Gareth Southgate named his first squad as interim England manager on Sunday, and the main talking point was the re-inclusion of Stoke City right-back Glen Johnson, who has been out of the international fold since 2014.
As reported by the "?Express, Southgate faced the media on Monday afternoon, ahead of England's forthcoming matches with Malta and Slovenia, where he explained the decision to recall Johnson.
Interim manager @GarethSouthgate has named a 23-man squad for the #ThreeLions' upcoming @FIFAWorldCup qualifiers: pic.twitter.com/0Tmk87mLAA
"Kyle Walker and Nathaniel Clyne were the two right-backs last time. We lost Nathaniel (with a minor injury) and the rationale is, the squad the last couple of years, we've gone young, young, young, and I'm not sure you can keep doing that.
I think there's a moment for some experience. In the summer, we saw in key pressure moments, there's a lack of big match experience.
To be able to bring a player with 50 plus caps into that squad was something we thought long and hard about but we felt it was the right decision."
Gareth Southgate picking Glen Johnson is more of a sackable offence than what Big Sam did.
Despite Southgate's attempts to explain the decision, it still doesn't make a great deal of sense to most England fans.
Johnson's displays during his time in possession of the England number 2 jersey came in for widespread criticism, with his lack of positional awareness and poor delivery repeatedly an issue for the Three Lions.
Furthermore, although Southgate's reluctance to over-promote younger English players is understandable, given he repeatedly saw his best stars fast-tracked into the senior side during Roy Hodgson's reign, players such as Tottenham's Kieran Trippier and Bournemouth's Adam Smith have more legitimate claims for inclusion.
Not only that, the squad contains many players, such as John Stones, Chris Smalling, Jordan Henderson, Eric Dier and Michail Antonio, who could fill in at right-back in the event of any injury to Kyle Walker in the coming days, as opposed to taking a step back by including the 32-year-old Johnson.
Just two wins in Johnson's last 11 internationals, stretching back to September 2012. BRIGHT NEW FUTURE.