No future for England - Sportsmail reveals the shocking shortage of talent available for the next World Cup campaign

13 April 2012

Led by the Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick, England's delegation at today's draw in Durban for 2010 World Cup qualifying are facing a triple whammy on the road ahead.

First, Barwick and Co are already contemplating having to sell the job of new England manager to a dwindling list of willing candidates who will not have too much to do anyway for another 10 months following failure to qualify for Euro 2008.

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English rose: Steven Gerrard

If the FA think that this weekend is painful, then contemplate next Sunday when the draw for those finals takes place without England in Geneva.

Then there is the possible qualifying group for South Africa 2010 that England will begin next September. Having slipped into the list of second seeds, they could come up against world champions Italy or runners-up France.

And though others will not relish England as opponents, Germany, Spain or Holland would also be favourites to win any group that included England.

The potential opposition from among the third seeds is hardly much more encouraging. England could be drawnwith Norway,Ukraine,Denmark or Finland, immeasurably improved under the management of Englishman Roy Hodgson, who could even be a long shot for his own country's top job. Even Northern Ireland have beaten England in the last few years.

Third, and above all, any new man will have to take a good hard look at what he is inheriting.

And the stark facts of this weekend's Premier League programme confirm what a difficult job he will be facing.

For a look at yesterday's starting line-ups and today's probable teams reveals that, staggeringly, only 75 out of 220 among the starting line-ups are available to the new England manager.

That percentage of around 34 per cent of home-born players is comfortably the lowest of any professional league in the world.

It has been coming, and the miserable defeat by Croatia, which condemned England to missing their first major tournament for 14 years, only served to emphasise the lack of strength in depth in English football.

With an entire back four lost to injury or suspension, added to the absence of Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney, Steve McClaren's selection were outplayed by a team representing a nation of just 4.5 million people.

The FA yesterday tried to put a brave face on the problems facing England in World Cup qualifying. Spokesman Adrian Bevington said: "It's no good worrying about who is going to be in England's group,we just have to get on with it.

"Of course we are disappointed that we have to drop into the pot of second seeds but we have to forget about that as tomorrow the planning for the 2010 World Cup starts in earnest. We have been in the second tier before and come through, and our key objective is to get the right man in place to make sure we do so again."

Among those who have warned of the decline of the English game if measures are not taken to stem the tide of overseas players have been the FIFA president Sepp Blatter, Dutch legend Johan Cruyff and even England's captain against Croatia, Steven Gerrard.

Gerrard even noted that, outside of superstar names like Liverpool teammate Fernando Torres, there were a lot of less impressive foreign players blocking the development of homegrown talent.

Mail on Sunday columnist Sir Bobby Robson reluctantly conceded that the FA will have to recruit an overseas manager once more, after their return to an Englishman in McClaren following five years of Sven Goran Eriksson.

"Martin O'Neill is viewed as an honorary Englishman and I've not really got a problem with that," he writes in Football on Sunday. "The Ulsterman has spent virtually his whole adult life here and knows our game and players as well as anyone. Brian Barwick's first call should be to check out if he wants the job. But judging by his statement on Friday, the answer is No.

"So what do we do then? With great reluctance, it's my view that we might have to look abroad again. To Jose Mourinho, to Fabio Capello. Men we know can lead from the front and extract the best out of top players.

"It's a crying shame but that's where it's at. Steve Coppell, Harry Redknapp, Sam Allardyce and Alan Curbishley have never been given a chance to prove themselves at the highest level. Alan Shearer's time will come, but it can't be yet. Being England manager should be seen as a final job for someone with experience, not a first job."

Former national team manager Sir Bobby,World Cup semi-finalist in 1990, also hopes that coaching reform emerges as a priority from the current crisis, so that the standard of English player improves.

"While everyone else debates whether Capello is better than Mourinho, or Guus Hiddink tops Luiz Felipe Scolari, I hope the FA's 'root-andbranch' appraisal of our game looks seriously at the lack of English coaches and managers in our game, from top to bottom.

"Until we have top-quality English coaches, we will never have enough top-quality English players to succeed on the international stage. People who blame foreign players in our league for what has happened are only half-right.

"Of course we want more English players in the Premier League, but that's not the primary cause of our failings at international level. Our top players actually benefit from having foreign stars here. Wayne Rooney is a far better player for having trained and played with Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez. Theo Walcott will have developed by learning from Thierry Henry and Alex Hleb.

"Arsene Wenger, Sir Alex Ferguson and Rafa Benitez would prefer to work with a 16-year-old English boy rather than gamble on a teenager from abroad who might not settle. The problem is our 16-year-olds are not good enough, not because of a lack of natural talent but because of coaching and managing."

In fact, the FA have not only been forced to look abroad for a new manager, they have also had to turn to the Dutch FA for advice on restructuring our coaching set-up.

The Dutch system of coaching young players, which stems from legendary coach Rinus Michels' brand of Total Football developed in the late Sixties and early Seventies, is seen as a potential saviour for young players in England.

Sir Trevor Brooking, the FA's director of football development, has expressed his frustration at the lack of support he has had from the professional game at the FA over his wish to introduce more skills training on FA coaching courses.

Senior FA board members have now turned to Holland in order to help Brooking carry through his reforms.

Foppe de Haan, Holland Under-21 coach, says the Dutch have been approached and are keen to help England. "We are sending one of our top managers over to give advice and help. There is obviously a need for a better structure."

Sir Bobby goes on to highlight the need to produce a deeper pool of talent for the national team.

"To have a successful England team, you need 35 top players because injuries, loss of form (like Paul Robinson's) and suspensions will come. Unfortunately for us, when our top players are out, we can't replace them adequately. Without John Terry, Rio Ferdinand and Rooney, we were second best.

"Our problems over the qualifying campaign run deeper than Steve McClaren. The Croatia match showed our players aren't as good as they think they are."

It does not add up to a job specification that Barwick can present as enticing to the very best of candidates, even if the salary is likely to remain the highest of any national team manager in the world.

We can only hope that the new man relishes a big challenge and believes that the only way is up.

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