looking less Saw III than Carry On Nurse - appeared on the internet on Wednesday, Rooney was obliged to move swiftly into action to counter the notion that he was shirking. He published the shots Walcott had seen to demonstrate this was a serious issue. And ouch, they were not something to be studied over breakfast. Nevertheless there were plenty of England fans pointing out yesterday how times had changed. The widespread suggestion was that Ince or Butcher would have mocked a cut on that scale. Both would have merely wound the nearest tea towel round their heads and trotted out into the fray, not for a moment thinking such a knock would restrain their ability to kick a football. Where is the modern player's do-or-die sense of loyalty? But such a critique misses the point. When England start their critical round of autumnal World Cup fixtures tomorrow, the fact that the country's best player will not be patched up, leant Petr Cech's spare crash helmet and sent out on to the Wembley turf to play for his country is not the result of any personal cowardice. Were Rooney playing in the same era as Butcher and Ince he unquestionably possesses a sufficient reservoir of personal courage that he would have done exactly as they did: wrapped up and carried on. Times, however, have changed. And Rooney plays at a time when going the extra mile for your country is no longer an option for even the most committed footballing patriot. Indeed, on the day he was giving a keynote address on the relationship between the England national team and the Premier League, if Greg Dyke wanted a symbol of how the power has shifted away from England in the days since Ince did his warrior bit in the Olympic Stadium in Rome in 1997, then Rooney's head is hard to beat. The truth is, were Manchester United playing this weekend, there is every chance the player - sporting a padded headband, no doubt - would have turned out for his principal employers. But this is England, and these days the clubs have no intention of allowing any of their goods to be damaged in someone else's cause. There was never a chance that a player as compromised as Rooney would be risked by his club, however much he might wish to do his bit. Thus it is that instead of giving his assistance to his national team in their very hour and a half of need, Rooney will be watching on television back home in Prestbury. It is not hard to understand why United are reluctant to risk a prize asset. Bryan Robson, Neil Webb, Steve Coppell: the Reds" history is littered with those broken in national service. But the fact is the gap between the needs of the clubs and the requirements of the England team has grown ever wider as the Premier League has grown more financially muscular. Now the clubs hold all the power. Now with players so valuable, their release for international duty is becoming increasingly tricky to negotiate even when a player is in the peak of health. And an injury like Rooney's leaves absolutely no room for negotiation. No matter how miraculous his recovery, the moment Jones's studs made contact with his forehead, he was out of contention. This is the wretched position Dyke inherits: the league his predecessors at the FA supported in the hope that its formation would benefit England is now an unrelenting obstacle in the way of the team's chances of success. Not only is the English-qualified player becoming an endangered species, but those few who are available for selection by Roy Hodgson are - understandably - kept in cotton wool by clubs unwilling to see them drip blood on to someone else's shirt. Yet still it will be the manager who carries the flak when it all goes wrong. Good luck with that, Roy.