The English Narrative: What Defines the Home of Soccer? England’s Past

Coauthored by Seth Johnson and Stephen Kirchner

1966 World Cup Champions, England, labeled for noncommercial reuse at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_FIFA_World_Cup_Final#/media/File:Champions_statue.jpg

England presents perhaps the strangest case study of soccer in the world. Some proclaim it to be the home of the world’s favorite sport; certainly the English think so, as a song proclaiming ‘Football’s Coming Home’ has reached the number one spot in the charts not once but twice in the country (Wikipedia, Three Lions). While few might dispute it as the birthplace of the sport, the word ‘home’ is more divisive. Most people would argue that soccer is a full grown adult who moved out of the family home a long time ago, and now spends its time in the favelas of Brazil, the countryside of Argentina, and more recently the foothills of Catalonia. The world’s biggest stage for soccer, the World Cup, has only been won by England once, in 1966, and by other countries multiple times (Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Germany, specifically). England hasn’t won the second biggest tournament it plays in, the Euros, even once. And with the Euros once again being played this summer, this trophy drought is becoming a big part of the news again. If England is soccer’s home, then why do the biggest trophies refuse to come home for the holidays? And perhaps more curiously, why does England, despite a 50-year track record to the contrary, still think themselves as world class in a sport in which they seem to have been left behind? Part of it is simple patriotism; even Americans think sometimes we have a chance in major tournaments. But perhaps more so, it is a question of narrative, of developing players, and the belief that this year’s crop of talent is special. Is it though? England has a track record of billing their players as the best, and it’s happening again this year, and perhaps not without reason. Careful examination, though, of England’s last 30 years would caution us against believing too much in England’s newest stars.

30 years ago, in 1996, England saw ‘Three Lions’ hit the top of the chart. England was in the dumps of their sport; for the first time since their win in 1966, England had failed to qualify for the World Cup two years prior in 1994 (Wikipedia, 1994 World Cup). England, though, saw an opportunity in hosting the 1996 European Championships.

Branding and national fervor was at a strong high when England eventually flamed out in the semi-finals, a respectable finish (wikipedia, UEFA Euro 1996). More excitingly, though, was the emergence of a few younger members of the side, like the Neville brothers, Sol Campbell, and Jamie Redknapp, all aged 22 or younger. However, this would be nothing like the surge of strong young players towards the end of the decade into the early 2000s.

Names like David Beckham, John Terry, Michael Owen, and Paul Scholes rose to prominence; part of this rise of English youth arose out of Manchester United’s famed ‘Class of 92’ (a group who won the FA Youth Cup together in 1992) but much of it arose elsewhere too; Sol Campbell played at Tottenham, Michael Carrick at West Ham, Ashley Cole at Arsenal. Wherever it arose, though, it became clear that England had a bright future on the international level, at almost every position. With the rise of the Premiership and the rise of money in English football, everything pointed towards a bright 2000s for the English national side, and the fervor around the team rose.

Into this nebula of expectation and excitement strode Adam Crozier, FA chief executive at the young age himself of only 35. He was a businessman, and a successful one, and was given the keys to the kingdom for what was becoming a very lucrative business. Like any good businessman, Crozier viewed branding and marketing as the key to economic success, and saw the young English stars as a place to make his name. In 2001, Crozier named this generation of young players England’s ‘Golden Generation’ a moniker that would stick for over a decade. A golden generation is a well-documented phenomenon in soccer; when the right crop of players come along at the right time for an international squad, they can change the dynamic of the sport entirely. Brazil from 1958-1970, France in the late 90s, and even Hungary in 1950-1956, these squads dominated the game, and England seemed set to do the same in the 2000s. The problem? All these squads were called Golden AFTER winning. England was called that before they had accomplished anything, and that would cause a huge deal of disappointment and pressure on both the players and the country in general.

As we’ve already mentioned, England hasn’t won a major tournament since 1966. So it goes without saying that the Golden Generation of the 2000s didn’t win a thing. England made the quarterfinals of the World Cup in 2002, quarterfinals of Euro 2004, quarterfinals of the 2006 World Cup, didn’t qualify for Euro 2008, round of 16 in the 2010 World Cup, quarterfinals of the 2012 Euros, and didn’t even make it out of the group stage in the 2014 World Cup. Flameouts like this one against Germany in 2010 were common; people still talk about the ‘ghost goal’ of Lampard that never was.

Simply put, the ‘Golden’ squad didn’t add any silverware to the English trophy cabinet. Instead, they cycled through 3 mangers (and one interim manager) in 10 years, desperately trying to find the right balance of their stars and their style. At the end of it all, though, it simply didn’t work. The English media, the players, and the coaches themselves all struggled to determine what happened to so much promise with so little payoff. Players like Gary Neville have blamed the moniker itself from as early as 2010: ‘the Golden generation wasn’t very golden from where I was in the England squad… you get called a golden generation when you win things’ (Gary Neville, World Cup 2010, Telegraph). Neville went even further 4 years later, saying ‘I have always refused to be measured by a title dreamt up by someone [Crozier] with no intimate knowledge of football. ‘Golden generation’ reflected an external judgment, and one which reflected the commercialization of the England team around that time’ (Gary Neville, Golden Generation was just Hype, Telegraph). Essentially, what Neville took to task was the over-speculation in the sport, and the fact that individuals saw success while the team did not. By branding the team as golden, Neville claimed that undue pressure was put on a young squad, and one unprepared for holding the hearts of a nation which such expectation. Neville points out the odd intersection of country narrative and the sport in the early 2000s; Blair was in power, ‘Cool Britannia’ was in vogue, and the economy was booming. It presents an odder intersection, then, that when the Golden Generation was on its way out, so was the English economy, facing its worst recession in years (Gary Neville, Golden Generation was just Hype, Telegraph)

Neville points out that not all was bad in the 2000s, and the 2004 Euros were a place where England could have made a real difference. However, at the end of the day, Neville has to admit that his biggest regret of his career is ‘England’. This was a literal decade of disappointment, with the team going out on penalty kicks in multiple major tournaments. This was a team with multiple 100-capped players like Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard and yet no significant breakthroughs. There is no simple solution for this conundrum; goodness knows that Sven-Goran Eriksson, Fabio Capello, and Steve McLaren tried. When England turned to Roy Hodgson in 2012, it was out of desperation; Gerrard was England’s captain and 31, and Lampard, his midfield running mate, was 33. John Terry, a prior captain, had been booed out of the side after racist remarks (Martin Samuel, Daily Mail). No manager had been successful in getting anything out of the midfield that was considered the backbone of the generation (Jamie Redknapp, Daily Mail), and now, that core was simply old. The Golden Generation was quite frankly, more silver at this point, like Gary Lineker pointed out.

And what happened? England made it to the quarterfinals of the Euros yet again, and two years later, failed to escape the group stages in World Cup. That World Cup was the last hurrah of the Golden Generation; Gerrard, Lampard, and Wayne Rooney were the last three in the side. Now, two years on, Gerrard and Lampard have retired from international play, leaving Rooney as the old hat, the captain, and the talisman representing a decade of lost hopes. But as Lineker mentioned above, the 2014 World Cup squad saw hope in the new, younger stars already showing their face.

How to cite this article: “The English Narrative: What Defines the Home of Soccer? England’s Past” Written by Seth Johnson and Stephen Kirchner (2016), European Cup 2016 Guide, Soccer Politics Blog, Duke University, http://sites.duke.edu/wcwp/tournament-guides/european-cup-2016-guide/english-national-team/the-english-narrative-what-defines-the-home-of-soccer-englands-past/ (accessed on (date)).