Dele Alli, Harry Kane and England youth offer promise of bright summer, says Roy Hodgson

'It is a young squad and I think that is an advantage'

(Getty)

There is no escaping England’s past successes and failures within the Football Association. Even the national game’s Wembley headquarters has ‘PO Box 1966’ as part of its address, so reminders of fifty years ago are never far from the surface.

We have had Euro 96 ending in thirty years of hurt and subsequent tournaments bringing little but disappointment, yet as England approach Euro 2016, there is a sense that the burden of the past has been lifted from a new generation of players with no emotional ties to the past.

The golden generation of Gerrard, Beckham, Lampard and Owen has gone, but the likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Raheem Sterling and Eric Dier are now offering the promise and potential which sees England prepare for France with genuine hope of enjoying a positive tournament.

England manager Roy Hodgson (GETTY IMAGES)

Youth will be given its head in France, with the old guard now consigned to history, and with Roy Hodgson preparing to name his 23-man squad for the finals on May 12, the England manager believes that he will take a group of players to France who benefit from the absence of international failure from their CVs.

“I think we will be well prepared for this tournament,” said Hodgson, speaking at an England media briefing at L’Escargot in Soho. “I really believe that the players will have a certain freshness about them.

“It is a young squad and I think that is an advantage because baggage does weigh and when you have had a lot of failures about you it weighs on you, if you like.

“We are, at the moment, in a situation where all they are getting is praise and no one can point out that two years back you failed or two or three years back.

“We can only hope that will lead us to a good tournament.”

Striking the correct balance between experience and freshness, and avoiding the pitfalls of naivety, is the challenge facing Hodgson when he selects his squad.

But he admits that, aside from captain Wayne Rooney and goalkeeper Joe Hart, there are few players in his thoughts who will travel to France with a bucketload of caps to their name.

“We have not got that much national team experience now,” Hodgson said. “One or two have. Wayne has. Milly (James Milner) has got a few caps, Joe Hart’s got a few caps, but there are a lot of players with under 10 caps.

“You mention Dele Alli and he’s on about three or four. But I suppose in some ways it’s what makes these tournaments so exciting.

“We are very excited about going there. Of course, we are part of it. But I also get the feeling that you lads are too and certainly out on the streets you get a feeling that throughout the country people are very excited.”

The flashes of potential shown by the likes of Kane, Alli and Dier in Tottenham’s push for the Premier League title are a reason, according to Hodgson, why the public are believing this current squad can prosper in France.

“The excitement really comes from not knowing,” Hodgson said. “We hope and we think and we believe, but we don’t know.

“We have to be ready for everything and that’s why having on the field one or two players at least who could help us when things start to get a bit tough and have a little word to a (Jamie) Vardy or Dele Alli who don’t have too many games could be advantageous.

“And that doesn’t have to be Wayne. We have others.”


 England captain Wayne Rooney is one of the few experienced players 
 (Getty Images)

Having been appointed as England manager in the weeks leading up to Euro 2012 following the resignation of Fabio Capello, Hodgson is now preparing for his third major tournament with the FA – he also managed Switzerland at the 1994 Wold Cup.

And the former Liverpool, Fulham and Inter Milan manager admits he is keen to remain at the helm until the next World Cup in Russia if he returns from France having enjoyed success at Euro 2016.

“If they (FA) want me, it is as simple as that,” Hodgson said. “I think I have tried to say all along – and nothing has really changed – if the FA want me and the mood in the country is that they would like me to stay then I am of course more than happy to stay.

“But I don’t want to be clawing onto a job when I get the feeling that people don’t want me to have the job – it is as simple as that.

“I suppose that comes down to what the Euros bring and how people feel after it.

“But tournaments have an element of a lottery about them and you are asking me to go along with something I don’t believe in.

“I think that jobs of high importance should be decided and the people that you want to do the job chosen on competence alone, and not on a lucky win or an unlucky defeat.

“But that is what tournaments are. We might play well and have bad results. We might play badly – the team might look like a disaster – and we sneak through.

“I can’t really relate on making those sorts of decision on that basis. But that is not my decision – it will be the decision for the FA.”

Hodgson accepts, however, that his fate will ultimately be judged by elements beyond his control.

“Unfortunately that is often going to be the type of thing that is going to be a decisive factor,” Hodgson said. “Like penalty shoot-outs.They play a part as well.

“That also is one of those mysteries - how can you understand that players who are the best technicians in the world, the Roberto Baggios of this world, can suddenly blast penalties over the bar when it matters, when others, who can hardly pass the ball from a to b, can put it in the corner.

“And of course I don’t know about refereeing decisions. And I don’t know if Dele Alli is going to chip over and hit the post when he has just dribbled past four players. I don’t know those type of things.

“Everything really depends on the night. It is a bit like rehearsals for a play.

“Rehearsals might have been fantastic, but on the opening night everyone forgets their lines or the play, in some others ways, is a disaster. That is where all the judgement is.”

Despite the pitfalls, the lottery and the element of the unexpected, Hodgson is backing this squad to live up to expectations.

“I don’t think that the team and the group of players we have got now will, in any way, let the myself, the coaching staff or the county down,” Hodgson said.

“I fully believe they will go there and perform at the level we think they can perform at and we have seen they can perform at.”