Is media arrogance the key inhibitor in England’s long wait for international success?

Never before has a nation’s football association felt the need to publicly tweet their disgust with their opponent’s coverage of a match, as was the case on Friday when the official San Marino FA twitter account posted a number of messages condemning ITV’s coverage of their clash with England. The tweets – directed mainly at the punditry team and not the commentators – called ITV “arrogant, ignorant and rude” adding “shame on you ITV, this is just disgraceful,” in reference to a number of contemptuous comments from Adrian Chiles and Co. Sure, San Marino are indeed the lowest FIFA-ranked international team in the world; however with FIFA’s slogan “For the Game. For the World” being advertised around the ground during the game, the comments made by the ITV team demonstrate an inherent arrogance within English football-media, as well as the presumptuousness view that being the ‘founders of football’ England have a given right to international success.

The irony is, that in the last 47 years, San Marino have had as much international success as England. Having not even qualified for Euro 2008, England cannot even boast the fact that they consistently compete within international tournaments, for in that particular season, their achievements were equal to that of San Marino. Reaching the quarter-finals (and occasional semi-final) of competitions is respectable, but it’s not exactly success; therefore the only thing really separating the international pedigree of San Marino and England is a World-Cup victory on home-soil nearly half a century ago. Yet, somehow, every few years when England begin their quest for glory at either a European Championships or World-Cup, everybody seems to buy into the idea that England are an international super-power in the football world, and will undoubtedly reach the latter-stages of the competition by virtue of the fact that they have a star above their badge. The fact remains, that since 1966, England have failed to reach a single major-final, resulting in media-backlash following their ‘early’ eliminations. Expectations are raised so high by the likes of ITV who begin advertising their coverage of England’s progress a number of months before the tournaments commence, that supporters are unable to comprehend the fact that England are inferior to a number of nations.

FIFA’s ridiculous ranking system doesn’t help this false-perception English media have of their team, for England are in no way the fourth best team in the world. Friendly wins over Spain and Brazil are the reason behind England’s high positioning, while they have also contributed towards the arrogance of our media and fans. Following England’s 2-1 victory over a weakened Brazil side, reports of England “showing Brazil how it’s done” were fed to the public – adding to the tremendous high levels of expectations England supporters have. This promotes an immense amount of pressure upon the England squad, and considering the lack of success our ‘golden generation’ have had, this pressure is undoubtedly one of the causes of international failure from England. I have even heard fans claiming that England deserve to be above Montenegro in their World-Cup qualification group for England have a better chance of success in Rio. The truth is, that England are not part of the high-tier of international teams. In order to win the 2014 World-Cup, England would have to overcome Spain, Italy, Brazil, Argentina and Germany – all of whom are far stronger teams than England. If we, like Spain, had won the last three major international trophies, our attitude towards San Marino would understandably err on the side of hubris; however, given the fact that England constantly flatter to deceive at major tournaments, the ITV punditry team’s comments strike me as wholly unwarranted, and highlight one of the defining factors in England’s lack of success since 1966.