Reviewed: Fifty Years of Hurt By Henry Winter

England were still in the European Championship when I started reading Henry Winter’s latest offering, but they were unceremoniously dumped out by Iceland by the time I finished it. Fifty Years of Hurt: The Story of England Football and Why We Never Stop Believing began as a forensic post-mortem of England’s performance over the past half-century, but lived experience transformed it into a post-mortem of England’s last six weeks. The Three Lions dismal performance in France providing another fresh corpse for the mortuary slab; yet another fatal excursion to pick the bones out of.

As The Times’ chief football writer, Winter is well qualified to take on this vast subject having covered the last seven World Cups and filed copy from 257 consecutive England matches. Many glibly assert that journalists offer only criticisms without any solutions, but this is not an accusation one could throw at Winter. Anybody familiar with his columns or his appearances on Sunday Supplement will know that he is very much an ‘ideas man’. Some of his proposals may be wide-eyed and idealistic, but Winter never shy’s away from putting his neck on the block and advocating a way forward.

The book is structured in a broadly chronological way, with the early chapters dealing with a given era on the basis of an interview with a former player. For instance, Jack Charlton provides a window into the 1966 World Cup, Alan Mullary into the sweltering heat of Mexico 1970, Peter Shilton into the dark days of the 1970s and so forth.

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The middle chapters become more thematic, scrutinising England’s notorious bête-noir, the penalty shoot-out, media pressure, the FA’s selection of managers and the problematic logistics of tournament football where England players spend too much time in what Winter calls a ‘bubble’.  He also considers the impact of the Premier League and the ‘shadow’ this hugely successful, multi-national jamboree casts over the national team.

There are three chapters near the end of the book devoted to the ‘Too Much Too Young’ sentiment, especially prescient given recent debates in the media since England’s Euro 2016 exit. Winter catches up with some of today’s protagonists at the end of the book; Dan Ashworth, Gary Neville and Roy Hodgson. As you can imagine the words of Neville and Hodgson are now extremely portentous: “This summer is a big moment in terms of how the four years
will be will be viewed,” said Neville.

Well, quite.

Some of Winter’s criticisms are very incisive and applicable to events that have just unfolded in France. His chapter with Glenn Hoddle elucidates our troubled relationship with flair and maverick players. In the 1970’s, this was due to the stiff-collared, blue-blazered chaps who ran the FA and treated players like school-children. The likes of Rodney Marsh, Frank Worthington, Stan Bowles and Tony Currie were paid scant regard by the national team, in many cases due to their non-conformist behaviour. Hoddle himself and later Matt Le Tissier were two other talents that England failed to extract the most from. Paul Scholes trials on the left side of a diamond under Sven Goran-Eriksson is another case of world-class ability that was squandered.

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The graceful Chelsea midfielder Alan Hudson produced a man of the match display against world champions West Germany in a 2-0 England win at Wembley in 1975. The German players publicly lauded Hudson, telling the assembled media that England must build their team around him. Hudson was given one more cap.

True enough, some of Hudson’s off the field problems were very much ‘self-inflicted’, but his story enforces a problem with English football that Winter deserves credit for highlighting. We often cut our own nose to spite our face by always seeking the moral high ground. The FA ties itself in moral knots over Terry Venables’ financial disputes, agreeing to part company with the popular manager before Euro 1996. They suspend Rio Ferdinand after hemissed a drug test, before he was allowed a fair hearing. So much for innocent until proven guilty.

In response to this saga, FA chief-executive Mark Palios publishes a fresh player’s code of conduct. The press informs Palios that James Beattie, who had just been called up to the squad, was serving a driving ban and therefore infringing the new rules. Beattie was sent home. Farcical. The absurd treatment of Raheem Sterling is further evidence that many hold bizarre expectations when it comes to player behaviour.

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The moral-maze continues when the players are on the pitch, with England players consistently outwitted by cynical and unscrupulous opponents; Diego Maradona, Diego Simeone, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez. Winter, though not advising or condoning cheating, contends that England players must be more ‘street-wise’ and cute in their game management, something Wayne Rooney admitted after the 2014 World Cup. England should have pressed the
referee to give Diego Godin a deserved second yellow during their fatal group stage clash with Uruguay.

Against the honest and plucky Icelanders, such an excuse was not at hand. However, our skewed moral compass, rooted in delusions of superiority, must be disposed of. This is a culture where Phil Neville’s verdict that players who play a no-look pass can expect to be two-footed is a misdemeanour, but telling a referee an opponent should be booked is a felony.

Backed up by the claims made in Jamie Carragher’s Daily Mail column this week, Winter’s chapter on England’s ‘Bubble Trouble’ is particularly enlightening. He criticises England’s insularity when abroad (a theme exhibited by the English abroad in general, it has to be said) noting how some England players turned down the chance to visit
Robben Island and Nelson Mandela when in South Africa in 2003. One player even asked ‘what’s Hiroshima?’ during the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.

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Amidst some of the bitter, resentful columns in the front-half of the tabloid’s recently, analyses which are drenched in class antagonism, we forget our footballers are often ignorant, ill-educated and frequently from troubled backgrounds. They’re don’t spend much time abroad when they are young, foreign cultures are alien to them and are not very comfortable with their own company when there is time to kill. This is one reason why they are so vulnerable to addiction, especially gambling. Michael Owen describes how the card-school in which thousands of pounds were exchanged was the refuge of stir-crazy England players. More thought should go into keeping
them fresh and stimulated at international tournaments.

However, one of Winter’s arguments that should be opposed is his postulation that young English footballers find their ‘pathway’ blocked by young foreign players. Of course, it is a tautology to say that the more English players in Premier League first-teams the better for England’s manager, but it is the concept that this should be artificially induced that is troubling.

One likes to think that sport is governed by meritocratic principles, with the cream rising to the top. Getting more English on Premier League pitches via quotas may make us feel better about ourselves, but it is ultimately a false consolation. What matters is producing players of requisite quality to make a difference to England’s tournament performance. Harry Kane, Delli Alli, Jack Wilshere, Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen et al, did not have their ‘paths
blocked’. I would ask those who claim that paths are being blocked to name a player who has missed the cut at one our top clubs, but gone on to make them rue their decision. It’s a brief list.

Finally, Winter’s discussion of the Premier League gets to the heart of the matter. He insists that there remains a great reserve of support for the national team and that international football can still produce intoxicating moments and atmospheres.  Go to a pub for an England game, or look at the consistently impressive attendances at Wembley for what are often mediocre matches and this opinion seems justified. However, I am unconvinced that the generation brought up on a staple Premier League diet has quite the same passion for England.

Simply put, the dual soap operas of the Premier League and the Champions League satiate our footballing desires to the extent that there isn’t much room for much else. In years gone by, international football (like the Olympics) was a rare chance to watch live sport on TV and support your team in an active way. Football supporters, even those not watching games in stadiums, can do so every week now. Perhaps it is different for supporters of lower league clubs, who view the national team as a rare day in the sun. Many fans now seek more authentic experiences in non-league and women’s football, also.

As the Premier League grows larger, and our clubs begin to resemble NFL franchises disconnected from their support base and their geographical location, there is a chance that supporters will seek nostalgic refuge under
the flag of the national side. Until then, the Premier League and the England team co-exist in an awkward alliance.