Sam Allardyce could be the man to lead the England football team to a brighter future, according to former Football Association chairman David Bernstein.
Bernstein was in charge of the FA when Roy Hodgson was appointed England manager, but admitted there remained a psychological problem within the team that prevented players from fulfilling their potential at major tournaments.
Allardyce masterminded Sunderland s successful fight against relegation from the Premier League in 2015-16 and Bernstein reckons the 61-year-old could restore some confidence to the England camp.
I m not saying we should have an English manager. But, of the English managers, I actually would go for Sam Allardyce, he said.
He s a very powerful character. I think he s got the personality, the strength, he s a good technical manager, he s very experienced and he s someone who perhaps could imbue confidence.
Because, clearly among other things, there s a psychological problem with our players, where they seem to get to a stage with international football where they just can t cope, and that s manifest time and time again, year after year, in individual errors which you just wouldn t expect from players.
You had Steven Gerrard s error at the World Cup last time which cost us, you ve got goalkeeping errors. A general psychological malaise seems to overcome them. They seem to freeze.
He added: Someone like Sam Allardyce may have that personality and strength to do a little bit of what has happened to the England rugby team.
Bernstein insisted he had no regrets about the appointment of Hodgson, who resigned from the position after England s 2-1 defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016, which left him with a record of 33 victories and eight defeats from his 56 matches in charge.
I believe we ended up with the best candidate, someone who s extremely credible, who had taken Switzerland to third in the world, who had international experience therefore, and who had a good club record, said Bernstein.
I d in no way go back on the exercise that we did and I m very sorry and surprised the way it s finished.
