WE NEED OUR DNA TO BUILD BETTER A THLETES

SO...we are going to define and develop a footballing DNA and we are going to instill that DNA throughout our national infrastructure.

I welcome that. It is unquestionably a route we need to pursue.

What I sincerely hope though is this; I hope that we are thinking about the strengths we can realistically create and how our strengths can be adapted to succeed in the climatic conditions in which we will be required to perform.

Sir Clive Woodward built a rugby world champion team with a DNA that could succeed in Australia.

I hope we do not just copy other nations who have created success. First the Spanish way was in vogue. Now it is the German way. But that is only a part of the art of winning. To succeed you have to be better that the poten- tial champions’ best, not the old champions’ best.

For England to win a World Cup, we need to do things better than the rest. I want us to show enough imagination in the process of defining our ‘DNA’ to have the chance to bring the best out of ourselves.

Real Madrid have arguably made Gareth Bale a better footballer but the most evident factor is that he is a much better athlete.

We think we are behind the Continentals in technical terms. But the Continentals, above all else, create much better athletes. In trying to improve technicality with the ball, we are killing technicality without the ball.

Creating a national DNA is a great concept.

We just need to be open minded about what it looks like.