The much maligned former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson did not have the best of luck during his reign as the national manager. Despite achieving a hitherto unknown level of consistent success at major tournaments, his teams would lose three times at the quarter final stage whilst there, twice on penalties to a borderline-nemesis Portugal side and once to a far superior Brazil team.
He was more cursed, however, by the tabloid’s christening of a select few mainstays of his team as the Golden Generation; a group of players including (but not limited to) Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney. On paper, (or even a liquid crystal display), formidable names. Players who, seen by the media to be turning in top-class performances week after week in the Premier League, should transfer their domestic prowess into becoming an all conquering international force.
Now very much in their twilight years, this Golden Generation have all but had their last chance to justify their reputation, to show the world that they really were that good. And for all the hype, for all the column inches filled lambasting Eriksson (and more recently Capello), clamouring for his crucifixion as he strangled this astronomically talented bunch of English players, we can look back at the last decade and say, “Were they ever really that good?”
The ultimate vindication for Eriksson was provided rather tidily by his former no. 2, Steve McClaren. Hailed in some quarters as the saviour after a 4-0 friendly win over Greece (one recalls Gary Lineker’s sickeningly jingoistic performance as anchor of that night’s TV coverage), he was unable to steer the almost exact same set of players through a relatively easy qualifying group for Euro 2008. Which leads back to that same question: “Were they ever really that good?”
The answer is no. Eriksson was able to over-achieve with this team, McClaren spectacularly under-achieved. Despite what the catastrophically inaccurate FIFA rankings may tell you, England are not the 4th best team in the world. England are a quarter final team at best; McClaren showed what they are capable of at their worst.
It’s often flouted that the influx of foreign players since football began 20 years ago has had a detrimental effect on player development and the performances of the national team. Given how many major trophies England won in the 60 years previously, I would say that’s a very questionable opinion. No, foreign players are not the problem. English players are the problem. The Golden Generation are the problem.
If one considers a young English player, they will have a certain amount of natural ability, irrespective of any experience gained playing competitive football. I would posit that matters not whether there’s a foreign player ahead of him in the first team or not, because a) the ingrained technical deficiencies of 98% of English players mean they would not help improve England’s chances at major tournaments; and b) if they were good enough, if they had the natural ability within them, they would get their chance. If they don’t feel they’re getting a chance, they should get the hell out on loan to a Championship side and show the manager what they are capable of.
The Premier League both blessed and cursed the Golden Generation. On the one hand, they were able to play every week with tremendously talented and technically gifted players; but in doing so, the true limitations of their game were hidden, unexposed from the cold light of day as their faults were covered and absorbed by their foreign team mates.
John Terry, for years, went unpunished for handballs and fouls in the area, his lack of pace covered for by various centre-back partners and Petr Cech at Chelsea, but there was no such safety net at international level. Frank Lampard, given free reign at Chelsea to be the fulcrum of the midfield, disappeared for England when there was no-one to carry the water for him in midfield. Only Wayne Rooney really comes close to being the genuine footballing superstar and powerhouse that we want him to be, but he doesn’t seem to want to do it at international level.
The upshot of this is, it’s not their fault they can’t do it for England. It’s the FA, it’s the clubs, it’s everyone who encourages the blood and thunder, brawns over brain attitude to developing players and playing the game in this country. It’s far too easy to blame foreign players and foreign managers, because it means avoiding the real problems at home.