Let me answer thisfi ally once and for all. When football was first being played it was between a team from Scotland and a team from England. As Scotland and England (which are individual countries, for the idiot who thought they weren't), were setting up club sides, they set up their own Football Associations. As time went on the nation teams became so individual and so integral to world football and to FIFA, that they stayed as they were. This has never changed as there is no need to change it. The other point is that the countries are so individual and the citizens so individual, that the nations would not accept a British team. In the case of the 2012 olympics, a team was only entered after great hassle and debate and purely because it was a home olympics. The United Kingdom is a realm, a kingdom, an umbrella country with a government, but England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Irelnd are very much individual nations, like France, Germany or Switzerland. Also, as founding members of world football, the seperate Football Associations could not be disbanded and individually unified as there are to many seperate interests and structures already in existence for a UK FA to work. Also, COME ON SCOTLAND!!!!
On September 18th Scotland has a referendum on independence from the UK.
Anyway, Jock Stein's side were very good, but hardly the best ever. Better than Real Madrid of the 1950s? Brazil 1970? Barcelona in the late 2000s? Liverpool in the 80s? That 1967 Celtic team was brilliant but not the best team ever.
Does anyone else think that England's team is actually very simple to get right? Play to the strengths lf the players rather than trying to be everything all at once. Play a 5-3-2 which wing backs given license to bomb forward, energetic midfielders who can play box to box, wide men with pace and a strong forward.
Something like:
Hart
Walker - Jones - Shawcross (don't under estimate him!) - Cahill - Baines
Walcott - Wilshere - Barkley - Oxlade-Chamberlain
Rooney
I think that would work to the strengths of the players and their style of play at their clubs. England gets overtaken by the heckling of the media too much. In no other country would the national team or association accept such media influence. In Germany, it would be stamped out, hard and fast. The England team needs to be focussed on itself and what it does well.
