The 1970s Wasteland

Lore & Background

Fans who had grown up watching Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst score were now watching a team of competent but unspectacular internationals shuffle through qualifiers and then crumble at the business end of a tournament. The managerial instability compounded the problem. Greenwood, a steady but unglamorous figure, inherited a squad that lacked a true talisman until Keegan's emergence in the second half of the decade. Yet it would be unfair to call the 1970s a total void. Colin Bell's elegant long-range passing at Nottingham Forest, Osgood's blistering runs for Southampton, and the early Keegan goals at Anfield gave supporters moments of genuine joy.

Reader's Guide

The legacy is a scar. The 1970s taught England's fans that talent without structure and structure without inspiration is a recipe for three consecutive group-stage exits. It also set the bar: any manager who could take England past the second round in the 1980s or beyond would be measured against this wasteland, and the relief of finally going deep in a tournament was sweeter precisely because the drought had been so long.

Did You Know?

• Three different managers (Ramsey, Revie, Greenwood) were in charge of England across the 1970s, meaning the team never had a single tactical identity sustained through a full qualifying cycle and tournament.
• Colin Bell, one of the most technically gifted midfielders of the decade, made only 29 appearances for England despite his brilliance at Nottingham Forest.