Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has admitted that England have “fallen short” over the years and believes that improvements need to be made if they are to be an international threat.
The 36-year-old, who was capped 85 times for England, thinks that his former boss Alex Ferguson wouldn’t have been able to turn around the country’s fortunes in the 2010 World Cup.
"Ferguson may have got more out of the squad,” Neville told BBC Radio Five Live. "But the reality is, would we have beaten Spain in the last World Cup? No, because they were better than England.
"I loved playing for England, but we've fallen short and I've contributed to that over the last 10 years as much as anyone.
"The analogy I use is, if a man takes a woman out 85 times and then she's not your girlfriend at the end of it, you've wasted a lot of time. You measure success by achieving things. We need more players of higher quality who can keep the ball."
England take on Bulgaria tonight (Friday) in the first of two Euro 2012 qualifiers this week.
Danielle Joynson
