Beleaguered England manager Roy Hodgson’s future will be under intense scrutiny should the Three Lions lose to Switzerland in Basel today. Here in England, intense irritation at the consistent failings of the national team have given way to surges of mild anger after a poor World Cup in Brazil this summer, and an abject 1-0 friendly win over Norway last week.
No, England were never going to win the tournament, but they should have shown the required quality to qualify from the initial group stage, at least. The real questions are these though:
How much blame should really be laid at the door of Hodgson?
Could anybody else realistically do a better job with a bunch of over paid prima donnas who, to put it bluntly, don’t really appear to care if they pull on the famous England jersey or not?
This country’s failings are not down to a lack of quality, that’s for sure–well for now anyway. Though perhaps not recognized as “world class” by many people’s standards, Raheem Sterling, Danny Welbeck and Daniel Sturridge all have the potential to be world beaters. They are huge talents whilst being the pick of the current crop.
Hodgson doesn’t have the luxury of some of his European counterparts in being able to rotate and select different players from a large pool, but the squad is certainly capable of much more than it currently provides, which is an interesting point, and one that Hodgson should be able to provide a legitimate answer for. Defenders of Hodgson will point out that outside of the top thirty English footballers that could currently represent their national team – and some would question their involvement anyway – one would struggle to name many more capable of raising their game consistently enough to force their way into Hodgson’s thinking.
Limited game time in Premier League fixtures does not aid Hodgson nor the player, for match fitness and sharpness are key attributes to any professional footballer. So why are these players not always first choices? And why can’t Hodgson insist they are played more?
The very shockingly frightening statistic facing the future of English football is this: Since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, the number of English players plying their trade in the top flight has not only dropped dramatically – it has halved – with only 75 English players starting the first top flight game of last season. This represented a mere 34.1 percent of the entire league. Compare this to the 167 starters and a whopping 69 percent of the league share exactly twenty years ago in the 1993/94 season, and a pattern takes shape. Which does not make for good reading to any genuine England fan.
The real debate lies here though, and it is a debate that will inevitably breed sympathy to both Hodgson and his successors. English football sold its soul when Rupert Murdoch and Sky TV rocked up to look after the big boys in 1992. The product on offer has snowballed to the monster it now is – a truly breathtaking, mouth watering division home to a large percentage of the greats in World football. Eyebrows were raised when the great German forward Jurgen Klinsmann signed for Tottenham, ditto down the road at Arsenal, where the Dutch maestro Dennis Bergkamp became a club legend. Eric Cantona at Manchester United, Gianfranco Zola at Chelsea… the list goes on. But these were footballers that changed the English game with their outrageous flair and skill, and of course players that contributed to the bigger picture – the ‘Premier League Show’. The floodgates would open up, and these foreigners would inevitably be followed by less expensive, industrious players, who would flood the squads of both the Premier League, and the Championship. Taking the places of young English talent in the top two divisions? For sure, but justified moves and perfectly legal given that the UK is in the EU, and there was no restraint on trade.
Travel further down the path of English doom, and you will find kids not encouraged to play football anymore at school, funds cut and a criminally lethargic outlook on the future of the beautiful game. Which all brings us back to Basel, and very ‘hopeful’ thoughts of the motherland of football being able to place a big wide grin on its’ long suffering fans tomorrow night.
England will try to qualify for Euro 2016 from a group containing only Switzerland as its genuine competitor, and for a time, we will all dream of 1966 again, and prey that ‘this will be the year that ends the hurt’. But everybody knows deep down it won’t be – and the root of the issue will still be there. It is certainly feasible to presume that England will not have any international standard players to choose from come 2034. The statistics don’t lie – but English international players shouldn’t come from the Championship either.
It is certainly feasible to presume that England will not have any international standard players to choose from come 2034. The statistics don’t lie – but English international players shouldn’t come from the Championship either.
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