‘We used to play computer games and stuff with the Man United boys. Yes, there was a massive rivalry between clubs, but I’m not sure that got in the way’ John Terry addresses England’s ‘Golden Generation’ cliques criticism

Frank Lampard, John Terry and Wayne Rooney in England training at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

England’s failure to get past the quarter-finals of a major tournament during the 2000s remains one of recent history’s biggest head-scratchers.

Sven-Goran Eriksson was able to call upon a host of world-class stars during his tenure as England boss, but in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, plus the European Championship in 2004, his side hit a last-eight-shaped brick wall each time.