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“It is now,” he said, “and a win in Euro 96 would act as a spur and enhance what we are doing.”Hughes’s department does appear to have belatedly realised that coaching needed to be modernised, and a new system begins in August. The high-priest of long-ball football (“87.1 per cent of goals come from five passes or less,” he claimed yesterday) was given unexpected support from Bert van Lingen, the assistant coach of the Netherlands “I’m a fan of Wimbledon,” he said “We can’t find that kind of player. Hughes did admit that England had “not taken advantage” of the 1966 World Cup win, because the structure to do so was not in place. Afterwards Roxburgh, the former Scotland coach, said that “for years the difference between the UK and countries like Germany and France is they have had professionals training and doing the coaching whereas we have had amateurs. Only now have we adopted a professional mentality.”The man responsible for running coaching in England since 1964 listened without a flicker of self-doubt. To no one’s surprise, the FA’s director of coaching had a set of statistics to back himself up.Also in Birmingham, Andy Roxburgh, Uefa’s technical director, delivered the sort of reasoned, yet passionate address that made one wish he had not turned down a similar job with the FA.Since the successful accessions of Terry Venables and Craig Brown – and continual disaster on the European club front – coaching has become fashionable in Britain, but Roxburgh recalled “18 years of working against the contempt people had for training [coaches]“.

There was also the first sign of buck passing as Sir Bert – “Venables will be coach over my dead body” – Millichip said he “regretted” Venables would not be staying on but insisted it was not his fault.The FA chairman’s colleague, Charles Hughes, went even further, claiming credit for everything from England’s ability to take penalties, to rising attendances, to the Premier League’s new wealth. What to do? Talk to your partner (if they are still there), scythe the lawn, buy fresh food, rather than eat microwaved Polyfilla?

No Talk about football. After the drama of the weekend everyone was having their tuppence or pfennig-worth yesterday. While Terry Venables spoke of matching the German mark, Franz Beckenbauer tipped England to win tomorrow’s Wembley semi-final.
In Birmingham they went one better, the FA arranging a whole day’s conference, with 600 delegates, just to talk about the game. For the first time in what seems months, we have two whole days without football. Krug handed out nine cautions and a red card at Villa Park on Sunday but missed a vicious foul on a Portuguese defender that should have resulted in instant dismissal.Not for the first time, it is in order, I think, to suggest that the authorities get their act together..

Their policy so far has been wide open to criticism and a blight on the championship. Unless it is altered for future tournaments, it may be necessary to have squads of 30 players, an impossibility for small countries unless they call on men who are clearly not up to international standard.There have been alarming anomalies. Players have been cautioned for small errors in timing and yet the Croatian defender, Bilic, was allowed to remain on the field against Germany after kicking a floored opponent. “Nobody enjoys playing against us,” is an argument put forward by British coaches when involved in European club competitions.A thing the authorities must ensure now is that the remaining games of Euro 96 are refereed sensibly. Technically, there is a lot of ground for England to make up but the instinctive morale of British footballers should never be underestimated and is greatly admired elsewhere in the game.It brought England through against Spain, who were the superior craftsmen, and could get them past Germany.

There have been a number of excellent matches but none so far to suggest the presence of a dominant force in European football.There has been something of the curate’s egg about England’s efforts. Poor against Switzerland, better in periods against Scotland, they exceeded all expectations in outplaying the Dutch but were generally outclassed by Spain.That England, a reasonable team but not a great one, have a real chance to become champions of Europe says something about the overall standard and raises a thought or two about the future. The organisers would have been left with two semi-finals of little local interest. British newspapers would have turned their full attention to proceedings at Wimbledon, found some other patriotic theme to make a fuss about, and television ratings would have plummeted.Instead we have a semi-final that could be sold six times over and will attract a huge television audience. I have not personally sought an official comment on this but everyone connected with Uefa should offer up thanks for the way things have developed because to my mind Euro 96 has not lived up entirely to expectations. Despite losing four of their first-choice players to a ludicrous spate of cautions, the Czechs have big hearts and will be hard to beat but only Karel Poborsky, whose marvellous lob defeated Portugal, seems to possess the brilliance that gets spectators out of their seats.Let us suppose that England had gone out to Spain and Germany to Croatia. Exciting players, quick and tidy on the ball but caught up in a five-a-side mentality.