Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore has advised England manager Roy Hodgson not just to concentrate on players playing for the top clubs like Chelsea and Manchester United.
Instead, he says that the manager should look at options from the second tier of English football and even lower if possible. He says that this is one way of improving the quality of the national team. England have suffered a lot in recent years due to lack of talent available for the manager’s selection. Compared with the likes of Germany and Spain, who have won the last two world cups, England do not have enough strength in all positions on the field.
In recent years, the national team has been the arrival of many strikers in the form of Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge, and Raheem Sterling. However, this has been equally followed by the lack of talent in the defensive positions. It was a major factor in the team not doing well at the World Cup 2014. Hodgson promised a root and branch assessment of the squad. He has stuck to his promise and introduced a number of young names to the national team. England have reached the semi-final of the World Cup only once in the last two decades.
“Why shouldn’t the England team come from the top 12 teams in the Championship and the bottom 10 teams of the Premier League, if they’re English and they’re good enough?We get hung up about they can’t possibly be good enough unless they’re playing for Chelsea or Man United. Of course they can be good enough.Costa Rica played very well in the last World Cup, and where are they playing their league football?I’d love to see a decent sprinkling of English talent in our very top clubs. But that’s a desire and an aspiration,” said Scudamore.