Terry Butcher: England are the laughing stock of Europe

Terry Butcher is a former England international who won 77 caps for the Three Lions.

Fearless in his defence, Butcher is iconically best remembered for gushing blood from a head wound while heavily bandaged in a match in Sweden. His continuous heading of the ball proved too much for the bandage and by full time, his white England shirt was covered in his blood.

Today, he is a regular columnist for the Sunday Mirror in England – and now also for Prost Amerika.

Terry Butcher: England are the laughing stock of Europe

English football took a real battering, this summer, and no wonder.

The embarrassing and pathetic defeat to minnows Iceland in the dullest of all European Championships in France inevitably cost Roy Hodgson his job, with the result that Sam Allardyce, the new and old kid on the block, has the unenviable job of trying to change the attitude and belief of the England players when it comes to tournament football.

[Allardyce hire makes English football look like “amateur hour”]

The Three Lions are the laughing stock of Europe, and, with Sam’s promotion from Sunderland to St George’s Park, along with Steve Bruce’s resignation from newly promoted Hull City, there are even less English coaches, owners and bosses in the ultra-rich Premier League than ever before.

It’s ironic that, to quote Shakespeare and part of a speech from John of Gaunt in Richard the Second:

“This throne of kings, this scepter’d isle, this earth of Majesty, this seat of Mars,”

should have the most hyped, viewed and wealthy football league in the world, yet still can’t produce an international team worthy of all its history and pageantry. 

Further on, in the same speech, John of Gaunt’s words echo the state of our national game:

“That England, that was wont to conquer others, hath made a shameful conquest of itself.”

Fortunately, this article is not an English Degree dissertation but merely a dissection of the shambles that Big Sam has to rectify, on and off the pitch.

The likeable lad from Dudley has also to contend with a who’s-who of Champions League bosses, as some of the best coaches in the world are now employed within our shores.

The Premier League has been greatly and obscenely enhanced this year by SKY’s seemingly bottomless football war chest but with the exception of Paul Pogba, the best players, unlike the UK, have remained in Europe.

No other international team has virtually all of its squad playing in the same domestic league (it would have been 100% until Joe Hart trotted off to Torino on loan). And even though Big Sam will not have to travel overseas to oversee the available talent, only 31% of all starters in the Premier League last season, were qualified to pull on an England jersey.

The Elite Player Performance Plan introduced by the FA five years ago has made a slight difference, with 67 home-grown youngsters making their debut last season, compared to 54 in 2014/15 but no figure has been made available to say which nationality these players are.

The academies have the facilities and coaches to teach the children skill and technique, but who gives them heart, desire and passion? It’s no good having a flawless rehearsal when, on the big stage, when the pressure is on, the whole team is infected by the “Icelandic Clap” virus.

It’s a brand new international season, but, with England, it’s the same old story unless Sam Allardyce is miraculously transformed into Henry the Fifth.

Also See:

Richard Fleming on England: Iceland is not a shock. We’re not that good and rarely have been

Butcher’s Block – More from Terry Butcher

England