Charlton: England overrated

Man Utd and England legend Sir Bobby Charlton has said that England will never progress and learn from their mistakes unless they start taking the threat of lesser nations seriously in qualifying.

“It’s a problem that we have brought on ourselves unfortunately,” the former Manchester United player said on Thursday at the National Football Museum’s Hall of Fame event at Old Trafford. “We need some of our players to help us.

“When we play against lesser teams a long way before the main event we don’t seem to take it seriously, but the quality of these qualifying matches just shows you how important they all are.

“Give the manager a chance,” Charlton said. “(The public) are a bit cruel with the manager. It’s not right, I think he’s OK.

“If you panic, you never win, he’s a very capable coach and manager. If he has the right people around him why shouldn’t he be a success?”