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The Manchester City verdict is a “seismic” moment for English football with the potential to cost the club hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation and shake up the sport’s existing order.

Premier League clubs were informed on Thursday that a verdict had been reached in the case – with City understood to have been found guilty on 114 of the 115 charges.

Stefan Borson, a former City adviser and the head of sport at law firm McCarthy Denning, said: “It’s seismic and a massive development in the history of English football.

“There’s no sugarcoating it – if they have been found guilty on everything, it’s very hard to see where Manchester City go from here.”

What happens next?

The Premier League refused to comment on Friday, pointing to confidentiality. City released their own statement saying the process was “ongoing”.

The next step is for the independent commission to hold a sanctions hearing in which the Premier League and City will be able to make representations. The verdict – which legal sources believe will run to “hundreds of pages” will then be published, with Borson believing it is likely to be “scathing”.

City would then be free to appeal but The i Paper has been told it could be “six to 12 months” at the earliest before the process is concluded – and an appeal (which City would almost certainly launch) could take just as long.

Would an appeal have any chance?

Borson believes the chances of an appeal being successful are “basically hopeless” and the decision is “very serious”.

“In terms of trying to appeal the factual side of things, you’re going to have a scathing decision,” he said.

“Over hundreds of pages it will say things Manchester City are not happy with and it’s very difficult to see how that is overturned by an appeal hearing.

“The appeal will say ‘We didn’t hear the original case, but a competent board of three did; it was held over 12 weeks; the parties had some of the best representation around; they were free to present their arguments; the witnesses they wanted to; and whatever documents they wanted to present’.

“Unless there’s a point of law the original body got wrong – which is extremely unlikely in my opinion – the appeal will say they’re not in a position to undermine the original hearing.”

What are City saying?

City insiders insist they are remaining calm at this stage and very little has changed in the investigation. Senior figures still cannot give anything away, as it is an ongoing legal process.

The club have pleaded their innocence throughout and have not stepped back in their pursuit of further greatness, having spent a colossal £700m on new players across the previous three transfer windows.

City have also spared no expense in assembling the finest legal minds to fight their case, with a legal bill understood to be closing in on £100m.

The i Paper has been told that some senior staff at the club are disillusioned as they were given no indication in any future planning – something City have remained a market leader in during the Sheikh Mansour era – that this verdict “was a possibility”.

Focusing on the coming season will be “tough” from here, others said.

It is understood that it is highly unlikely City will start any appeal process until after any sanctions have been announced. Only then will they take their fight with the Premier League further.

What are the potential punishments?

There is no precedent for what happens next but experts believe it is likely to be “severe” if the verdicts stand.

A huge points deduction – resulting in certain relegation – feels like the most likely outcome given the precedent of Everton being docked eight points for two breaches of PSR in the 2024-25 season.

Sources at Hill Dickinson stadium are “watching the process play out” but there has always been anger on Merseyside at the scale of their punishment compared to others.

Significant fines could also be levied, with the possibility of fines matching the prize money they won during the period. But given the scale of breaches, sporting sanctions are almost certain.

Fans and rivals appear to favour stripping City of many of their honours, with Rio Ferdinand suggesting Manchester United should be handed another Premier League title.

Which trophies did Man City win from 2009-2018?

With the teams who finished runners-up or City beat in the final in brackets.

Premier League

• 2011-12 (Manchester United)
• 2013-14 (Liverpool)
• 2017-18 (Manchester United)

FA Cup

• 2011 (Stoke City)

League Cup

• 2014 (Sunderland)
• 2016 (Liverpool)
• 2018 (Arsenal)

One source told The i Paper, “everything should be on the table”, but experts think that is unlikely.

“Stripping titles is highly unlikely where there is already precedent for points sanctions from previous breaches of the PSR rules, and financial penalties would be a more common alternative sanction,” Daniel Gore, a disputes partner at Withers LLP, said.

One Premier League source suggested that punishment could come in the form of a colossal points deduction of “something like 50 or 60 points” so that they are actually guaranteed to be relegated, but have the ignominy of being relegated rather than just demoted.

Another insider suggested a points deduction could be spread over several seasons to ensure they would not challenge for the Premier League title for many years.

Will their rivals sue them?

City could be on the hook for hundreds of millions of pounds if clubs who have missed out on Europe and titles pursue their own compensation cases.

Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United are among the clubs understood to have signalled their intention to do just that – and they will feel emboldened by Burnley winning a similar case against Everton (although it is being appealed).

“The fascinating element will be to see what the other clubs in both the Premier League and lower leagues do in response to any findings, in light of the decision in the Burnley vs Everton case,” Gore said.

“That case is under appeal but a precedent for damages as a result of financial breaches has been set.”

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“I wish from deep in my heart to go to the trial, the independent panel and as soon as possible they release what happened, and we will accept like we always have done,” Pep Guardiola said in August 2024. We got there in the end, Pep, you just missed it. We got the result.

Well, almost. The good news for Manchester City is that they have an appeals process. That and the fact that, according to The Athletic, they have only been found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges. Small comfort? Not for anyone.

This is not a bombshell; it is the bombshell. This could be the Premier League’s Calciopoli scandal. A serial champion club has reportedly been found guilty of such serious charges that there should be no upper limit to the punishments under discussion should their appeal not succeed.

As Brian Clough famously said to Leeds United’s players: “You can throw your medals in the bin because they were won by cheating.”

But the greatest crime here does not lie in the hundreds of thousands of pieces of evidence that an independent panel has been sifting through for so long we have all grown a little longer in the tooth and greyer in the hair. It does not lie in what Manchester City have been found guilty of doing with their own accounts.

It’s not even the impact upon rival clubs themselves, although clearly that has never felt more painfully relevant and the prospect of further action by those outside parties who believe that they have been unduly impacted is a can of worms that I can’t quite bring myself to open just yet.

No, the greatest crime is the warping of history and our – every single person who watches the Premier League or supports one of its clubs – experience over the last 17 years. It is the ultimate Pandora’s Box moment for the biggest league in the sport that now faces serious questions. Remember that Chelsea have recently been punished for their own rule breaking.

We all know that we care too much about football. It is deeply embarrassing that how our team plays on a Saturday impacts the answer to the “How was your weekend?” question on a Monday morning. But we at least tell ourselves that, beneath all the hoopla and the hype, what we are watching is real. This isn’t soap opera, it’s sport. The result is the result.

Except now it isn’t. Friday’s news forces us to rewrite history in our minds. How could we not now? It doesn’t matter if the punishment strips City of titles, cups and records – it would surely be too messy to process officially.

Because every football supporter of every other club will be doing exactly the same. Everything we watched wasn’t real. It was built upon sand. “Aguerrrrr-no”.

That applies to the nine years over which the charges applied, but also everything that came since. If you win one title you get a trophy but also the wealth and power that makes winning the next one easier and the one after that easier still. Suddenly nothing at the Etihad Stadium is tangible at all. It is a chimera, delusion on an industrial scale.

Pull on any one strand and see how the house of cards falls down. Manchester City beat Sunderland in the 2014 EFL Cup final – did their rule-breaking forge the gap?

Sunderland missed out on Europe as a result, including its extra revenue and pulling power on players. Four years later, their fans were watching League One football. They have Europe now, but what if they never had?

The trophies Man City won from 2009-2018

With the teams who finished runners-up or City beat in the final in brackets.

Premier League

• 2011-12 (Manchester United)
• 2013-14 (Liverpool)
• 2017-18 (Manchester United)

FA Cup

• 2011 (Stoke City)

League Cup

• 2014 (Sunderland)
• 2016 (Liverpool)
• 2018 (Arsenal)

There are more strands everywhere, knock-on impacts and “I wonder what ifs”. This is the butterfly effect, except the butterfly is a herd of elephants trampling over our previous concept of who won what and why.

That is the dreadful irony to all this: the only thing worse than the uncertainty of not having a verdict is having a verdict and realising that uncertainty is now all we have.

I don’t know where we go from here, other than an appeals process that is likely to be lengthy and complicated. I understand if some don’t have the stomach for it and simply check out of caring for a while. It has been five years; it’s just too long.

But this day will be etched on the history of the Premier League, despite its victory in the case. It will be etched on the history of Manchester City because of the comprehensive and damning nature of their defeat. It is the day we wanted, the end of the beginning of the closure. But it sure doesn’t feel worthy of celebration.

Read more

• Daniel Storey: 115 charges, five seasons – Man City saga is a stain on the Premier League
• Mark Douglas: Man City’s £700m spend makes a mockery of Premier League

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Manchester City have reportedly been found guilty of all but one of the 115 charges related to breaching the Premier League’s financial rules in a verdict that will send shockwaves through English football.

Two years after the case began, the independent panel that presided over the case has reached its decision – with Premier League clubs understood to have been informed at a meeting on Thursday.

No sanctions have been decided yet, and City are expected to appeal the decision, having long maintained their innocence in relation to the unprecedented charges that they breached top-flight financial rules.

Although the case is unprecedented in scale, it has been claimed that City could be relegated or stripped of titles if found guilty.

The Athletic reported on Friday that City had been found guilty of 114 charges by the panel.

City have been accused by the Premier League of failing to provide accurate financial information and details of payments to players and coaches. They have also been accused of breaches of Uefa’s financial fair play regulations and the league’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).

Manchester City said in a statement: “The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality. As such Manchester City FC’s position remains consistent with the club’s statement of February 2023.

“The club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League board and executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.”

The Premier League refused to comment.

Fans on all sides are angry and desperate for a conclusion

By Daniel Storey, chief football writer

The impacts of the delay are drawing permanent grooves in stone. In most other scenarios, outrage fatigue would have taken over. But here’s the thing: outrage fatigue doesn’t really exist in football. Anger is self-sustaining and there is always enough to go around.

People aren’t getting less fed up as the months tick on, they’re getting more. That includes those on all sides of the affair: Manchester City supporters, rival supporters, a massive mass of the rest of us who just want it over so we can avoid watching a division caught in suspension.

Conspiracy theory noise has become the currency of the league.

And it’s exhausting. Everybody is angry because they have a firm opinion on something as yet unknowable. Everybody is conspiratorial because nobody trusts silence even when silence is appropriate. Everybody is weary because it’s been dragging on for what feels like half a lifetime.

What next? Could Man City be relegated?

A verdict will merely be the starting pistol for another prolonged battle, legal experts told The i Paper last year, with an appeal process potentially lasting several months – at least.

The length of the process could also depend on the potential punishment. With the precedent of points deductions being handed to Everton and Nottingham Forest for financial breaches, City could face a huge deduction themselves.

With regards to possible relegation, outright expulsion from the Premier League is far more “complex” and would require a vote among top-flight clubs.

“The issue of whether Manchester City might be expelled from the Premier League is a complex one,” Aaryaman Banerji, head of football governance at investment consultants Lane, Clark & Peacock, told The i Paper.

“Rule B6 of the Premier League’s Handbook stipulates that, in order to trigger the expulsion of one of its members, clubs would have to vote as part of a Special Resolution.

“This would require 15 clubs to vote in favour of expulsion. It will be instructive to see whether the Independent Commission is held to this requirement, or whether this might be worked around, so that the Commission can itself impose such a sanction.”

Read more

• Daniel Storey: 115 charges, five seasons – Man City saga is a stain on the Premier League
• Mark Douglas: Man City’s £700m spend since the 130 charges makes a mockery of Premier League
• Kat Lucas: Seven things to know before one of history’s most controversial football matches

Carlos Hurtado, a sports lawyer with Baker McKenzie, also told The i Paper that the threat to City of multiple compensation claims from rival clubs is “real and serious”.

The charges span a nine-year period from 2009 to 2018 where City won the title three times. Manchester United were twice runners-up in 2012 and 2018, while Liverpool finished second behind City in 2014.

“Retrospective compensation is something that is being considered by everybody,” football finance expert Kieran Maguire added.

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“Really uncomfortable” is the verdict from within the Irish dressing room. It is a double-header in the Nations League that pits the Republic of Ireland against Israel – twice in the next fortnight – in one of the most contentious fixtures in history.

International football has been littered with matches bearing a political undercurrent. In the 1930s, Germany played England at White Hart Lane, home to Tottenham Hotspur, and performed Nazi salutes before kick-off at a club with a traditionally large Jewish support.

East Germany later faced West Germany at the height of the Cold War; England would meet Argentina at the 1986 World Cup, just four years after the Falklands conflict.

Few games have inspired such a public backlash amid the ongoing war in Gaza. Here is why and everything to know about the matches.

Why is Israel vs Ireland controversial?

As a nation, the Republic of Ireland is noted for its strong support of the Palestinian causeF, which has been heightened since the Israeli response to the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, which has killed an estimated 75,000 Palestinians.

Ireland defender Seamus Coleman addressed questions surrounding whether the matches should go ahead by saying he “knows the difference between right and wrong”. Manager Heimir Hallgrimsson has said some of his players had voiced opposition to the games, adding: “We are not playing with genocide, we are playing against genocide”.

The Israeli FA responded strongly with a statement on social media on Monday. It read: “We have contributed to the world and humanity in countless fields, earning an impressive number of Nobel Prizes along the way.

“Unfortunately, we have not yet found a cure for stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy displayed by Hallgrimsson. We’re not playing with ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity, we’re playing against the coach who embodies them.”

What is the link between Ireland and Palestine?

Many Irish people have drawn anti-colonial parallels between British occupation and the war in Gaza. In the 20th century, Britain used heavy-handed tactics in Ireland – including the deployment of the notorious Black and Tans, who were recruited by the British government into the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) during the War of Independence and committed a series of atrocities. After the RIC was disbanded, hundreds of the paramilitary police force were sent to Mandatory Palestine (which was under British rule from 1920 to 1948).

A number of prominent political figures – including former Taioseach Simon Harris and former President Michael D Higgins have also made comparisons between the Great Hunger of the nineteenth century in Ireland, also known as the Irish Potato Famine, and the levels of starvation in Gaza.

Why isn’t Ireland’s ‘home’ leg in Dublin?

The FAI (Irish football’s governing body) decided that for security reasons, the “home” match against Israel could not be played at the Aviva Stadium. Uefa therefore gave a list of options which would also provide an unfamiliar venue for Israel for their away tie. On 27 September, Israel will “host” the Irish in Debrecen, Hungary, while the return takes place on 4 October at the TSC Arena in Backa Topola, Serbia.

Who demanded a boycott?

There has been an ongoing campaign called Stop the Game fronted by Irish Sport for Palestine, who released an open letter calling on the country’s footballers to boycott the match, accusing the Israeli government of “a brutal system of apartheid, and now, acts of genocide”. Louise Quinn, who plays for the women’s national team, was among the signatories.

Human rights group Amnesty International said Uefa risks “rubber-stamping apartheid” by allowing the games to go ahead. It said in a statement: “Sport should never be used as a public relations spectacle for states committing atrocities.”

What has the response been?

The FAI asked Uefa to ensure that the Republic of Ireland and Israel are kept apart in future draws. That was rejected because “Ireland and Israel have never been in direct conflict”. For example, Serbia and Kosovo do not play one another because of historic conflict between the two countries, but the Republic of Ireland were told the rule does not apply here.

RTE, the national broadcaster of the Republic of Ireland, will dramatically scale back its coverage and only a basic world feed will be provided by Uefa, with no half-time analysis on TV.

Could Israel be banned from international football?

Despite ongoing campaigns to ban Israel’s national team and Israeli clubs from Fifa and Uefa competitions, The i Paper has been told that such action would only have been taken if individual national FAs refused to play games – as they did with Russia within days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russia has not been allowed to play at subsequent European Championships or World Cups.

More on football

Daniel Storey: I spent a day with the American billionaire obsessed with Huddersfield Town

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Why is sport particularly contentious?

The Palestinian FA has also taken legal action against a number of Israeli “settler” clubs who play on land internationally recognised as being illegally occupied. Hundreds of Palestinian sportspeople – including footballers – are believed to have been killed in Israeli air strikes and shootings since 2023. Palestine’s two football leagues were also halted at the end of 2023, with competitive action only returning to Gaza this month with the “Martyrs Cup”.

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Like the kid who returns from his first holiday in Spain declaring his desire to live there one day, Anthony Gordon is full of Hispanic immersion.

We can understand his awed appreciation of the Spanish way. I mean, who doesn’t love a stroll down Las Ramblas on a sunny afternoon? But let’s not get carried away that England can never be them.

Gordon is not intentionally running England down, of course, yet in elevating Spain to their own higher plain, he is reinforcing the inferiority that has held back the mother country since 1966.

“I’m speaking from a point of view where I feel like we are trying to replicate Spain. It’s not in the English DNA. I’m not sure it’s something that can be taught because now I think, playing in Spain, I can speak with an educated view on the way they keep the ball is different,” Gordon said ahead of his first England engagement since joining Barcelona in the summer.

“I even look at some of the decisions they take on the ball sometimes and think, I’m not sure how you’ve seen that. It’s the way they’re built. I don’t know whether it is something that maybe we can’t ever put a name to, but they’re definitely built different.”

Though the world champions have no need of an esteem hike so soon after their summer coronation, if I’m Spanish coach Luis de la Fuente, I’m pinning that quote on the dressing room door at Wembley just to ensure an uncomplicated night.

Framing this as a DNA issue is not only false; it cuts off any possibility of change. England failed at the World Cup not as a result of immutable technical properties given to us at birth. England folded because the coach lost his nerve in a tense contest, and the players absorbed the message, sowing confusion and ultimately chaos.

Gordon is closer to the truth with his take on the team’s own response to Argentina’s dark arts. “As players, we could have done more to take the initiative to control the game. I think if we do that, the manager doesn’t make the decision [to change the system],” he added.

“For me, we had the best team, we had the best players on the pitch, and in the last 20 minutes we didn’t play the best football. That’s something the manager can’t really affect from the sideline, so I think as a group everyone together should take responsibility.”

Yes, and that comes from the experience of winning important matches at major competitions, and a rock-solid belief in the qualities and attributes you have. The mistake Gordon makes is to set these in stone, which makes impossible a capacity to adapt according to circumstance.

“We can’t keep looking at other countries and trying to be like them, because we’re not them,” he said. “We’re English and we have our own strengths, which they don’t have, so maybe we start playing the way we’re good at.”

But what way is that, Anthony?

The Premier League is not the England of big lads up front playing 1970s ball, mowing down defenders. We are the England of Pep Guardiola, of Mikel Arteta, of Jurgen Klopp, Fabian Hurzeler and Unai Emery, a melting pot of systems and ideas.

Spain are a fabulous team playing a familiar system, but none of it is inevitable. It is the result of choices made, choices that are available to any. The Spain way is to win games. All this philosophical stuff wrapped up in DNA becomes a mental block, which signals the retreat in big matches.

Even the mighty French, the team that lit up the World Cup with their own vibrant expression of the beautiful game, shrank before the idea of Spain before stepping on the grass.

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Gordon observed how England looked mustard in training. Great. Clear your heads and take that feeling onto the pitch. Once across the white line, it’s less about systems and more about mentality.

Spain believe themselves superior, and the oppo tacitly agrees. Let England be that team on Saturday at Wembley.

Whatever Gordon wants Englishness to be, it won’t succeed without trust and desire. Those, above all else, are the qualities that decide matches at this level and the ones Spain have made their own.

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In 1985, when the consumption of alcohol in the stands of English football grounds was banned in the top five divisions, football supporters were demonised to the point of exploitation.

That demonisation culture, particularly by the elite establishment, directly led to the institutional cover-up at Hillsborough in 1989 that is a stain on England’s cultural landscape. Anything that erodes that demonisation is to be welcomed.

And yet, despite all that, I still can’t support the lifting of the alcohol ban in stands. And I have seven reasons why…

The Boxpark spray

Unfortunately, we live in a culture where people think that paying a tenner for a pint of bad lager so that they can performatively throw it into the air when Harry Kane scores a goal is a good, funny and normal thing to do.

We also live in a culture where videos of these scenes are forced into our brains via social media algorithms because we watched some organic away end limbs. Yes, culture is bad now.

Also, I’ve twice been to Borussia Dortmund and been soaked by beer raining down from the tier above. It’s not that fun, it’s not that clever and I think it would become a hazard at English grounds. If that makes me a killjoy, sorry.

The up-and-downing

At my normal seat at the City Ground when I attend as a fan, there is a lady who is probably in her 80s and sits at the end of a row. Her experience as a season-ticket holder is as important as anyone else’s. Perhaps even more so, given her loyalty over the decades.

That lady does not want to keep standing up and down to let people out and back in. And I think it is inarguable that allowing beer in stands would increase the regularity of that happening, either for more drinks or to go to the toilet.

The away fan throw

The performative celebration beer throw is one danger, but there’s also evidently a risk of liquid being thrown as an act of comedic aggression.

It’s clearly something that will need to be factored into the stewarding and policing of matches. It only takes a few idiots do something silly and we all get a bad reputation anyway; we know from the past how football fans get tarred with the same brush.

It’s 45 minutes we’re talking about here

This is a significant point. England has a magnificent pub culture and a just-as-magnificent train cans culture and both of these intertwine heavily with the live football experience.

If you want to drink around football, you can meet people an hour or two early (or more), also have a beer at half-time and then meet back at the pub or train station and carry on if that floats your boat. Is any of that experience diminished by having to go two periods of 45 minutes without an extra drink?

Have you ever been on a big away day and, 15 minutes after your half-time beer, thought: “This day would have been better if I could have had another pint of tepid Carlsberg in my hand right now”. Nor me.

Football fans don’t want this

This is another relevant point. There is an argument to say that relaxation of the rules is reason enough to remove the ban. Just because you can drink in stands doesn’t mean that everybody will.

But most supporters I’ve spoken to aren’t bothered and aren’t even supportive. They see all the above. This strikes as a populist initiative that isn’t actually as popular as you may think.

The thin end of the wedge

Here is my strongest argument. It’s not about the beer, it’s about setting a tone that reduces the unfair cultural mistrust and mistreatment of football supporters.

But there are a dozen better ways to address that historic exploitation than allowing football fans to pay exorbitant prices for bad beer and allow Premier League clubs to make even more money out of fans.

Rather than campaign to end the beer ban, how about entrenching discounts for seniors and young children into legislation? How about a further reduction on away ticket prices or a cap on the percentage rise in season ticket cost? Or how about privatising a train network on which costs routinely increase for worse service?

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The non-league experience

And here’s the kicker: you can already watch football in England while drinking a beer and watching the game. While queuing for that beer you don’t even need to miss any action and, if you need another drink or to use the toilet, you don’t need to disturb anyone on the way.

It’s called non-league, it’s brilliant and if bringing in drinking at games in the Football League caused a loss of income at non-league level in any form, it would be a great shame.

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Everyone you speak to around the England camp highlights one reason why supporters left the USA this summer with that familiar feeling of deja vu.

There are no questions about talent. Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham are strong contenders for the Ballon d’Or. Barcelona made Anthony Gordon their latest star. There are multiple £100m midfielders vying for places.

Plenty questioned whether Thomas Tuchel was to blame for another near miss. Did he go too negative, too early against Argentina? Was a six-man defence ever going to stifle the genius of Lionel Messi?

Yet, around England’s St George’s Park training base, the Tuchel naysayers are in short supply. Those above him, who conducted a full and “frank” review after the World Cup, believe the German is really trying to build something, at a time when revolution is again in full swing in Burton upon Trent.

And Tuchel, as well as his players, believe there is only one way to right the age-old English wrong.

“Culturally, it’s not just that tournament or that game where we couldn’t control a game,” Gordon said. “As a nation, England do not have that strength like the Spanish, where we control games like they do. It’s not in us.

“I’m not sure it can be taught. Playing in Spain I can speak with an educated view, and the way they keep the ball is different to what I’ve experienced playing in this country.

“I’m not sure we can ever get that but we can definitely get better, or maybe go the other way and really play to our strengths, which is to play physical, direct football and on the counter-attack. There’s no perfect way to win a football match.”

Tuchel has been in combative mode since returning from the summer’s heartbreak. In a chat with a small number of journalists last week, things got a little heated when pressed over previous comments about the English DNA.

The German seemed taken aback by how dumbfounded the room was over claims he “does not have time” to coach England to be like Spain. Questioning whether controlling games, passing their opponents into submission, was something fans even wanted.

Mentally, England aren’t getting over the line, in contrast to a less vaunted Spain group, because they lack the game intelligence of their Iberian rivals, who are preparing to showcase such controlling talents on Saturday at Wembley.

But Tuchel’s England aren’t going to change their ways. If they are finally going to end 60 years of hurt, they are going to do it the English way.

“The general messaging is that we continue what we’ve been building,” captain Harry Kane said. “Sometimes after a tournament, it’s easy to say we start fresh or it’s a new start, but I don’t think it is that. It’s a continuation.

“Those are the questions that we need to kind of discuss amongst ourselves and answer ourselves, as players and as coaching staff, ‘how can we be better in those moments? How can we be ourselves more in those moments?’

“And it may be a mixture of things – it may be personalities. It may be mentality. It may be just the direction and how we want to play in those games. So let’s continue what we’ve done because we have done a lot of good things. We can’t just overlook that because we didn’t get the result that we wanted.”

And after listening to a spiky Tuchel, that means there will be no replication of any Pep Guardiola-inspired tiki-taka. The German is not for turning. England will continue to “go for it” and not look “for that late 1-0”. The quest is to find a suitable compromise between the gung-ho and the conservative.

St George’s Park is amid its latest rebrand. Overseen by Dan Ashworth, in a new role as chief football officer, the man who helped build the state-of-the-art facility, is aware the base has fallen on hard times and is now somewhat outdated.

Read more

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Renovations are to begin in earnest, with a home European Championship on the horizon. But it is not just the physical that will be reconstructed once more.

Ashworth, along with Gareth Southgate, helped instil excellence at all levels, giving a greater pathway to the top, which saw various youth teams go on to glory.

Their mission remains incomplete, as the fledgling promise ultimately led to senior disappointment. Tuchel and the powers that be at St George’s Park think they are almost there.

Game management and that English mental block is still to be overcome. And it is what everyone will be focusing on, in all departments, for the foreseeable future.

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