Remember when bashing the England manager was a national sport?

Graham Taylor was infamously a turnip, Andy Robinson was never deemed worthy of succeeding Sir Clive Woodward, even dear old Bobby Robson was lampooned as a fool.

Current incumbents of the top jobs in cricket, rugby and football seem to be getting a comparatively easy ride.

Peter Moores maybe hasn't been in post long enough but Stuart Lancaster has been given understanding and time – despite his low profile before getting the job – while Roy Hodgson has escaped being turned into a vegetable despite a record as underwhelming as most of his predecessors.

Is this good news? Of course it is – unless of course you are unlucky enough to have been made captain.

Alastair Cook has followed the English cricket tradition of seeing his runs dry up under the burden of leadership but the focus currently on rugby captain Chris Robshaw is even harder to fathom.

He has led a young England team from the front and already enjoyed some famous victories and there are genuine hopes of a home success at next year’s World Cup.

And, yet, three games into the new season his club boss Conor O’Shea is fielding questions about his suitability for the role, while pundits seem to have declared open season on his future – even though his club Harlequins have won two of those games.

While it’s not possible to please all of the people all of the time, the fact that people supposedly with English rugby’s best interests at heart are laying into Robshaw makes it all the more galling.

Are we seriously suggesting Robshaw should be axed now and England should lurch in a fresh direction this close to a World Cup?

Wayne Rooney hasn’t long taken on the captaincy of Manchester United and England.

I hope he knows what he's let himself in for.