Opinion | England has long taught the world to play the beautiful game – when will they learn themselves?
Fascinating new book outlines the long history of the English ‘Mister’ abroad
Football’s European Championships are little over a month away, bringing with them that biennial ritual welcomed by most football fans: England crashing out in the early stages.
The usual welter of essay-writing over the state of the national game will follow, before the Olympics start and it’s all forgotten about until Sam Allardyce’s Brave Boys are sent packing from Russia 2018.
Coaching standards will be blamed, and the claim made that England don’t focus on technical ability like other nations. The standard historical argument for this is that England, buoyed by their god-given status as inventors of the game, closed themselves off in arrogant isolation to the rest of the world, dedicating themselves to kick and rush while the shifty continentals were catching up and then overtaking them.
In his fascinating new book, Times writer Rory Smith does not disagree, but argues the existence of a little-recognised parallel narrative: “It is one not of haughty dismissal but of intense generosity, of first an individual and later a collective desire to see football grow and thrive across the planet, to make sure everyone could benefit from Britain’s great invention.”
Mister – The Men Who Taught the World How to Beat England at Their Own Game charts the fortunes of several of these English coaches, who went around the world preaching technique and tactics.
These prophets who helped develop football in Spain, Italy, Germany and far beyond were not just without honour in their own land, but ignored entirely; yet ‘Mister’ is still the word for ‘manager’ in many countries.