Matt Reeder: Promising signs as Hodgson plans without ‘Golden Generation’

England had just lost in the 2002 World Cup quarter-finals against eventual winners Brazil.

Goals from Rivaldo and Ronaldinho had overhauled Michael Owen’s earlier strike and once again England’s ‘Golden Generation’ were on their way out of a major tournament.

As Ferdinand answered the questions with a polite, if excusably-blunt manner the defeat, and indeed failure, of yet another campaign started to sink in. I may have been in Japan working for the Yorkshire Post, but I was also a fan.

Boarding the plane back to England it was hard not to think of what might have been.

We had arrived in Asia a month earlier believing that a long-awaited World Cup victory could be ours. Finally, England were in a position to end 36 years of hurt.

Surely, the names of Owen, Beckham and Scholes would soon sit with the likes of Hurst, Charlton and Ball as major tournament winners.

Of course, history tells us that our so-called ‘Golden Generation’ did not have the appropriate mettle.

Whether it be injury to key men, loss of form, poor management or even sheer bad luck, Beckham and co never really lived up to their top billing and now, 10 years on from that defeat against the boys from Brazil, things are very different.

Only one player (Ashley Cole) has survived from that day in Shizuoka as the all-star line-up has slowly crumbled over what has been a wasteful decade.

Coaches, too, have come and gone. Sven Goran Eriksson would peak at the quarter-finals in 2002, 2004 and again in 2006 while his assistant Steve McClaren failed to even qualify in 2008.

Fabio Capello did make it to South Africa in 2010 but once again, despite much hype and anticipation, England failed to deliver.

And so on to Roy Hodgson and his England class of 2012.

Proof of how far our Three Lions have fallen in the eyes of their own supporters could be seen and heard when the new boss announced his Euro squad.

Claims that his was the ‘worst England squad ever’ were thrown around chat-rooms and radio phone-ins. People questioned Hodgson’s ability almost before a kick had been aimed in anger... no doubt still clinging to the belief that ‘people’s choice’ Harry Redknapp should have been given the job.

We don’t have a ‘Golden Generation’ any longer, of that we can be certain. But should that really bother us? It never worked before, so why should it work now? No, the time has come for English football to come back down to earth and take a reality pill – even if that means foresaking this tournament and looking forward to Brazil 2014.

Hodgson needs our trust to build for a better future.

We may not win Euro 2012, but there were signs against France and again on Friday night against Sweden that the future might not be as bad as first feared.

Sure, the England squad may not be graced with as many of the big-name players as before – Beckham, Owen, Scholes and even Ferdinand are gone – but Hodgson has never been one for building teams around superstars. Evidence of an England ‘team’ emerging from the ashes of Capello’s fiery departure is obvious.

Instead of a group of individual stars playing in an average team, Hodgson has set about building a star team out of the average players at his disposal.

The signs look promising. Euro 2012 is a mere stepping stone, a building block to a better future where fans will soon come to realise that not everything which glitters is a ‘Golden Generation’.