We have the same debate after every exit from a major tournament and people still argue we are a major force. Our players are overhyped, arrogant and deluded - the amount of excuses made for them is beyond me.
We pay our managers a vast amount of money to fail time and time again.
Every tournament it's supposedly the manager's fault but maybe it just boils down to the fact we're a bit shit.
The FA are fucking clueless and it's just awash with mediocriity. We just chuck money away and treat the players like kids.
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Fifa rankings
Qualifying groups
Rooney top scorer (yet does nothing when it matters)
It gives this sign that England are a good team. But realistically, they just aren't.
I think they were top 10 going into the tournament, yet out of those top 10, who would take an English player into their squad?
Well, a bit like Iceland.
We are a middling team, always have been and unless something changes rapidly we always will be. Here's our record at tournaments:
Brazil 1950 Group Stage
Switzerland 1954 Quarter-finals
Sweden 1958 Group Stage
France 1960 Did not enter
Chile 1962 Quarter-finals
Spain 1964 Did not qualify
England 1966 Champions
Italy 1968 Third place
Mexico 1970 Quarter-finals
Belgium 1972 Did not qualify
West Germany 1974 Did not qualify
Yugoslavia 1976 Did not qualify
Argentina 1978 Did not qualify
Italy 1980 Group Stage
Spain 1982 Round 2
France 1984 Did not qualify
Mexico 1986 Quarter-finals
West Germany 1988 Group Stage
Italy 1990 Fourth Place
Sweden 1992 Group Stage
United States 1994 Did not qualify
England 1996 Semi-Finals
France 1998 Round of 16
Belgium Netherlands 2000 Group Stage
South Korea Japan 2002 Quarter-finals
Portugal 2004 Quarter-finals
Germany 2006 Quarter-finals
Austria Switzerland 2008 Did not qualify
South Africa 2010 Round of 16
Poland Ukraine 2012 Quarter-finals
Brazil 2014 Group Stage
France 2016 Round of 16
So out of a possible 32 tournaments we've ended up with one win, two semi's, eight quarter finals and seven group stages. Now I know some of those were a bit Mickey Mouse especially the early Euro tournaments but the point still stands. At what point do we accept that we're just not a very good footballing nation and that in fact our "golden generation" was in fact a good crop of players who did as well as can be expected?
1990 was the best we've ever done in my lifetime and that's over 30 years now.
Moving on, I wonder what that list looks like for, say Italy, France or Germany?
I'm not going to post up the full lists but Italy's is quite unusual, they either win it or do pretty poorly. In WCs they've only gone out at 1 quarter final yet have gone out at 7 group stages. Germany's is obviously ridiculous, 7 wins, 7 runners up, 6 3rd place/semi finals. France is similar to us (apart from the obvious years in the late 90s early noughties) plenty of group stage and quarter final knockouts or simply failing to qualify.
I'm sure the last time England flopped there was a stat produced which showed the number of qualified coaches in relationship to people playing the game in England is piss poor
That isn't to say we don't need to change things at grass roots level - it is true we always have the same converstation after every tournament, but the FA just isn't willing to invest in the coaching we need in this area. It is a bit like British tennis in the past. These people put themselves first and until that changes - and why will it? We will not tackle any of the issues. If they are part of the problem, why would they want to pay somebody to highlight the fact? Who elects them? They can fail and have a great life thank you very much. They can argue that the money the FA generates means they are not failing, but if it is about money and not football, what is the point?
We talk about the next England manager, but there is a far more important job that should be created. That is a Czar of English football. Somebody who should be given complete power and a significant budget to transform the game from the bottom up. That person should be able to appoint his own team which should include the England manager.
I would suggest the right person for this role is Glenn Hoddle with a clause in his contract to keep God out of it! Although if he or she (not being sexist here) wants the England job, we could make an exception.
I think a lot of our players don't have the mental strength to succeed a lot of which boils down to their immaturity compared to their foreign counterparts. They're built up from such a young age and I don't think they are given the time to develop.
It's become all about money for a lot of youngsters and they don't get a chance to develop as players and people. Football is a team game yet now we encourage fame and fortune above all else.
The three spare qualification games and the seven friendlies we had gave us 10 games to prepare for France and enable us to go into the tournament with a settled team and a system that works....................................we had neither!
WARNING - EXTREME BAD LANGUAGE (NSFW).
https://facebook.com/barry.platts.90/videos/519148191609516/
Precisely no matches as professional footballers at any level, exactly no matches as first team coach or manager between them.
One is clearly excellent at playing the office politics game, one a professional rider of gravy trains and the other makes lovely biscuits...
The way Hodgson reacted immediately after the game displayed this nice uncle Roy demeanor. But you have to be ruthless and the idiot chucked away any chance of gathering momentum and confidence. Complete tosser in my books!!!
Players should want to play and work to be the best, money and bonuses should never dictate your passion or commitment on the pitch if you love the game.