He admitted that the Labour Party had been too reluctant to talk about England.
Another Manchester United legend Denis Law is not so bothered about England becoming hosts.
The North Warwickshire and Bedworth MP put a message on Twitter about England manager Fabio Capello's move.
Their adversaries, like the left-wing singer Billy Bragg, are as enthusiastic as Mr Salmond about England's radical tradition.
So how come English, or indeed Britishness because this is not only about England, is selling around the world?
What frustrated me about England on Sunday was that they didn't seem to have an answer to the questions Scotland posed.
After that, I read everything about England I could get my hands on: geography, geology, architecture, folklore, fiction, place-names, pottery, poetry and plants.
WSJ: Alan Bradley on Writing About an England He'd Never Seen | Traveler's Tale
Didn't he spend half his life travelling about England addressing masses of people who'd never looked at a picture and making them see what he saw?
And what about England legend and former Leicester coach Dean Richards?
BBC: SPORT | Rugby Union | Quins must focus on business of rugby
Stevens insisted he would concentrate on his club career before thinking about England, for whom he won the last of his 32 England caps against New Zealand in November 2008.
Meanwhile, Eriksson remains bullish about England's World Cup prospects.
BBC: SPORT | Football | World Cup 2006 | Teams | England | Eriksson dismisses Walcott fears
The former England captain Martin Johnson also spokes about England's 2007 World Cup pairing with South Africa, saying it was as tough a draw as the World Cup holders could have faced.
BBC: SPORT | Rugby Union | English | Johnson focused on Europe
But the fact the hosts scored five tries in the Six Nations for the first time in three years said much more about Italy's flaky display than it did about England's attacking prowess.
As soon as Charlton's relegation was confirmed, rumours began circulating about England striker Darren Bent's future - and Varney said the club had to be realistic about their chances of holding onto him.
"England's cricketers haven't shone in Twenty20 but I don't hear India's BCCI (Board of Cricket and Control in India) complaining about England's cricketers getting Twenty20 practice ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 (in June), " he told BBC Five Live's Sportsweek.
But while questions will inevitably demand answers about England's top order, South Africa produced yet another tight-knit bowling performance with Kallis, short of Test runs himself, emphasising his all-round credentials by capturing 3-31 and taking a brilliant low catch to dismiss Cook.
The debate about whether England's academy schools are good or bad and about school buildings is "over", a new children's services chief has said.
Yet the latest figures raise more questions about why England's resources are so unevenly distributed.
"I'll be honest, I don't know a lot about this England team, " he said.
Owen shrugged off continued talk about an England recall after scoring in front of national coach Fabio Capello.
For many years questions have been asked about why England have failed to win a World Cup or Champions Trophy.
The Beckhams were expected to spend Monday in talks planning their next move after the new claims about the England captain's alleged infidelities.
There's been a lot of talk about the England squad since it was announced by coach Tony Smith, but one thing it has is versatility.
"What about the England fans - they were fantastic, " added Bell.
You can't just sit on safari in South Africa and issue ultimatums to the board about the England cricket captaincy, it's far too important for that.
The departure of a manager Beckham knows well after the pair worked together at Manchester United would lead to increased speculation about the England captain's future at Madrid.
BBC: SPORT | Football | My Club | Chelsea | Chelsea eye Real duo
There remains some uncertainty about whether England's centrally-contracted players like Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff will feature in season two, although IPL chairman Lalit Modi is adamant they will.
And he described the public interest defence offered by the newspaper as "extraordinarily thin", adding that the article made no contribution to the debate about the England captaincy as it appeared two months after John Terry was replaced.
BBC: Rio Ferdinand anger at Carly Storey Sunday Mirror story
The ECB is satisfied, following receipt of this binding assurance, that to the best of his recollection, Kevin did not convey any messages which were derogatory about the England captain, the England team director, the ECB or employees of the ECB.
Balls tells me that he never had a conversation about LIBOR with anyone in government or outside it and the idea he would have spoken to the Bank of England about it when he was running the country's schools was absurd.
应用推荐