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Chelsea get their wish as England cancel January meeting due to player's schedules
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The FA have confirmed that the England squad's proposed meeting at the end of the month has now been cancelled due to player's club commitments.
The governing body said the player's schedules around that period are too differing and hectic for any date to be pencilled in.
Boss Roy Hodgson had wanted to bring the players together before the first international break of the year in March so they could be debriefed about their last match, a 3-1 win against Scotland.
The FA insisted the meeting would only take a few hours, and the players would be free by 10pm to get home, but whilst supported by some clubs, others were concerned given the busy time of year.
None more so than Chelsea, who have five games in the final fortnight in January, including Premier League games against Swansea and leaders Manchester City.
They also have a two-legged League Cup semi-final against Liverpool and an FA Cup tie against Millwall or Bradford.
Whilst they only currently have one England international at the club in Gary Cahill, the club were loathe to lose him even for an evening given he has started more or less all their games this season.
The possibility of two meetings, one for players based in the north and another for those in the south, was considered - but Hodgson felt that would not work.
England's win over the 'Auld Enemy' last year went some way towards banishing the memory of their terrible performance at the World Cup in Brazil last summer.
England have in fact won all six of their matches since the tournament, their friendly wins against Scotland and Norway either side of four wins in their Euro 2016 qualifier group.