What do others think? it could be a massive wake up call for England, that something is going badly wrong with the coaching system, in the sense that talent is not coming through.

When England won the world cup in 1966, kids back then (the 1966 team that were kids in the late 1940s/early 1950s) played football on the local playing fields, developed a love for the game and while they were playing were getting fitter.

Injurys back then would have been seen as part of the fun.

Now, sports coaches have to be qualified to the eyeballs, yet despite all these qualifications, England (as it seems now) will not be competeing in Euro 2008. Years ago, qualification for the world cup/euros was a matter of course, now it seems a major achievement if England qualify.

Do you think that the coaching system is too rigid? do you think the problem is the fact there are no playing fields for kids anymore? or do you think the problem lies with the compensation culture, whereby if someone trips up the tripee needs counselling?

What is the problem? do you think if England fail to qualify it could be a good thing?

Firstly, the main problem is the corpses in the FA. Their stolid, we-know-best and frankly negative attitude will never result in our having a national footballing team we can be proud of.

They employ a yes man in McClaren who, in turn, picks players on which Big 4 side they play for and in some cases, irrespective of their form and fitness. (Owen is never going to fully recover. Let's move on, look at some youngsters coming through. Perhaps look beyond the Big 4 sides and even to the lower leagues.)

We have players who will apparently still pick up a £100,000 bonus FOR FAILING TO QUALIFY in a group made up of Sunday league players and pub sides. Why bother to sweat?

Or coaching system is all wrong. Any decent youngster who has skill has it knocked out of them in order to be utlitised in a pass-the-ball set-up. We play in triangles and duly lose the ball. We are technically bereft and the last England player to possess any individual skill was Gascoigne. How long ago was that?

We trump up our stars, pay silly money for them and then they come undone against supposedly lesser, unknown sides like Russia. We look agog at teams who play to their strengths and with flair and excitement. The last time I felt excited by an England performance was when we beat Holland 4-1 at Wembley during Euro 96. That's 11 years ago!

Yes, the government has sold off playing fields but also indoctrinated an attitude of winning isn't everything. The only thing we seem to be good at in this country is losing or at best, coming second. Compare this with the attitudes of the Aussies and South Africans. They excel at nearly every sport they compete in and if they lose they regroup and address the situation. The Ashes victory was arguably the worst thing that could happen to England: It made Australia more determined and whereas they lose big players like Shane Warne they manage to find others!

Sack the FA, sack the manager and let's get back to basics. It might take 20 years but it will be worth it. Make competitive sport THE subject at school and make losing what it is: Not good enough.

Is the compensation culture to blame? ie, its too dangerous to play sport?

Are enough ex players passing their knowledge on to children? if not, why not?

Now, sports coaches have to be qualified to the eyeballs, yet despite all these qualifications, England (as it seems now) will not be competeing in Euro 2008. Years ago, qualification for the world cup/euros was a matter of course, now it seems a major achievement if England qualify.
Also possible that other countries that formally didn't enter or weren't very might have improved lots be following how other countries train...

Not just a matter of England being not as good as once were.

Is the compensation culture to blame? ie, its too dangerous to play sport?

Are enough ex players passing their knowledge on to children? if not, why not?
no its becuase thiers no local teams to play for so they need scouts anymore
they just bring in forien players councel builds on all the pitches no works teams
just a few pub teams and you have had your lot