Onwards and upwards

We are well and truly into the inquest of the catastrophic exit to Iceland last week.

The Football Association are now on the hunt for a new man to lead the English national team, and the questions are being asked of the players we are developing, and how we are selecting them.

For me there are still positives to take, mainly from the group stage performances. They did not perhaps yield the results we wanted but the approach and style England played in pointed to a more positive future for English football. One poor performance does not change all of that, in my opinion.

Here is a video I developed throughout the tournament. After last Monday's game I was not sure if I would go through with this but I felt it was better to have some perspective and recognise that this is a process and that there are going to be some testing times.

Just look at Wales as an example of this. This tournament has been a long time coming for them, starting with John Toshack promoting young players, continuing their development with Gary Speed and now Chris Coleman is reaping the rewards.

You can download the video here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gu9esag8iax1ew7/England%20DNA%20emerging.mp4?dl=0

Dan Ashworth, technical director, and his team have faced some tough criticism. Questions are being asked as to whether the 'England DNA' is worth pursuing.

If we scrap this plan in it's infancy how can we ever hope to create an England side that looks like it knows it's roles and responsibilities throughout the team? This is a long term plan, one which could be a serious game changer for English football. This is where the country needs to believe even more in this 'journey'.