Deeds, not talk, is the way ahead for England

Steve McClaren believes that his England

squad’s World Cup hangover is well and truly

over. The problem is, the English public’s sore

head remains.

The coach emerged from his

winter regime of watching games and players — he has narrowed the number of potential squad

members to 50, which seems optimistic — to appear at a function to promote a road safety scheme for kids (why does the England player cross the road? He doesn’t, unless there’s a book deal

in it), where he summed up his

reign so far.

‘The first game against Greece, it was just a relief to be back playing and getting back on the bike. There was some euphoria there and then Andorra, and then a tough character test in Macedonia and the disappointment in Croatia.

‘But I said at the time coming into

the Holland game, we had a crash and fell down, but we had a month and got back up, and you could see some of the players coming back into form. Against Croatia, we didn’t have Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole or Owen Hargreaves and a month later they were in better form, we got a better performance (against Holland) and should have

won the game.

‘Since then, you can go through the players and they’re all on the top of their game. I’ve experienced it with Manchester United and in

three tournaments with England

and that’s what happens with form.’

From there, it was on to a Christmas lunch with football writers. On the way to it, I bumped into an old friend, an Everton supporter who puts his

money where his mouth is by sponsoring games at Goodison.

Not cheap in these days of everything being for sale, when clubs know the price of everything

but struggle to divine its value.

Having told him where I was

going, he sympathised. 'I think we’re all losing a bit of love for the game,' he lamented. 'The trouble is, there’s no heroes any more.’

The Stranglers couldn’t have put it better. It is not just that England departed the World Cup at the quarter-final stage again, it was

the manner of the exit, not having turned in a performance to fire the imagination all tournament.

McClaren apportions some blame for the media over-fuelling expectation, but then the word from Sven Goran Eriksson and within the Football Association

was that this was the time.

Then came that series of books by mid-career players who didn’t need the money but hoped to cash in further. Only the forthright Gerrard’s touched a chord, the rest — by Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard — were

score-settling, dosh-for-old-rope exercises which committed the cardinal sins of failing to entertain or take us behind the back pages.

When it came to that litmus test of the nation’s sporting affections, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, nary a footballer was even in

the top 10. Their feats were of clay.

McClaren, whose relationship with his No 2 Terry Venables does still not convince, has turned

neither tide nor corner yet.

Despite what McClaren says about the vagaries of form when England went to Croatia, the

majority of players were playing

well enough. It was the mish-mash of tactics and how they were deployed that was the problem.

"We have to create an English way because you can’t go from what they do on a Saturday to

something completely different at international level,’ says McClaren, who awarded England

six-and-a-half out of 10 for their efforts this year. It is just too tempting to resist: you wonder where he got the six from.

What is the English way? It is clearly for McClaren and Venables to find a style of play that brings the best out of Wayne Rooney and

others such as Gerrard and Lampard.

The English way, it should also be noted, is for honesty, on and off the field. Both a Euro 2008

qualifying campaign and the public perception of its national team needs to be turned round by

worrying less about talk and more about deeds.

Silverlining forthe Toon faithful

Sing up at the Gallowgate End: Newcastle United have won a trophy.

As a result of being the last remaining club in the UEFA Cup who qualified via the InterToto, they

have been awarded the latter.

Actually, it could be more significant than

might be imagined.

The club’s chairman, Freddy Shepherd, once promised that he would depart once he had brought some silverware to St James’ Park.

Now he has the perfect opportunity to make

good his vow.

On the other hand, it could be a deal-breaker.

Now that the club are so successful, the price for

would-be buyers is surely going to rise from

£227 million.