Can Roy Hodgson follow the examples of cricket and rugby by making England great again?

This summer England head to Euro 2016 and it is for the manager to make playing for their country relevent to the players

Jamie Vardy (GETTY IMAGES)

It is the final frontier of mainstream English sport, a footballing Rubicon begging to be crossed. And for those who doubt the possibility of winning big again, consider this.

England’s rugby players are celebrating a first Six Nations Grand Slam in more than a decade. Our cricketers shed the stifling orthodoxy of their opening defeat against the West Indies to fashion one of the great T20 run chases and, in beating South Africa, raise the prospect of a historic second success at the World Twenty20.

You know what’s coming next in the hyperbolic slot, right? This week sees a pause in the great football fairy tale. If we are to be denied our weekly hit of Leicester City let it be worth our while, let our national team follow the example of our cricketers and egg-chasers, not to mention the most uplifting story in the history of the Premier League. Go on, Roy, make us believe that England can be real contenders at a major competition again.

Granted, they are not helped by the desecration of an iconic vest by the designers at Nike. The compulsion to turn a profit forces upon the nation yet another grim aesthetic at the European Championship. We should perhaps be grateful that the present vogue for clipped male grooming presents a short back and sides above the insipid shirt design as opposed to the mullets and perms of our Umbro past.

If you want to know what beauty can be in a football shirt, cast a glance through the decades to the days when England ruled the world, when plain old white or unadulterated red were sufficient, embellished only by three lions on the breast. If only they were to stride boldly into Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on Saturday clad in the livery of 1966. Never mind that, I hear you say, if only we were led on to the pitch by the Bobbies Charlton and Moore.

Perhaps the secret, or at least a part of it, in those distant days had something to do with the way the players thought about themselves, about belief and self-esteem. What was the faux Queen’s English of England manager Sir Alf Ramsey about if not pointing himself at the task, having made the necessary mental adjustments to be effective. If Alf thought being posh made him a more authoritative figure, who are we to say he was wrong?

It takes all sorts. England’s rugby players are now in the hands of an unreconstructed Aussie from the Sydney burbs, a coach who makes a virtue of being a “bloke”. The same group of players who nosedived out of the World Cup in the space of a week at Twickenham six months ago have morphed into unbeatables, at least against the northern hemisphere foe. Three Tests against Australia in June will give us a clearer picture of progress, but Eddie Jones does not cross the Equator displaying any signs of deference.

James Haskell talks about the atmosphere around the team being the best he has known. And we did not learn this by reading his answers to a questionnaire circulated by the coach. Free from the prescriptive happiness attempted by Stuart Lancaster, England it seems are learning to take responsibility for themselves and each other and, as a consequence, are becoming a formidable team.

(Getty Images)

By increments England’s cricketers appear to be following that pattern. There will be setbacks, as the formulaic opening against the West Indies demonstrated. But, after being flayed by the virtuoso Chris Gayle, they showed real trust in each other to record a victory few thought possible after being pounded by the South African top order.

This is, of course, the story of Leicester City. Has any club offered at 5,000-1 at the start of the season gone on to win a championship anywhere in the world? If it is possible for Leicester’s rum amalgam of disparate talents to rise, then why not England, for whom at least one half of the season’s most lethal strike partnership is available? And if we can’t partner Riyad Mahrez with Jamie Vardy, we shall just have to do with Harry Kane.

In a sense there is no point forensically examining Roy Hodgson’s talent ledger. England have not always come apart for want of ability, but for a failure to reconcile present with past, and latterly to comprehend fully the meaning of representing your country in the Champions League era.

Neither rugby nor cricket has this issue, since the national teams still represent a pinnacle and they drive the business. In football the importance of the England team has been eroded and, though it remains central to the FA’s prosperity, the Premier League clubs are utterly removed from it.

It is for Hodgson to make the idea of playing for England relevant to the players. If he does that and they invest in the project they have a chance this summer. If not, talent’s neither here nor there.