Unhappy anniversary leaves England rudderless

PARIS: England’s humiliating defeat by Iceland provided the sensation of Euro 2016 and left the team staggering into an uncertain future without a manager or a sense of direction.

A talented new generation of players spearheaded by Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane had raised hopes that England would mark the 50th anniversary of their 1966 World Cup win with a strong showing in France.

But after finishing second below Wales in Group B, they were dumped out in the last 16 by Iceland, population 330,000, extending their run without a semi-final appearance at a major tournament to 20 years.

The team and the Football Association faced withering criticism.

“The perennial problem (is that) when it gets to the business end of the tournament, England seem brittle,” said FA chief executive Martin Glenn. “We need to understand why that is.”

On top of Glenn’s in-tray is the search for a new manager, after Roy Hodgson responded to the 2-1 loss to Iceland by immediately announcing his resignation in the Nice stadium press conference room. Glenn hinted that the job would be offered on an interim basis to England Under-21 manager Gareth Southgate, only for reports to emerge that the former Middlesbrough manager was not interested.

Other names touted include 38-year-old Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe, one of the leading young coaches in the English Premier League.

England start their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign away to Slovakia on September 4, but Glenn says the FA is prepared to let an interim manager take on the role if it helps to land the right long-term successor to Hodgson.

In the meantime, the now familiar soul-searching that follows England’s elimination from major tournaments is in full swing. Previously, England’s failures have been ascribed to fatigue caused by the lack of a mid-season break in English football or to the dwindling pool of home-grown players in the Premier League.

But those theories were blown out of the water by underdogs Wales, who reached the semi-finals with a squad of largely England-based players drawn from a far smaller reservoir of talent. The post-mortem has also flagged up mental factors, with England’s accused of having fatal psychological flaws.