Top players will handle pressure of me targeting England winning World Cup in 2022, insists Dyke

Dyke, appointed in June, laid out his vision for the future in a wide-ranging speech which warned that changes are needed to the domestic game for England – 1966 winners – to be a major player on the world footballing stage again.

The pressing issue for Dyke – who has also set the Three Lions the aim of reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2020 – is the worrying low number of English players in the Premier League and he will head an FA commission looking into the problem.

The chairmen of the Premier League, Professional Footballers’ Association, the League Managers’ Association and the Premier League will be invited to sit alongside Dyke on the commission, which will meet for the first time this month and report back in the new year.

Ex-England players and managers, journalists and academics will be invited to give their opinions on what can be done to help boost the number of young England players coming through the ranks.

The commission will also look into possible reform of the work-permit application scheme and the possibility of changing the loan system to help young English players get more game time.

The pros and cons of a winter break will also be assessed.

Dyke admits the lack of young English players getting the chance to play at the top level is a “frightening trend” and says the FA would be “letting the country and thousands of England fans down” if the problem was not remedied.

He said: “The two targets I have for the England team are: one, to at least reach the semi-finals of Euro 2020; two, win the World Cup in 2022. No doubt some will say these targets will burden the players with more pressure. I don’t see it in that way. Top players must be able to handle pressure if they want to be winners. We want to be winners.”

Dyke went on to stress that the dual declared aims for 2020 and 2022 do not mean that England’s hopes in three major tournaments before then are being written off, with qualification for next year’s World Cup in Brazil – with Roy Hodgson’s side welcoming Moldova in a crucial Group H fixture at Wembley tomorrow night – still of utmost importance.

He added: “Qualification for Brazil is hugely important and I know how hard Roy Hodgson and the current players are working to get us there. I, for one, am confident we’ll make it.”

Dyke, who helped in the formation of the Premier League in 1992, said it had become the most successful league in the world and he had no wish to “kill the golden goose in the search for the golden egg”.

However, he said the England team had become “the victim of unintended consequences”, leaving the national side seriously short of players who turn out for their clubs in the top flight on a regular basis – with the problem getting worse on a yearly basis.

He said: “English football, I think, is a tanker which needs turning. England is already short of players who regularly turn out at the top level for their clubs and are qualified to play for England, but the real problem is that, year by year, the position is getting worse. Twenty years ago, 69 per cent of all the players starting matches in the Premier League were qualified to play for England.

“Ten years later, that figure was down to 38 per cent. Last season, another 10 years on, the same figure was down to 32 per cent. But we already know the problem is going to get worse in the future.

“We have to do something. If we do not, it’s hard to see England even challenging for the World Cup or the Euro Championships in the years ahead, let alone meeting the targets I’ve set. If we do not, we will be letting down generations of English kids who might otherwise have made it at the top level in football, but weren’t given the chance. We (also) will be letting down the England fans who turn up in their thousands.”

The long wait for World Cup glory

1966WINNERS

1970QUARTER-FINALS

1974DID NOT QUALIFY

1978DID NOT QUALIFY

1982GROUP ROUND 2

1986QUARTER-FINALS

1990SEMI-FINALS

1994DID NOT QUALIFY

1998ROUND 2

2002QUARTER-FINALS

2006QUARTER-FINALS

2010ROUND 2