The reasons for England's failure at the international level are very many but the most outstanding one is the premier league. This league has been properly branded to maximize revenue for the football clubs in England.
Because of the huge amounts of money generated by the televised league games, the clubs involved have lured the best players in the world so that they can come and play in England. Many football stadia have been improved so that they can accommodate the large number of fans.
Some clubs like Arsenal FC have built brand new stadia using borrowed money to meet the growing demand for match tickets. Many clubs in England have developed this habit of spending more money than they earn because they expect to recover such money spent in the near future. Some clubs buy players that they think can improve on their chances of premier league survival. This is mainly because playing in the lower leagues is not as lucrative as the premier league.
Charlton Athletic, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City and Bradford City have all suffered from premiership relegation but a close look at Leeds United will clarify why English clubs will do anything to stay in the premier league. In 2001, Leeds United reached UEFA champions league semi-final where they were knocked out by Valencia. Three years later, they were relegated from the premier league. They have continued to struggle mainly due to some bad financial decisions made under chairman Peter Ridsdale; this forced them to sale the majority of their squad, the training facilities and even their ground. And to date they have never recovered from their premiership demotion that occurred in 2004.
While bottom clubs spend to avoid relegation, the top clubs spend to improve their chances of qualifying for the champions league that offers better money rewards compared to the premiership. These two scenarios create the demand for instant success by English clubs at both ends of the table. As a result, most clubs will buy foreign players that are proven and tested at the expense of developing young and talented English players. This will mean the local English players coming through the ranks will get very few opportunities if any to prove their worth. In the long run, the FA will have very few players available for selection at the national team level because they are not given enough opportunities by very greedy club owners to learn their trade.
As if this greed is not enough, clubs jealously guard their players to extent of regarding International games as an inconvenience because they fear that their players will come back injured, tired or demoralized in case they loose while on International duty.
The physical nature of the premiership is good and entertaining but it does not properly prepare English players for International football where you meet opponents that have superior technical skills. UEFA champions league experience is highly valued because it gives players opportunities of testing their football skills against technically superior teams like Barcelona and Bayern Munich. The problem for England here is that very few English players ply their trade in Europe's top clubs that frequently participate in UEFA champions league.
The experience of winning a domestic league title would be good for English players too but a look at the newly crowned premier league champions sums up England's problems. Manchester City has only one recognized English player in Joe Hart, the rest are Internationals from countries like Argentina, Italy and France.
