I agree about them not being very bright. I have a theory that we’ve never been any good because of the class system. Hear me out! In the U.K., sport is divided along class lines. ‘Posh’ kids play rugby, golf and tennis; poor kids play football. Now I certainly don’t mean that poor kids are all stupid. I mean that it’s generally the less intelligent kids from those poorer/working class backgrounds who play the game. So we basically draw our players from a minority of a minority.
I don’t think that’s the case in the rest of Europe. I could be wrong, but my feeling is that in Germany or Italy kids from all backgrounds play football. I’m often amazed by the difference between British and foreign pundits, for example. Every tournament there are Dutch or Spanish or German (or whatever) pundits in the studio, and nine times out of ten they speak far better English than the English. And I mean that. I remember laughing out loud once, when a German pundit used Greek mythology to illustrate his point. I mean wtf 😬 . Half the England team couldn’t point to Greece on a map, let alone discuss Greek myth. In fact, many of the English pundits can barely string a sentence together.
It’s the same with foreign managers. They often seem so superior to our managers and coaches - sharper, younger, better dressed, better educated, etc. It always impresses me how continental Europeans manage to be so f-ing classy without having a class system. It also makes me want to despair. You see it especially in France. Go into their equivalent of a Tesco, and then look in the book section. You’ll see French classics for sale - Montaigne, Flaubert, etc. Imagine finding Dickens or George Eliot or Shakespeare in Tesco. Don’t make me laugh - all you see is thrillers, gardening books or the latest piece of garbage by Katie Price.