IT should have been a clue when the Nottingham Forest press officer began to back out of the room, shaking his head.

"If you are going to get him talking about England, I'll leave you to it, because you'll be here all afternoon," he says, with a knowing smile.

In fact, the conversation only continues for a further half-an- hour.

But, by the end, there is absolutely no questioning the passion Lee Camp feels about the topic of England goalkeepers.

Last season, as Forest surged into the Championship promotion race, a string of clean sheets prompted calls for Camp himself to be in the reckoning for an international call up.

His status as a player who has never had the chance to properly prove himself in the top flight, ensured that was always unlikely.

But that does not mean he does not hold a strong opinion about exactly who should have the England No.1 shirt.

And, when asked this thoughts on Robert Green's treatment during the World Cup, Camp draws a long, deep breath.

"Phew, that is a can of worms isn't it? Don't get me started on that," he says, before revealing exactly what he felt about seeing the West Ham keeper dropped following his howler against the USA.

"This is me talking from my past experience of dealing with the England youth teams and with the U21s – which is set up like the senior side.

"There seems to be too much emphasis on goalkeepers making mistakes.

"Everyone seems to be waiting and looking, ready for people to make mistakes.

"It is not just the press, because they have a job to do and they do what they do. I am talking about people inside the game.

"Fabio Capello did not name his goalkeeper before the tournament.

"Then his keeper was not allowed to wear the No.1 shirt in the opening game.

"It was all so hush-hush and it does change the game for you, as a keeper, if you cannot prepare.

"People were not told who was playing until a few hours before kick-off.

"And that does change the game for you."

Camp is hardly an extrovert figure. In fact, he is one of the more considered, thoughtful and insightful members of the Nottingham Forest dressing room.

But he does admit goalkeepers are a different breed to other footballers.

"We are a different animal," he said. "You need to know that you are playing; you need to know that you are the No.1.

"Wearing that No.1 shirt for England is a massive thing.

"Capello should have come out and said clearly 'he is my No.1 and he has the No.1 shirt'.

"It does not add up to send Robert Green out there wearing the number 12 shirt.

"As I said, as a keeper, wearing that No.1 shirt means everything. It is massive. It is the ultimate prize.

"Things did not add up and you could see that. He was not sending out the message that he had faith in Green.

"Then to drop him? That bamboozled me. That was an unbelievable decision.

"No wonder people talk about English goalkeepers and the issues we have?

"It is decisions like that which ruin them, in my opinion."

Camp is unwavering on this issue, as he pauses briefly mid-monologue.

And he insists Green should not have been cast aside after making one simple error, no matter how high profile it might have been.

"Green did not look nervy afterwards, it was not as if he was playing badly," he said.

"He made a mistake, but that will happen to every keeper. It will happen to me.

"The same thing happened the next night to the Slovakia keeper.

"It was not as if he was trying to come for a ball he shouldn't have or making a bad decision.

"In the second half he made a great save, his concentration was good.

"But he got ripped to shreds. He was made the scapegoat and I felt for him.

"David James then came in for what should have been two comfortable international games for a team of England's stature and had next to nothing to do.

"I have been in that situation. I have been selected as a No.1 goalkeeper in an international tournament and started the first game and dropped after making a mistake.

"Yes, it was only at U16 level, but I can still empathise with how he felt. It is soul destroying. What kind of message does that send out to the side?

"Do the outfield players then start to fear that, if they make a mistake, they will be dropped as well?

"I am a believer that you should not fear making a mistake, because if you start to think about it, they will happen.

"We all make mistakes, it is inevitable, even for the best players in the world.

"Dropping Green sent a negative message to the rest of the squad.

"It was a bad decision to drop him. You should not drop a keeper for making one mistake, because it will happen."

Camp believes Capello has left himself with a big problem now, as the European Championship qualifiers approach.

"Where do they go now? Who will play in the European qualifiers?" he asks.

"David James, as things stand, is no longer in the Premier League, unless he moves clubs and you have to be in the Premier League to be in Capello's squad.

"So it seems as though the number one spot is available, unless James moves.

"Ben Foster will play regularly at Birmingham. Joe Hart is going back to Manchester City, but there is a question over whether he will play.

"Will there be a flip of the coin to decide?

"Maybe Green hasn't got any confidence. Maybe it had gone after that mistake."

Camp believes England would benefit if Capello was more open with his players.

"Maybe Capello doesn't actually rate any of his keepers," he says. "We don't know because he never says.

"That breeds uncertainty as well. I have a very open relationship with Billy Davies. If he has a problem with me, he will tell me.

"I might not like what he says and I might disagree with it sometimes. But there is no doubt there. Bang, there it is. You know what he is thinking.

"He is always fair with what he says to people in the press about players as well.

"You can bet, most of the time, that he will have said the same thing to you, in person, first. He doesn't speak out of turn."

Camp believes Green possesses the strength of character to bounce back, if he is given the opportunity.

"He has played 400 odd games and I am sure he has made mistakes before and recovered," he said. "That is part of being a keeper, that is part of the animal.

"If there was any England keeper who could recover from it – knowing Greeny a little bit – it would be him.

"Considering his personality and the way he is, he was harshly treated."

While he does harbour ambitions to play for his country, Camp also remains a passionate England supporter.

"I am as big an England fan as anyone and we just looked lacklustre," he said.

"We looked as though we did not enjoy it. Surely, that is a problem that starts at the top."

For Camp, an England call up remains a distant dream.

But, if he can repeat his form of last season, he could well achieve another ambition, to play top flight football with Forest and perhaps just edge himself closer to that fabled No.1 shirt with the three lions on the chest.