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England Football: The Biography, 1872-2022
LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR PRIZE
‘The greatest story in English sport told beautifully by one of its greatest writers’ Gary Lineker
'A spellbinding piece of work' Oliver Holt; 'Absolute tour de force' Henry Winter
Award-winning writer Paul Hayward delivers a compelling and unmissable account of the story of the England men's football team, published as they prepare for the World Cup in Qatar.
On 30 November 1872, England took on Scotland at Hamilton Crescent in Glasgow, a match that is regarded as the first international fixture. More than 5,000 fans watched the two sides play out a 0-0 draw. It was the first of more than a thousand games played by the side, and the beginning of a national love affair that unites the country in a way that few other events can match.
In Hayward's brilliant new biography of the team, based on interviews with dozens of past and present players and coaches, including Viv Anderson, Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and current coach Gareth Southgate , we get a vivid portrait of all aspects of the team's story, reliving highlights such as the World Cup victory in 1966 and the time when football came home in Euro 96, as well as the low points when the players were obliged to give the Nazi salute in 1938 and the era when England's hooligan fans brought shame on the nation. From Stanley Matthews and Bobby Moore through to more modern heroes such as Paul Gascoigne, David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Harry Kane , Hayward brings a large cast of characters to life.
For anyone who wants to understand England football, and why it means so much to so many, England The Biography is an essential and vital read.
‘The greatest story in English sport told beautifully by one of its greatest writers’ Gary Lineker
'A spellbinding piece of work' Oliver Holt; 'Absolute tour de force' Henry Winter
Award-winning writer Paul Hayward delivers a compelling and unmissable account of the story of the England men's football team, published as they prepare for the World Cup in Qatar.
On 30 November 1872, England took on Scotland at Hamilton Crescent in Glasgow, a match that is regarded as the first international fixture. More than 5,000 fans watched the two sides play out a 0-0 draw. It was the first of more than a thousand games played by the side, and the beginning of a national love affair that unites the country in a way that few other events can match.
In Hayward's brilliant new biography of the team, based on interviews with dozens of past and present players and coaches, including Viv Anderson, Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and current coach Gareth Southgate , we get a vivid portrait of all aspects of the team's story, reliving highlights such as the World Cup victory in 1966 and the time when football came home in Euro 96, as well as the low points when the players were obliged to give the Nazi salute in 1938 and the era when England's hooligan fans brought shame on the nation. From Stanley Matthews and Bobby Moore through to more modern heroes such as Paul Gascoigne, David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Harry Kane , Hayward brings a large cast of characters to life.
For anyone who wants to understand England football, and why it means so much to so many, England The Biography is an essential and vital read.
624 pages, Hardcover
First published October 27, 2022
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December 6, 2022
England Football - The Biography 1872 - 2022 by Paul Hayward
I'm always afraid of sounding downbeat, bursting the happy balloon of hope when discussing England's chances in a football tournament. I once had that wonderful enthusiasm and excitement my son or young nephews had, that England are going to win because we are England.
I realised disappointment after miserable disappointment not to expect that football is coming home. Unlike some of my contemporaries who tell me they don't bother to watch England any more, I still tune in to or watch every match, just hoping to be inspired, excited, thrilled.
Over the years there have been one or two thrilling moments but never that ultimate thrill - winning something. Unfortunately I was just a tot in 1966 but it's that one afternoon in football history that crops up time and time again and by which every major England game is compared with.
Reading Paul Hayward's England Football - The Biography is like reliving many of those moments I've watched but this time with the back stories and revelatory details of what was happening in the build up behind the scenes.
This is a fascinating read, often leaving me open mouthed in fascination and interest at what the author has researched and discovered.
Much of the first hundred pages was of limited interest as the author takes us through the formation of an England team, the narrow social class from where the players were drawn until the industrial towns and cities became involved and it became a sport played by and watched by working classes.
I never realised until reading this book how great a player Manchester United's Duncan Edwards could have become for England had he survived the Munich air disaster. Paul Hayward reckons he may well have been a hero for England in the 1958 and 1962 World Cups.
I won't dwell here on Paul Hayward's account of England's greatest day in July 1966 as that world Cup Final has been so scrutinised and pored over enough over the years. Yet it's a wonderful read with his various observations about the action on the field and off it.
Among them is a wonderful quote the author borrows from another - Arthur Hopcraft - who witnessed at the 1966 world cup final at Wembley "the unusual nature of some of the crowd around me. They kept asking each other about the identity of the England players. ....I wish the terraces of Anfield, Old Trafford, Roker Park and Molyneux had been so heavily represented at Wembley as to overwhelm decently educated voices of ignorance."
His account about England's defence as world champions in the Mexico world cup of 1970 is enthralling and entertaining. He reveals that squad member Jeff Astle was so frightened of flying, he drank, and had to be "propped up as he stepped from the plane" when it arrived in Central America.
The England squad had "Findus beef burgers, sausages, fish fingers, ready meals and bottles of ketchup" flown out from Britain so that the players could eat a British diet. But the author says the Mexican authorities felt insulted and destroyed the burgers and sausages, "citing Britain's recent brush with foot and mouth."
Sir Alf Ramsey was a lover of Hollywood westerns so the squad passed the time watching Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns.
I was a little disappointed with the scant coverage of the alleged theft of a precious stone and hold bracelet in Colombia on the way to Mexico by England captain Bobby Moore, which led to his arrest before being freed following a plea by the British ambassador. I would have liked more if a forensic investigation by the author into the incident, as I always recall a TV documentary in which Bobby Moore denied the theft and was supported by another England player who had been with Moore throughout their stop in Bogota. That eye witness went on to say though that the theft had occurred but gave no suspect's name. I've always wondered if the thief wasn't Moore, who was it, and if it was another England player and it became known, how did that affect his relationship with Moore and the squad?
However the author's analysis of England's world cup matches against Brazil and West Germany in the 1970 tournament is simply captivating. He describes the dehydration and exhaustion the England players suffered playing in such heat and high altitude, "causing concentration lapses" and sapped of energy to win the ball.
Their dismissal from the tournament at the quarter final stage was shocking to the world champions. "We were the best prepared squad," declared Ramsey.
The author describes well the world cup winning manager's sad demise. Refusing to talk to the press after the England plane touched down at Heathrow from Mexico, his eventual downfall followed his team's failure to beat Poland at Wembley and therefore miss out on the 1974 world cup. Alf Ramsey was sacked, given an "£8,000 pay off and an annual pension of £1,200." Paul Hayward concludes his chapter on the only England manager to have won the world cup by stating that in 1999 following death, his funeral "took place in Ipswich ....a deliberate snub...to the FA and London establishment."
Following the great Sir Alf, Paul Hayward takes the reader through the barren, sometimes embarrassing England years of the 1979's. The choice as manager of Don Revie over Brian Clough who Paul Hayward writes, came out of an interview for the England job "thinking he had nailed it, but admitted later 'they were never going to give it to me.'" Sometime later he denied on TV ever getting an interview.
I still recall how disappointed I was when England failed to make it to the 1974 and 1978 World Cup, and it was during those years that other countries surged ahead in their skills, their beautiful football, while in England the hooligans were getting most of the headlines.
Ron Greenwood restored some national pride but the players, despite singing This Time We'll Get It Right, failed to progress to the latter stages. Paul Hayward writes that Ron Greenwood came to realise that managing England was an impossible job, and that became a self fulfilling prophecy. He writes,"addressing the failures in the system - coaching, club v country, fixtures overload - was always secondary to the emotional response to 'failure' - the deep offence taken by the English when expectation collided with reality."
The author's analysis of the cheating Maradona's "hand of God" goal that helped to crush England in the 1986 World Cup, is first class with accounts from many directly involved including the Argentinian player himself who, as correctly stressed by the goalkeeper he tricked - Peter Shilton, never apologised to him or the English. Instead he claimed on more than one occasion that he did it in response to the Falklands War.
I remember England's performance in the 1990 World Cup building an excitement back home I'd not seen before. Cars and houses were sporting flags, New Order with a rapping John Barnes were at No.1 with World In Motion, Des Lynam and Pavarotti were on the TV, and Gary Lineker and Paul Gascoigne were in top form with Stuart Pearce giving it all in defence. What I didn't realise at the time and what Paul Hayward brings out in the book is how some of the players sat down with manager Bobby Robson and urged him to change the team formation to have three defenders at the back.
It became a winning formula until the semi final against West Germany when it ended in an emotional penalty shoot out which England lost. The author says England were welcomed home as heroes with 100,000 fans waiting at Luton airport.
Paul Hayward writes that England were "creeping closer." But the momentum was spasmodic and ultimately short-lived. His detailed description of Graham Taylor's calamitous reign as manager shows a man clearly out of his depth chopping and changing his tactics and stressed out by the job. As a result England failed to qualify for the 1994 World cup finals.
That was yet another dip of the roller coaster ride that is England. The next near summit was Euro 96 by which time the players' favourite Terry Venables was manager. As Paul Hayward reminds us, Venables had managed "Gascoigne's eccentricities at Spurs and to do so again with England during a home tournament was the greatest test of his psychology skills." It's both captivating to read how Paul Gascoigne thrilled us with skills on the football field in the matches against Scotland, the Netherlands and the heartbreaking defeat on penalties to Germany. But it's sad also to read not only about his indulgences during Euro 96 but his erratic behaviour in 1998 when Glenn Hoddle was manager including trashing the manager's hotel room, being thrown into a swimming pool to sober up and turning up for the Brazil match without his boots which he'd given to local children - "a pair was borrowed from a team mate and Gascoigne made them fit with extra socks."
In his assessment of Paul Gascoigne, Paul Hayward plants in my mind a portrayal of a naturally gifted top footballer but with deep mental flaws which other players, managers and staff knew about, and tried to accommodate and manage. I wonder how many times the squad doctor thought hang on, this player needs psychiatric help, what is he doing here? Still, when ex playing colleagues talk about Gascoigne, they do so with serious and tender expressions and thoughtful comments, though also reminiscing with smiles the hilarious times they enjoyed with him. I find it fascinating, particularly as what I and millions of others saw, was only what happened on the pitch.
Such a case makes me wonder how any manager can cope with such characters, as well as looking after the rest of the squad, planning tactics, addressing weaknesses and injuries and plotting a strategy to beat the world's win a tournament. I always thought Hoddle was cruelly undone in the round of sixteen match with Argentina when a juvenile David Beckham flicked a foot against Simeone and reduced his team to ten men. For me that was the turning point of England able and ready to defeat Argentina and now unable to do so. Had they won, Hoddle could have gone on to lead England to the final though the author reckons such dreaming to defeat the French would have been too great "a leap of faith."
However when Paul Hayward details the hiring by Hoddle of a faith healer and how she operated among the England players, you realise that Hoddle's downfall was coming. Though I fully agree with the author's thoughts that Hoddle was ahead of his time in getting players' mentally fit for matches, the author explains how Ellen Drewery, a compassionate listener, "over-reached herself on the medical front." As he points out though it wasn't her alone who toppled Hoddle as England manager, but his comments in an interview in which it was claimed "he was saying the disabled were paying for sins in a previous life." He denied the claim, but the damage was done.
Paul Hayward arrives in 2000 and over the next one hundred and thirty pages, scoots through the highs and many lows of the managers and team performances - Kevin Keegan's resignation "in a toilet cucicle" at Wembley, Sven-Goran Eriksson "with a startled look on his face like he too believed we were f*****" at half time against Brazil in the 2002 World Cup quarter final, the astonishingly poor appointments and performances of Steve McLaren and Roy Hodgson, the attempt by Fabio Cappello to bring iron discipline to the squad, Sam Allardyce's ridiculous 100% record.
Throughout his book, he prepares the reader for the coming of Gareth Southgate, describing how as a lad he was avidly following England, then playing for them including missing that penalty, then working for the FA and transforming the England set up and finally, by chapter 39, he is in the England manager's hot seat. Paul Hayward spends the rest of his book dissecting Southgate's football beliefs, his battle to change the culture of play and most importantly, removing the fear of playing for England.
It is somewhat unbelievable to read of players being phoned to tell them they're in the England squad, and them replying no thanks. The author describes how Southgate has finally overcome that, to the extent that as a former FA employee states, "Gareth's got the players wanting to play for England."
He includes a recent interview with Southgate in which he questions the two great failures of his management so far, losing the 2018 world cup semi final to Croatia and the 2020 euro final to Italy. It's clear in my mind and in the minds of millions of other England fans that the team was in the driving seat and should have gone to win but each time Southgate was tactically outwitted by his opposite numbers. I don't think from Hayward's interview the reader gets a sufficient answer from Southgate to either. Hayward is too soft with him, taken in perhaps by the genuine improvements Southgate has brought and the ongoing journey to improve yet further.
As he ends his book, he relates the demise of the world cup winning England team of 1966, one by one, a reminder of the time from that single England world cup victory till now. Yet still the only man to score a hat trick in a world cup final - Geoff Hurst - is with us. Every England fan revels in Sir Geoff's achievement and every England fan hopes that one day soon, we and Sir Geoff will see another England world cup victory.
Paul Hayward quotes Gareth Southgate in his book postscript - his England players "feel the urgency, the need; they are desperate to be champions."
We'll see how true those words are this Saturday evening
Other gems I learned:
• The 3 lions first appeared on the great seal of Richard the Lionheart who led a crusade - "they are part of England's ancient machinery of war" even though English lions went extinct 12,000 years ago.
• In the first few years, England's footballers tried to dribble their way through the opponents. It was the Scots who realised a more intelligent form of play - passing to each other - and the English then caught on.
• In the first few England matches, the scorers of goals were not named, as "it was thought to be rude."
• More than 102,000 fans at Hampden Park watched England take on Scotland in 1906.
• These days the England team take the knee to show their opposition to racism. In 1938 in Berlin, the England team gave a Nazi salute before a match with Germany
• Early England players like Stanley Matthews and Wilf Mannion learned to play kicking a pig's bladder.
• The beautiful game - a "form of ballet" with "ball play and an intersection of passing" was developed by the Latin American and southern European national teams. England's style of football was a "hard tackling, physical approach.."
• Had Manchester United player Duncan Edwards not died in the Munich air disaster, it's thought he would have been a midfielder in the 1966 world cup winning England team - " it was common to hear people wonder whether Edwards, rather than Moore, would have been England captain."
• England's world cup winning manager Sir Alf Ramsey came from Dagenham, as did England players Jimmy Greaves and Terry Venables. Greaves said Ramsey "used to speak like me" but took elocution lessons. Venables says, as a player in Alf Ramsey's England squad, he was told to f*** off by Ramsey when he mentioned to the boss about some of the "colourful" people from Dagenham. Author Paul Hayward says it shows Ramsey was trying "to put distance between his roots in Dagenham."
• The linesman in the 1966 world cup final who certified to the ref that Geoff Hurst's shot had crossed the West German goal line wasn't Russian. He was Azeri.
I'm always afraid of sounding downbeat, bursting the happy balloon of hope when discussing England's chances in a football tournament. I once had that wonderful enthusiasm and excitement my son or young nephews had, that England are going to win because we are England.
I realised disappointment after miserable disappointment not to expect that football is coming home. Unlike some of my contemporaries who tell me they don't bother to watch England any more, I still tune in to or watch every match, just hoping to be inspired, excited, thrilled.
Over the years there have been one or two thrilling moments but never that ultimate thrill - winning something. Unfortunately I was just a tot in 1966 but it's that one afternoon in football history that crops up time and time again and by which every major England game is compared with.
Reading Paul Hayward's England Football - The Biography is like reliving many of those moments I've watched but this time with the back stories and revelatory details of what was happening in the build up behind the scenes.
This is a fascinating read, often leaving me open mouthed in fascination and interest at what the author has researched and discovered.
Much of the first hundred pages was of limited interest as the author takes us through the formation of an England team, the narrow social class from where the players were drawn until the industrial towns and cities became involved and it became a sport played by and watched by working classes.
I never realised until reading this book how great a player Manchester United's Duncan Edwards could have become for England had he survived the Munich air disaster. Paul Hayward reckons he may well have been a hero for England in the 1958 and 1962 World Cups.
I won't dwell here on Paul Hayward's account of England's greatest day in July 1966 as that world Cup Final has been so scrutinised and pored over enough over the years. Yet it's a wonderful read with his various observations about the action on the field and off it.
Among them is a wonderful quote the author borrows from another - Arthur Hopcraft - who witnessed at the 1966 world cup final at Wembley "the unusual nature of some of the crowd around me. They kept asking each other about the identity of the England players. ....I wish the terraces of Anfield, Old Trafford, Roker Park and Molyneux had been so heavily represented at Wembley as to overwhelm decently educated voices of ignorance."
His account about England's defence as world champions in the Mexico world cup of 1970 is enthralling and entertaining. He reveals that squad member Jeff Astle was so frightened of flying, he drank, and had to be "propped up as he stepped from the plane" when it arrived in Central America.
The England squad had "Findus beef burgers, sausages, fish fingers, ready meals and bottles of ketchup" flown out from Britain so that the players could eat a British diet. But the author says the Mexican authorities felt insulted and destroyed the burgers and sausages, "citing Britain's recent brush with foot and mouth."
Sir Alf Ramsey was a lover of Hollywood westerns so the squad passed the time watching Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns.
I was a little disappointed with the scant coverage of the alleged theft of a precious stone and hold bracelet in Colombia on the way to Mexico by England captain Bobby Moore, which led to his arrest before being freed following a plea by the British ambassador. I would have liked more if a forensic investigation by the author into the incident, as I always recall a TV documentary in which Bobby Moore denied the theft and was supported by another England player who had been with Moore throughout their stop in Bogota. That eye witness went on to say though that the theft had occurred but gave no suspect's name. I've always wondered if the thief wasn't Moore, who was it, and if it was another England player and it became known, how did that affect his relationship with Moore and the squad?
However the author's analysis of England's world cup matches against Brazil and West Germany in the 1970 tournament is simply captivating. He describes the dehydration and exhaustion the England players suffered playing in such heat and high altitude, "causing concentration lapses" and sapped of energy to win the ball.
Their dismissal from the tournament at the quarter final stage was shocking to the world champions. "We were the best prepared squad," declared Ramsey.
The author describes well the world cup winning manager's sad demise. Refusing to talk to the press after the England plane touched down at Heathrow from Mexico, his eventual downfall followed his team's failure to beat Poland at Wembley and therefore miss out on the 1974 world cup. Alf Ramsey was sacked, given an "£8,000 pay off and an annual pension of £1,200." Paul Hayward concludes his chapter on the only England manager to have won the world cup by stating that in 1999 following death, his funeral "took place in Ipswich ....a deliberate snub...to the FA and London establishment."
Following the great Sir Alf, Paul Hayward takes the reader through the barren, sometimes embarrassing England years of the 1979's. The choice as manager of Don Revie over Brian Clough who Paul Hayward writes, came out of an interview for the England job "thinking he had nailed it, but admitted later 'they were never going to give it to me.'" Sometime later he denied on TV ever getting an interview.
I still recall how disappointed I was when England failed to make it to the 1974 and 1978 World Cup, and it was during those years that other countries surged ahead in their skills, their beautiful football, while in England the hooligans were getting most of the headlines.
Ron Greenwood restored some national pride but the players, despite singing This Time We'll Get It Right, failed to progress to the latter stages. Paul Hayward writes that Ron Greenwood came to realise that managing England was an impossible job, and that became a self fulfilling prophecy. He writes,"addressing the failures in the system - coaching, club v country, fixtures overload - was always secondary to the emotional response to 'failure' - the deep offence taken by the English when expectation collided with reality."
The author's analysis of the cheating Maradona's "hand of God" goal that helped to crush England in the 1986 World Cup, is first class with accounts from many directly involved including the Argentinian player himself who, as correctly stressed by the goalkeeper he tricked - Peter Shilton, never apologised to him or the English. Instead he claimed on more than one occasion that he did it in response to the Falklands War.
I remember England's performance in the 1990 World Cup building an excitement back home I'd not seen before. Cars and houses were sporting flags, New Order with a rapping John Barnes were at No.1 with World In Motion, Des Lynam and Pavarotti were on the TV, and Gary Lineker and Paul Gascoigne were in top form with Stuart Pearce giving it all in defence. What I didn't realise at the time and what Paul Hayward brings out in the book is how some of the players sat down with manager Bobby Robson and urged him to change the team formation to have three defenders at the back.
It became a winning formula until the semi final against West Germany when it ended in an emotional penalty shoot out which England lost. The author says England were welcomed home as heroes with 100,000 fans waiting at Luton airport.
Paul Hayward writes that England were "creeping closer." But the momentum was spasmodic and ultimately short-lived. His detailed description of Graham Taylor's calamitous reign as manager shows a man clearly out of his depth chopping and changing his tactics and stressed out by the job. As a result England failed to qualify for the 1994 World cup finals.
That was yet another dip of the roller coaster ride that is England. The next near summit was Euro 96 by which time the players' favourite Terry Venables was manager. As Paul Hayward reminds us, Venables had managed "Gascoigne's eccentricities at Spurs and to do so again with England during a home tournament was the greatest test of his psychology skills." It's both captivating to read how Paul Gascoigne thrilled us with skills on the football field in the matches against Scotland, the Netherlands and the heartbreaking defeat on penalties to Germany. But it's sad also to read not only about his indulgences during Euro 96 but his erratic behaviour in 1998 when Glenn Hoddle was manager including trashing the manager's hotel room, being thrown into a swimming pool to sober up and turning up for the Brazil match without his boots which he'd given to local children - "a pair was borrowed from a team mate and Gascoigne made them fit with extra socks."
In his assessment of Paul Gascoigne, Paul Hayward plants in my mind a portrayal of a naturally gifted top footballer but with deep mental flaws which other players, managers and staff knew about, and tried to accommodate and manage. I wonder how many times the squad doctor thought hang on, this player needs psychiatric help, what is he doing here? Still, when ex playing colleagues talk about Gascoigne, they do so with serious and tender expressions and thoughtful comments, though also reminiscing with smiles the hilarious times they enjoyed with him. I find it fascinating, particularly as what I and millions of others saw, was only what happened on the pitch.
Such a case makes me wonder how any manager can cope with such characters, as well as looking after the rest of the squad, planning tactics, addressing weaknesses and injuries and plotting a strategy to beat the world's win a tournament. I always thought Hoddle was cruelly undone in the round of sixteen match with Argentina when a juvenile David Beckham flicked a foot against Simeone and reduced his team to ten men. For me that was the turning point of England able and ready to defeat Argentina and now unable to do so. Had they won, Hoddle could have gone on to lead England to the final though the author reckons such dreaming to defeat the French would have been too great "a leap of faith."
However when Paul Hayward details the hiring by Hoddle of a faith healer and how she operated among the England players, you realise that Hoddle's downfall was coming. Though I fully agree with the author's thoughts that Hoddle was ahead of his time in getting players' mentally fit for matches, the author explains how Ellen Drewery, a compassionate listener, "over-reached herself on the medical front." As he points out though it wasn't her alone who toppled Hoddle as England manager, but his comments in an interview in which it was claimed "he was saying the disabled were paying for sins in a previous life." He denied the claim, but the damage was done.
Paul Hayward arrives in 2000 and over the next one hundred and thirty pages, scoots through the highs and many lows of the managers and team performances - Kevin Keegan's resignation "in a toilet cucicle" at Wembley, Sven-Goran Eriksson "with a startled look on his face like he too believed we were f*****" at half time against Brazil in the 2002 World Cup quarter final, the astonishingly poor appointments and performances of Steve McLaren and Roy Hodgson, the attempt by Fabio Cappello to bring iron discipline to the squad, Sam Allardyce's ridiculous 100% record.
Throughout his book, he prepares the reader for the coming of Gareth Southgate, describing how as a lad he was avidly following England, then playing for them including missing that penalty, then working for the FA and transforming the England set up and finally, by chapter 39, he is in the England manager's hot seat. Paul Hayward spends the rest of his book dissecting Southgate's football beliefs, his battle to change the culture of play and most importantly, removing the fear of playing for England.
It is somewhat unbelievable to read of players being phoned to tell them they're in the England squad, and them replying no thanks. The author describes how Southgate has finally overcome that, to the extent that as a former FA employee states, "Gareth's got the players wanting to play for England."
He includes a recent interview with Southgate in which he questions the two great failures of his management so far, losing the 2018 world cup semi final to Croatia and the 2020 euro final to Italy. It's clear in my mind and in the minds of millions of other England fans that the team was in the driving seat and should have gone to win but each time Southgate was tactically outwitted by his opposite numbers. I don't think from Hayward's interview the reader gets a sufficient answer from Southgate to either. Hayward is too soft with him, taken in perhaps by the genuine improvements Southgate has brought and the ongoing journey to improve yet further.
As he ends his book, he relates the demise of the world cup winning England team of 1966, one by one, a reminder of the time from that single England world cup victory till now. Yet still the only man to score a hat trick in a world cup final - Geoff Hurst - is with us. Every England fan revels in Sir Geoff's achievement and every England fan hopes that one day soon, we and Sir Geoff will see another England world cup victory.
Paul Hayward quotes Gareth Southgate in his book postscript - his England players "feel the urgency, the need; they are desperate to be champions."
We'll see how true those words are this Saturday evening
Other gems I learned:
• The 3 lions first appeared on the great seal of Richard the Lionheart who led a crusade - "they are part of England's ancient machinery of war" even though English lions went extinct 12,000 years ago.
• In the first few years, England's footballers tried to dribble their way through the opponents. It was the Scots who realised a more intelligent form of play - passing to each other - and the English then caught on.
• In the first few England matches, the scorers of goals were not named, as "it was thought to be rude."
• More than 102,000 fans at Hampden Park watched England take on Scotland in 1906.
• These days the England team take the knee to show their opposition to racism. In 1938 in Berlin, the England team gave a Nazi salute before a match with Germany
• Early England players like Stanley Matthews and Wilf Mannion learned to play kicking a pig's bladder.
• The beautiful game - a "form of ballet" with "ball play and an intersection of passing" was developed by the Latin American and southern European national teams. England's style of football was a "hard tackling, physical approach.."
• Had Manchester United player Duncan Edwards not died in the Munich air disaster, it's thought he would have been a midfielder in the 1966 world cup winning England team - " it was common to hear people wonder whether Edwards, rather than Moore, would have been England captain."
• England's world cup winning manager Sir Alf Ramsey came from Dagenham, as did England players Jimmy Greaves and Terry Venables. Greaves said Ramsey "used to speak like me" but took elocution lessons. Venables says, as a player in Alf Ramsey's England squad, he was told to f*** off by Ramsey when he mentioned to the boss about some of the "colourful" people from Dagenham. Author Paul Hayward says it shows Ramsey was trying "to put distance between his roots in Dagenham."
• The linesman in the 1966 world cup final who certified to the ref that Geoff Hurst's shot had crossed the West German goal line wasn't Russian. He was Azeri.
June 20, 2025
We're all aware of the fractious and fractured state of modern journalism - newspapers with plummeting circulations, articles and publications disappearing behind online paywalls, the new social media economy flooding us with often-dubious content. But readers can also reap the benefits. Football fans can effectively become curators, self-selecting who and what they want to read. I tend to enjoy a spot of tactical analysis from the likes of Michael Cox or Jonathan Wilson, or modern freewheeling sports writers for whom witty prose is king (Barney Ronay being the ur-example). ESPN.com - not paywalled in the UK! - has Gab Marcotti's comprehensive roundups of all the big European leagues. There's something out there for everyone.
In this context, it's tempting to regard the rump of old-school footy journos as embarrassing dinosaurs, endlessly bickering around the Sunday Supplement table about who's closest friends with Lamps or Rio or JT. Now, here's a historical account of the England men's football team by respected veteran Paul Hayward. Is he going to upend my misconceptions about traditional football writers? Yes and no.
Hayward has certainly done his research. The early chapters diligently recount the beginnings of the England team, dominated by private schools and playing a dribbling-based variation of rugby that bears little resemblance to what we now know as the Greatest Sport In The World (TM). Perhaps inevitably, this is the book's least interesting part, and it's where some modern readers will be craving more writerly flair or dashes of truly incisive social commentary.
Hayward, by contrast, is best described as no-frills - a solid, occasionally inspired writer and excellent researcher who makes good use of his contact book. By the time we get to the glories of 1966 and the wilderness years beyond, he's on much firmer ground and can draw on a greater array of sources. The lengthy timespan of the brief means that we're skimming over some periods, but the most memorable moments are given sufficient attention. One disappointing omission was a full account of the Big Sam debacle, although Hayward makes veiled hints about legal constraints which presumably prevent him from saying he's as bent as a nine-bob note.
And then we arrive at the Southgate Era, and the book's big structural mis-step. Now, I'm a Gareth fan and it looks like Tommy Tuchel might be demonstrating the old maxim that winning cultures take a long time to build and an instant to destroy. But the final chapters are dominated by huge chunks of direct interview quotes with GS which Hayward doesn't try to balance out. It's a good interview and worth hearing, but it rather derails this book and feels like it belongs in a different medium.
For how much longer could that medium be a newspaper? And what are the consequences for this dogged style of old-school sportswriting? In a few decades' time, books like this might be seen as the form's last hurrah. And while it can be easy to mock the cliquey pretensions of its practitioners, they're the ones who've documented football for the vast majority of its existence. Hardcore fans won't learn a great deal here, but it's a solid tale nonetheless.
In this context, it's tempting to regard the rump of old-school footy journos as embarrassing dinosaurs, endlessly bickering around the Sunday Supplement table about who's closest friends with Lamps or Rio or JT. Now, here's a historical account of the England men's football team by respected veteran Paul Hayward. Is he going to upend my misconceptions about traditional football writers? Yes and no.
Hayward has certainly done his research. The early chapters diligently recount the beginnings of the England team, dominated by private schools and playing a dribbling-based variation of rugby that bears little resemblance to what we now know as the Greatest Sport In The World (TM). Perhaps inevitably, this is the book's least interesting part, and it's where some modern readers will be craving more writerly flair or dashes of truly incisive social commentary.
Hayward, by contrast, is best described as no-frills - a solid, occasionally inspired writer and excellent researcher who makes good use of his contact book. By the time we get to the glories of 1966 and the wilderness years beyond, he's on much firmer ground and can draw on a greater array of sources. The lengthy timespan of the brief means that we're skimming over some periods, but the most memorable moments are given sufficient attention. One disappointing omission was a full account of the Big Sam debacle, although Hayward makes veiled hints about legal constraints which presumably prevent him from saying he's as bent as a nine-bob note.
And then we arrive at the Southgate Era, and the book's big structural mis-step. Now, I'm a Gareth fan and it looks like Tommy Tuchel might be demonstrating the old maxim that winning cultures take a long time to build and an instant to destroy. But the final chapters are dominated by huge chunks of direct interview quotes with GS which Hayward doesn't try to balance out. It's a good interview and worth hearing, but it rather derails this book and feels like it belongs in a different medium.
For how much longer could that medium be a newspaper? And what are the consequences for this dogged style of old-school sportswriting? In a few decades' time, books like this might be seen as the form's last hurrah. And while it can be easy to mock the cliquey pretensions of its practitioners, they're the ones who've documented football for the vast majority of its existence. Hardcore fans won't learn a great deal here, but it's a solid tale nonetheless.
July 21, 2023
Being very interested in sports but only recently getting into soccer/ football, I've been trying to learn more and more about the history of the beautiful game. Rather than use FIFA, FM, Reddit, or other communities, I've tried to read authors like Jonathan Wilson to know more about this game. England has a special place in the story of that game so Paul Hayward's biography was a natural place to start. While the stories are expansive and well collected, the flaws of sports writing shine through and Hayward himself disappointed in the end.
As always, let's start with the new. Hayward is unwilling to compromise and goes back to the mid 1800's to begin the story of English football. From there, Hayward weaves a story of how working class people, officials, and academics morphed into one of the most popular national teams in the world. Common themes across English football pop up in the beginning: antagonism between press and players, overwhelming expectations, disappointment, and occasional moments of brilliance. In each case, from the inter-war years to the 50's, 60's and beyond, Hayward introduces you to a cast of characters that define English football for their respective eras. Too many names were included to really remember them all but a more interested fan would care more about that. Still, there is a general level of sympathy (and criticism) for each era and Hayward does a great job at humanizing English legends.
Still, the great flaw in sports journalist turned author is inevitable. Hayward is often unable to keep the thread together and often refers to the present day within a discussion of 50's or 60's era football. He feels the need to throw in an anecdote about Kane or Saka in the late 2010's or early 2020's to try and keep our attention. Even in the discussion of the eras, Hayward resorts to the sort of humanization (for which I praised him) that is interesting but somewhat shallow. When "England Football" looks at managers and players, it was the most interesting but also the least authoritative. Superficial is a strong word but in all of the discussion about English football, I rarely felt as if we were uncovering something or explaining something different than what a knowledgeable fan might already know. There was the perspective of a modern fan, one in tune with mental health, but that doesn't really change the constant stream of anecdotes and stories that fill this book.
Towards the end of the work, the narrative became unraveled. Often in the middle of talking about the 2006 Euro's, Hayward would start a digression into the 2022 World Cup qualifiers and then move to the 2008 World Cup. It was scattered and undisciplined. Unlike Jonathan Wilsons "Angels with Dirty Faces" (which explored the tight relationship between domestic trouble, international relationships, and the game of football), Hayward spent a lot of pages making a Wikipedia entry more interesting and fleshing it out with more quotes and andecdotes.
As always, let's start with the new. Hayward is unwilling to compromise and goes back to the mid 1800's to begin the story of English football. From there, Hayward weaves a story of how working class people, officials, and academics morphed into one of the most popular national teams in the world. Common themes across English football pop up in the beginning: antagonism between press and players, overwhelming expectations, disappointment, and occasional moments of brilliance. In each case, from the inter-war years to the 50's, 60's and beyond, Hayward introduces you to a cast of characters that define English football for their respective eras. Too many names were included to really remember them all but a more interested fan would care more about that. Still, there is a general level of sympathy (and criticism) for each era and Hayward does a great job at humanizing English legends.
Still, the great flaw in sports journalist turned author is inevitable. Hayward is often unable to keep the thread together and often refers to the present day within a discussion of 50's or 60's era football. He feels the need to throw in an anecdote about Kane or Saka in the late 2010's or early 2020's to try and keep our attention. Even in the discussion of the eras, Hayward resorts to the sort of humanization (for which I praised him) that is interesting but somewhat shallow. When "England Football" looks at managers and players, it was the most interesting but also the least authoritative. Superficial is a strong word but in all of the discussion about English football, I rarely felt as if we were uncovering something or explaining something different than what a knowledgeable fan might already know. There was the perspective of a modern fan, one in tune with mental health, but that doesn't really change the constant stream of anecdotes and stories that fill this book.
Towards the end of the work, the narrative became unraveled. Often in the middle of talking about the 2006 Euro's, Hayward would start a digression into the 2022 World Cup qualifiers and then move to the 2008 World Cup. It was scattered and undisciplined. Unlike Jonathan Wilsons "Angels with Dirty Faces" (which explored the tight relationship between domestic trouble, international relationships, and the game of football), Hayward spent a lot of pages making a Wikipedia entry more interesting and fleshing it out with more quotes and andecdotes.
June 26, 2024
As both an England Football and general history fan, I absolutely loved this book.
I enjoyed the contrasts of learning about how the England national side came to be, reading in depth the heroics of 1966 and the subsequent disappointments.
It was also fascinating reading about the games, tournament failures and the better era’s since I’ve followed England and using them to reflect on our current Euro 2024 performance (I finished the book the day after the 0-0 draw to Slovenia).
Overall, if you’re not a fan of English football, then this book might not be for you. However as England supporter I absolutely adored it, even reading the tougher England moments!
I enjoyed the contrasts of learning about how the England national side came to be, reading in depth the heroics of 1966 and the subsequent disappointments.
It was also fascinating reading about the games, tournament failures and the better era’s since I’ve followed England and using them to reflect on our current Euro 2024 performance (I finished the book the day after the 0-0 draw to Slovenia).
Overall, if you’re not a fan of English football, then this book might not be for you. However as England supporter I absolutely adored it, even reading the tougher England moments!
December 5, 2022
This is what journalism can do: a longitudinal study, with great first-person recollection and secondary material, to outline the nonsense and blazers and goals and social change. Sir Bobby Robson and Sir Alex Ferguson chose him as a ghostwriter for a reason.
May 15, 2024
It's a great book, until you arrive at Southgate's chapter. While it keeps its objectivity, the love that the writer shows for Gareth (maybe bcs of the interview), something he didnt for the others, ruins it.
December 9, 2024
Disjointed and rarely engaging
July 2, 2025
⭐ 3,75
December 13, 2022
Hayward's book provides an interesting overview of the English national men's football team, from its origins and early days through to the build-up to the 2022 world cup.
The core themes of the book will be familiar to anyone who has followed the English team; the expectations clashing harshly with reality, and the constant resistance from English clubs to release their players to play for their country. The book is at its best when discussing the England team's performances, and the views of the players and managers.
This is a very insular book; its a history of England by a passionate fan, with many interviews with former England players. But what is missing is the view of the outside world, and the placing of England in world context. I wish there had been more to help discuss not only what the England team means to England, but how the rest of the world sees it.
The author dedicates appropriate amounts of time to broad trends; racism, hooliganism, the increased professionalism of the game. But some periods seem left out. The book barely discusses the reasons why the English FA refused to take part in the early days of the world cup. Other small yet symbolic topics are discussed in interesting detail (the 'Hand of God' goal, Gazza's mental health, etc.) while others seem glossed over.
Overall, this is a great book about the English football team, and anyone wanting to get an overview of the history to 2022 will surely enjoy it.
The core themes of the book will be familiar to anyone who has followed the English team; the expectations clashing harshly with reality, and the constant resistance from English clubs to release their players to play for their country. The book is at its best when discussing the England team's performances, and the views of the players and managers.
This is a very insular book; its a history of England by a passionate fan, with many interviews with former England players. But what is missing is the view of the outside world, and the placing of England in world context. I wish there had been more to help discuss not only what the England team means to England, but how the rest of the world sees it.
The author dedicates appropriate amounts of time to broad trends; racism, hooliganism, the increased professionalism of the game. But some periods seem left out. The book barely discusses the reasons why the English FA refused to take part in the early days of the world cup. Other small yet symbolic topics are discussed in interesting detail (the 'Hand of God' goal, Gazza's mental health, etc.) while others seem glossed over.
Overall, this is a great book about the English football team, and anyone wanting to get an overview of the history to 2022 will surely enjoy it.
June 4, 2023
Well written and well researched. Only criticism , why not wait a couple of months and include the Qatar World Cup ?
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