It is just short of two years since the United Kingdom wrapped itself in a golden cloak of sporting euphoria as the 2012 Olympics unfolded. But after the ecstasy - the agony.

England's forlorn footballers have brought the nation down to earth with a mighty, unpalatable bump. Well, maybe not the entire nation. I seriously doubt there is an abundance of weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland at the hasty exodus of Roy Hodgson's unmerry men from the FIFA World Cup.

But here in England despondency merges with despair. Not that we should have expected much more from a game that has sold its soul and, as far as national pride is concerned, lost its passion.

Listening to radio phone-ins one theme strikes a chord. Why can't our footballers perform with the same go-for-it gumption as did our Olympians, demand disgruntled fans?

While comparisons between the two mighty quadrennials, the Olympic Games and the World Cup, maybe somewhat invidious - though I think the streamlined British Olympic Association (BOA) outplayed the flabby Football Association (FA) in terms of getting-it togetherness - the complainants have a point.

Why can't England's footballers perform with the same go-for-it gumption as did Britain's Olympians? ©Getty Images



Which is almost more than England would have had from their campaign save for that tepid dead rubber draw with Costa Rica.

But the real point is that Britain had talent in the Olympics whereas England's footballers don't have enough of it to make them world beaters, or even world class.

"They should have prepared like the British Olympic team," bemoaned one caller. Actually England were supposedly the best prepared of all the 32 World Cup contestants- certainly the most expensively so.

It wasn't about preparation. It was about pedigree. There is one simple but ignored truth about English football - one that goes for the rest of these isles too.

We are just not good enough.

I can think of only one British player who would be an automatic election for a World X1. Gareth Bale who as a Welshman never made it to Brazil.

As a Welshman Gareth Bale never made it to Brazil but he is the one British player who would be an automatic election for a World X1 ©Getty Images



What about Wayne Rooney, some may ask? Well, what about him?

An outstanding club player, but when has he ever done it for his country? In my view, he is over-publicised and overrated. And certainly overpaid.

So, I am afraid, is England's current manager. The avuncular Roy Hodgson is a lovely man. Charming, cultured, intelligent and a multi-linguist. But does Uncle Roy really talk the players' language?

As far as the FA bigwigs are concerned he doesn't make waves. Which is why he suits the Suits.

But ultimately is he a winner? He has managed 16 teams in eight different countries but won little save a couple of overseas domestic leagues.

True, he once got Switzerland to the last 16 of the World Cup but what does that count when he couldn't get England beyond the group stage, our worst performance since 1958.

For that he has been paid £3.2 million ($5.4 million/€3.9 million) a year, the second highest salaried of all the current World Cup coaches.

With Rooney on £300,000 ($510,000/€370,000) a week and all of England's World Cup squad trousering well above the Premier League average of £31,000 ($53,000/€39,000) a week you could be excused for labelling yesterday's farewell match in Belo Horizonte as Costa Rica v Cost A Fortune.

There's no doubt some of England's younger players show promising ability - but how effectively will this be developed while the import of relatively cheap foreigners continues to be such an unassailable policy?

That's not Hodgson's fault, but I believe the FA took the soft option when they appointed him.

Harry Redknapp would have been my choice. Ok, he may be a nightmare for the brass-buttoned blazers but I'm willing to bet England would not be flying home from Rio this week had he been in charge.

Harry Redknapp would have been my choice as England manager ©Getty Images



For one thing I doubt he would have left behind the old hands - and wise heads - of Ashley Cole and, unlikeable as he is as a bloke, John Terry, both of whom he would have persuaded to pull on the England shirt again to stabilise a deficient defence.

But that's water under Stamford Bridge.

There is no easy solution to England's misfortunes, though an infusion of the 2012 Olympic spirit would not come amiss.

There certainly has to be a root-and-branch overhaul of FA policy.

This England squad was ridiculously pampered and over-protected while the presence of so many bag carriers, jobsworths and freeloaders in the 80-strong accompanying FA party raised eyebrows among other less well-endowed but more talented nations.

One wonders, too, how well footballers actually respond to an abundance of sports psychology. Did the prominent presence of the renowned Dr Steve Peters enhance England's game either in the mind or on the pitch?

The jury is out on that one, though the results against Italy and Uruguay don't suggest so.

I am not a great fan of sports shrinks and haven't been since the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville when Mark Tout led the GB four-man bob to pole position on the first day.

They were then locked away overnight by a sports psychologist who insisted they remained "in the zone". Next day they finished seventh.

Under Hodgson the Three Lions have snarled a bit without actually biting. One assumes they are happy to leave that to Luis Suárez.

The FA insists Hodgson will stay in charge for the 2016 UEFA European Championship campaign. As it happens, it may not be a change of manager that is needed as much as a change in philosophy.

The FA has said Roy Hodgson will stay in charge of England for the 2016 UEFA European Championship campaign ©Getty Images




Interestingly, among the many post-mortem into this dismal affair was a poll by one national newspaper which asked a number of players and pundits to name the best-ever England manager.

The two most popular selections were Terry Venables and Sir Bobby Robson. Curiously, Fabio Capello and Sven Goran Eriksson also got honourable mentions.

But it shows just how short memories can be as there was one notable absentee: Sir Alf Ramsey, who actually won the World Cup in 1966.

Mention of the great Sir Alf and the fact that England bade farewell to Brazil in Belo Horizonte reminds me of a marvellous tale about him.

It was there in 1950 that England's most inglorious piece of World Cup history was enacted when they lost 1-0 to a fledgling United States.

Years later, when he was England manager, someone enquired of Ramsey, a former England full-back: "Alf weren't you playing in that match?"

"Yes," he sniffed, "And I was the only one wot bleedin' was."

How we could do with a Sir Alf now.

No matter. We are assured by the FA chairman Greg Dyke that England are potential World Cup winners in 2022. When it will be in Qatar.

Really? If England couldn't stand the heat in Manaus imagine what it will be like in Doha.

For someone who is so media-savvy Dyke makes an extraordinary number of PR gaffes, though his throat-slitting gesture when the World Cup finals draw was made proved disturbingly prophetic.

Roy Hodgson's men have flown back from the FIFA World Cup in Brazil ©Getty Images



Dyke was last seen reading a book at England's final training session before the Costa Rica game. It was titled: Death in Brazil.

Enough said.

Meantime we hear the England team have landed to a hero's welcome after their plane was diverted - to Glasgow!

And Hodgson wants to rebuild their confidence by arranging a friendly against Iceland -and after that they'll play Tesco's, Sainsbury's and Walmart.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Games, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.