England star ready to face up to their toughest critics

GARETH Barry accepts no matter how well England perform in their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign they will still have to win over a sceptical public once they get to Poland and Ukraine.

England’s poor World Cup campaign was made more disappointing by the fact Fabio Capello’s men recorded nine wins from 10 during qualifying to push themselves forward as potential winners.

Tomorrow they start the whole process again at Wembley, when Bulgaria are the first opponents in a bid to reach the next European Championships.

Victory is expected, even if it cannot be guaranteed. But, even if England win and then double up by beating Switzerland in Basle on Tuesday to collect a maximum haul from their opening two games, Barry knows doubts will still remain.

“What happened in South Africa was hard to take after we qualified with such flying colours,” he said.