FA deserves its share of the applause for England’s Euro 2020 successes


Excellent Euros is no accident, but rather the realisation of FA’s steady progress, planning and sound foundations

The Football Association, a national fixture since 1863, sustains energetic batterings when mired in its periodic crises, so it is only right that credit should be given at a time such as now, when its good work is luminously coming to fruition.

The success of Gareth Southgate’s England team, and of the manager himself, in reaching Sunday’s European Championship final is not a miraculous accident but the realisation of steady progress, planning and the building of sound foundations. The England team are somehow viewed separately from perceptions of the FA but the governing body runs the whole set-up and this pinnacle has been reached after 25 often gruelling years reshaping its whole focus and philosophy.

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