England crushed like the bug it is!!

[BrilloPad]

I'm going to be very un-PC about this, but as I see it the problem with English/British football is a loser culture. Most of the gifted and best prepared young athletes in Britain go to private schools where they get a lot of sporting opportunities and eventually have to choose their sport (been there myself, was pretty useful at footie and rugby and had to choose between the two at 15).

The Bullingdon twerps have f**ked up the country - now they are going to take the football downhill from its already low position.

If it needs an upbringing og buggery to be succesful I am pleased I am going bankrupt.

As you are from public school, are you planning to displace Admin?

[NickFitz]

WHS, although I thought GB's football business was doing quite well? In purely business terms that is.

In that case, the result doesn't matter at all and everybody can relax

[Mich the Tester]

In that case, the result doesn't matter at all and everybody can relax

Just what I was thinking actually

[TheBigD]

I'm going to be very un-PC about this, but as I see it the problem with English/British football is a loser culture. Most of the gifted and best prepared young athletes in Britain go to private schools where they get a lot of sporting opportunities and eventually have to choose their sport (been there myself, was pretty useful at footie and rugby and had to choose between the two at 15).

I don't think the lack of a private education has held back the Brazilians over the years. Players who typically come from some of the poorest backgrounds imaginable.

[Mich the Tester]

I don't think the lack of a private education has held back the Brazilians over the years. Players who typically come from some of the poorest backgrounds imaginable.

Different matter; I wasn't saying it's the private education that causes success, I was saying it's the culture of English football that breeds failure and discourages kids who can easily choose another sport. Here in NL, and there in Brazil, football is classless.

[BrilloPad]

Different matter; I wasn't saying it's the private education that causes success, I was saying it's the culture of English football that breeds failure and discourages kids who can easily choose another sport. Here in NL, and there in Brazil, football is classless.

Motre likely due to the league clubs only looking abroad.

[Mich the Tester]

Motre likely due to the league clubs only looking abroad.

Possibly. It's up to the FA to get their bloody act together, take a serious look at how other sports have achieved success and learn from them.

I'm sure there are plenty of people at the RFU, WRU, British Atletics, British Cycling, British Equestrian Federation and so on who'll be happy to spend an afternoon telling the FA how to win stuff. Especially if they can invoice for it.

I mean really, 48 years without winning anything meaningful while English football is awash with money and there's clearly an abundance of sporting talent. Pathetic.

[Unix]

Two Tour de France victories in two years, a few Ashes series until the Aussies kindly brought us back to reality last winter, a winning Lions tour, 29 Olympic gold medals and 36 silver/bronzes and the Wimbledon men's champion.

The problem lies with England's footballers, not with the rest of Britain's sportspeople. I can't comment on the footie players of the other UK nations; they seem to punch above their weight, sometimes.

I'm going to be very un-PC about this, but as I see it the problem with English/British football is a loser culture. Most of the gifted and best prepared young athletes in Britain go to private schools where they get a lot of sporting opportunities and eventually have to choose their sport (been there myself, was pretty useful at footie and rugby and had to choose between the two at 15). Plenty of them could be good footballers; the physical and neurological attributes required are not different to other ball games. They probably won't choose football because, firstly, they want to win and other sports give them a real chance of winning something big on the world stage (success breeds success), and secondly, nice middle class kids with nice middle class accents don't want to have their heads kicked in by Kev and Baz from the local sink estate as they walk home from the footie club. They'd rather go to the rugby, athletics, cricket, tennis or cycling club and be treated like human beings. So football might attract large numbers, but it doesn't attract enough of the best.

Add to that the fact that other international sports teams and sportspeople play meaningful, high pressure tournaments against the best teams in the world year in year out instead of pathetic friendlies or qualifying games against the part-timers from San Marino or the Faroe Islands.

How cycling is considered a sport I will never know tedious to watch and tedious to participate in. I think you'll find all the top football players and club owners live in the most expensive parts of the UK and their kids go to any school they choose. British players and managers are winning European cups every decade. The world cup is a bit of a lottery to be honest and shouldn't define British success.

[Mich the Tester]

How cycling is considered a sport I will never know tedious to watch and tedious to participate in. I think you'll find all the top football players and club owners live in the most expensive parts of the UK and their kids go to any school they choose. British players and managers are winning European cups every decade. The world cup is a bit of a lottery to be honest and shouldn't define British success.

Loser attitude you see. No tournament is a lottery; you turn up and play who you face and if you aren't good enough, you lose.

[darmstadt]

Possibly. It's up to the FA to get their bloody act together, take a serious look at how other sports have achieved success and learn from them.

I'm sure there are plenty of people at the RFU, WRU, British Atletics, British Cycling, British Equestrian Federation and so on who'll be happy to spend an afternoon telling the FA how to win stuff. Especially if they can invoice for it.

I mean really, 48 years without winning anything meaningful while English football is awash with money and there's clearly an abundance of sporting talent. Pathetic.

This article is quite interesting on how Germany went about curing this problem. The FA have started, apparently, but as the press reports, English football is run by big business and all that matters is making a profit which you only do at club level, not international...How Germany went from bust to boom on the talent production line | Football | The Guardian