THERE’LL ALWAYS BE AN ENGLAND FAILURE

Iwasn't surprised or all that disappointed by the latest England let down this summer. What happened in South Africa was simply the climax to generations of errors that must be learnt from. Capello made errors. Having eased through qualification promising only players in form and of full fitness would be selected, England's World Cup campaign saw the Italian backtrack and subsequently include Matthew Upson, Ledley King. Emile Heskey and Jamie Carragher. Fit? No. In form? No. Nor was Rooney.

But the Premier League and its clubs hold all the power. With Arsenal over England in mind, so they should. I know where my priorities lie. We want Robin Van Persie fit to somehow play a full season in red and white without caring too much that it may damage his summer playing for the Netherlands. Likewise Cesc and Spain.

Joe Mardon on yet another miserable footballing summer assume their “greatness” before it’s been earned. Complacency breeds and a lack of work ethic emerges. Compare the hunger impressively evident in Germany’s young side to England’s wellfed stars who were full up on talk. Combine those factors with a lack of intelligence and compare England’s players to the foreign youngsters brought up and through the Arsenal system. Cesc Fabregas: Humble, polite, World Cup winner. John Terry: Arrogant, outspoken, World Cup w****r. Unfortunately, Terry cannot take the blame for everything that is wrong in the world, despite his best efforts.

The same applies to Man Utd and Rooney. It's their right to flog him to death. Their right to play him with an injury for two months without giving a f**k that it means Heskey with an assist has a more effective World Cup for England than their star man. Fergie doesn't care. Why should he? From a United perspective he'll be back flying for them next year and unfortunately the grannyfriendly fatty that turns up at Arsenal is unlikely to be recognisable from the one seen by millions stumbling around South Africa.

England’s formation and tactics can also be brought into question. We now watch Arsenal pass the ball with pace and movement from back

Watching England in South Africa was, at times, a reminder of latter day George Graham to front via the midfield, with the ball on the ground. England in South Africa were, at times, a reminder of latter day George Graham, as Upson and Terry kept trying to hit the big man up front as soon as possible. Despite these technical flaws, most fingers were correctly pointed at the players. Against Algeria, it shouldn't have mattered if the manager told the players his starting line up as they were coming out of the tunnel, in the formation of 2-1-7. There was no excuse for the shambles that followed.

Instead, we must look towards the quality of coaching in this country. The serious qualification is the Grade A UEFA license, at which level Spain have 750 qualified coaches and England 150. Of those, 640 of the Spanish Grade A licensed coaches work with children and youth players. Look at the results. Of England's 150 most highly qualified coaches, none of them work with kids. Zero. Look at the results.

Our kids don't get taught the right techniques to play the game at the highest level, and it is proven by their failings once they're old enough to own a Bentley and play in the World Cup. At under 10s we used to play on full sized pitches with full sized goals. Both were ridiculously oversized for our childhood frames, with dads yelling and screaming on from the sidelines to the point of fighting with each other while we looked on bemused. The games relied on who was the biggest and kicked it the furthest, rather than who was the best and most technically gifted. This is how my generation was brought up to play football. It's the same generation who tried to kick the Jubalani as far and as quick as they could while those f**king vuvuzelas raged on.

For all these reasons, and probably another hundred, England aren't very good. But the media fails to realise this before every tournament. England have reached the semi-finals of a major tournament three times in 44 years. Twice on home soil. How we go into tournaments thinking we can win is beyond me. We are rank outsiders every time, but the players, press and our Facebook country never seem to realise that.

The ego and inflated sense of power footballers brought up in this country acquire means most

Thank f**k it’s back to proper football. I'm from Arsenal and not England.

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