Henry Winter - Fifty Years of Hurt

England invented football, codified it, became champions of the world, but humiliatingly then forgot how to play the greatest game of all

Just when fans thought it could not get any worse, the golden anniversary of winning the World Cup proved to be the annus horribilis of England football. Humiliated at the European Championship, then suffering the most botched managerial appointment in FA history, our national sport hit an all-time low. So why have we fallen so far from the glory days?

In Fifty Years of Hurt, Henry Winter embarks on a journey in search of hope and answers, asking key characters from the past five decades just what has gone wrong and how to put it right. It is part lament, part ode to the joy of football, but finally, a call to action. Fifty Years of Hurt is both brilliant analysis of the game, from the success of 1966 to the serial failures culminating in defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016, as well as a passionate plea for a revolution.

For Toby and Electra

ARE YOU SEEKING redemption? This weighty, rather personal question from a local evangelist is a familiar sound to England supporters emerging from Wembley Park Tube. The main question on this occasion, the final home qualifier for Euro 2016, is: can the gifted Evertonian Ross Barkley impress against Estonia on his first competitive start? An answer in the affirmative would stir some optimism for the finals in France. I stop briefly to admire the view, mingling with fans taking photos of the famous stadium in the distance, before descending the steps to the underpass and hurrying up Wembley Way. Amid the noise of the faithful converging excitedly on the iconic arch can be heard this strident voice. Are you seeking redemption? demands the preacher man of the congregation flocking towards the church of St George. Hes usually there, standing on a raised walkway to the left, leaning over the railings, clutching a microphone in his right hand and portable speaker in his left. He asks the same question again and again. Are you seeking redemption? Were just seeking three points, really. A decent performance free of fear. Some magic from Barkley. A good night out, even a hint of hope for the future, please.

Mr Missionary does have a point. Salvation is sought by the river of humanity flowing past him on 9 October 2015, heading towards the statue of Bobby Moore. Englands finest captain and centre-half still guards Wembley after all these years; 538 games have passed since Moore lifted the World Cup. The years of hurt that David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and the Lightning Seeds sang so eloquently about keep lengthening. Thirty years of hurt was reached at Euro 96. Another score of years, and painful scorelines, elapse. The fiftieth anniversary of Englands finest sporting achievement is a landmark to be cherished, and the participants royally feted, but it is also a time for sober reflection, and anger. In twelve World Cups since 66, England fail to qualify three times and make the semi-finals only once. In the twelve European Championships over the same period, England do not qualify four times, and progress to the semi-finals only twice. For a country obsessed with football, Englands tournament record is a national disgrace. Wembley stands as part-shrine to 1966 and part-monument to catastrophe.

Growing up in London, Id dash out of Wembley Park, turn left and play matches on the London Transport pitches behind the station. Id see the old Twin Towers of Wembley from afar. At my senior school, Westminster, pupils were quietly made aware of the history of football, the schools role in shaping the game, including laws encouraging forward passing, and those six boys who went on to represent England back in the Victorian era. Respect deepens for those like Barkley with the ability and application to pull on the Three Lions shirt. But frustration swells at the countrys failures. This is England, the country that not only invents football but codifies it, helps spread its joys to all four corner-flags of the globe and then conquers the world in 1966. Humiliatingly, this is the country that forgets how to play the greatest game of all. England take their eye off a ball they arrogantly thought they owned, allowing other nations to run off with it. As the country loudly celebrates fifty years of Hurst, Wembley should really be cordoned off as an accident scene requiring urgent forensic examination.

For half a century, England bemoan wretched misfortune, blaming a dodgy beer here, an infamous cheat there, even metatarsals and meteorology and the iniquity of penalties for the inability to repeat that special summer when Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and the Charltons ruled the world. Its all nonsense. Its not Lady Luck being perfidious towards battered Albion. Its self-inflicted damage. Englands arteries are blocked by addled thinking. Fault lies all around.

Its the fear stalking the Wembley dressing-room, and conflicting agendas between Football Association and Premier League with two-thirds of players in the elite division ineligible for England. How can the tide be turned? The tide rolling in from overseas.

Its the too much too young culture pervading some Academies, where teenagers trouser 20,000 a week even before figuring prominently in first-team plans, killing their hunger. Its the kids getting boot deals at 12. Its irresponsible parents being in thrall to agents or screaming Get stuck in! on the touchlines, inhibiting kids.

Its the time-bomb of obesity, the fast-food and fizzy-drink addiction afflicting the conditioning of Academy recruits, and yet football happily takes the sponsorship money of these sugar baddies. Its societal changes extending the years of hurt: many parents wont let kids stay out late, or go off down the park to play. Whats the solution? Politicians think too short-term when long-term reform is required in the health and sporting opportunities of the younger generation, our future.

So many questions. So much culpability. Its some England managers also deserving of their place in the public stocks. Its the distracting sexual foibles of Sven-Gran Eriksson, court cases blemishing Terry Venables reign, Glenn Hoddles views on reincarnation, the tactical shortcomings of Graham Taylor, Kevin Keegan and Steve McClaren, and not forgetting Fabio Capellos poor grasp of the English psyche and language. But is it the man or the job itself? Does it send capable people insane? How can they be helped? Wembleys preacher poses only one question. Wembley registers hundreds.

Its the serial fiasco of penalties. Its the media obsession with personality over philosophy, newspapers railing against such nemeses as Diego Maradona in 1986, Cristiano Ronaldo in 2004 and 2006 and Luis Surez in 2014 while ignoring the need to breed such maestros ourselves. England are a noisy orchestra packed with drums but no conductor. Where are the playmakers, responsibility-takers and game-changers? Dele Alli lifts spirits with his dash and daring in the stunning 3-2 friendly victory over Germany in Berlin on 26 March, but England need more of such verve, and in tournaments.

Rare creative creatures like Stan Bowles, John Barnes, Chris Waddle, Paul Gascoigne and Paul Scholes at times have resembled an endangered species. They are never used properly, given the platform enough. Will Barkley be granted a licence to thrill as he can? Will Dele Alli? Its the institutionalized suspicion of flair in this country. Its about England players being inspired, not scared, by pictures near the Wembley dressing-room of Hurst completing his hat-trick in 66. Capello always called it The Fear.