Dyke apologises for England exit

FOOTBALL Association chairman Greg Dyke has apologised for England’s performance at Euro 2016.

Dyke, who on Wednesday questioned why anybody would want t o manage England in the wake of Roy Hodgson’s resignation, claimed the national team “froze” during their defeat to Iceland.

England drew with Russia and Slovakia while beating Wales in the group stages but come the first knockout round minnows Iceland managed to upset the odds and claim a 2-1 victory in Nice.

The outgoing FA chairman said: “We didn’t have a bad squad. We had quite a good squad, we went out there and played OK in their first three games then we were terrible in the fourth.

“I think everybody knows that on behalf of the FA, I would like to say sorry.

“The fans were brilliant out there — but on the day we froze.”

When asked if the England squad could benefit from psychological training prior t o major competitions, Dyke added: “I think that’s probably right.

“They get some but we’re probably going to need more in the future.

“The whole set-up the FA have put in place at S t G e o rg e ’s Park encourages all that and we need to integrate more of the national team into that.

“I do feel they froze and they were scared.

“You take good players, a good manager and suddenly on a day they froze — it’s terribly sad.”