Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard can preach all they want, but England need real coaches, not failed players

Holding 100 international caps doesn't guarantee success. What will Gerrard and Lampard say when asked about what it takes to succeed for England when they couldn't even play together?

Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard both staked their claim to be involved in the England set-up (Getty)

Sam Allardyce may have already claimed his first victory as England manager without a ball being kicked by the group of players charged with delivering some kind of success to a nation that has grown tired of waiting for it.

Day one of the Allardyce era at St George’s Park on Monday – the first day that the 61-year-old was able to work England’s best 23 players – was about pulling down the curtain on what has gone before.

The past, according to Allardyce, and all that has gone wrong, was a different country, a place disappearing in the rear view mirror and its only value was to provide lessons for the future – one which he hopes will be a brighter one.

There is a new slogan – The Journey Begins Here – and the faces alongside it are of those players who can play a part in ensuring that the journey ends in success – Eric Dier, Dele Alli and Harry Kane alongside Nathaniel Chalobah, James Ward-Prowse and Nathan Redmond.

Significantly, there are no images of Bobby Moore or Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan, Bryan Robson or Gary Lineker, or Steven Gerrard, David Beckham or Frank Lampard.

This is because Allardyce wants his England team to be forward facing rather than one looking over its shoulder to the past and the wreckage of what has gone before during the previous 50 years.

If the focus can remain fixed on the road ahead, then Allardyce will have secured that first victory and it could be one of his most important.

But there will be attempts to grab the steering wheel from his grasp and turn him back towards a deserted landscape of unfulfilled promise and under-achievement and Allardyce must fight hard to resist.

How he addresses the issue of former international players chasing a return to the fold as coaches will be a key decision for the new England manager.

Steven Gerrard believes not utilising experienced England players to coach younger players is 'a waste' (Getty)

So far, Allardyce has turned to Sammy Lee, his former assistant at Bolton Wanderers, Leicester City’s title-winning coach Craig Shakespeare and Martyn Margetson, who has left his post with Wales to become England’s goalkeeping coach.

Paul Clement was also lined up for a coaching role, having worked alongside Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and now Bayern Munich, before being told by Bayern that he would not be released, even on a part-time basis.

Crucially, Allardyce has rejected the chance to follow Roy Hodgson, who appointed Gary Neville to his staff, by choosing not to recruit a recently-retired player to his team.

It is a smart move by Allardyce, one which ensures proven coaches are tasked with improving England’s players, but both Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard have made their pitch over the past week for involvement in the new set-up.

Frank Lampard feels players can hold an advantage over coaches who haven't played the game (Getty)

"The FA are great at trying to be proactive and helping me and the FA need to help England internationals and Premier League stalwarts get their badges," Lampard said.

"A fella who's played 100 or 50 times for England might have a different starting point to a fella who's just finished coaching so-and-so's under-10s."

If you're 16, 18 or 21 and you turn up and play for England, do you not want to see Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand? Let's use these players to make the national team better

&#13; <p>Steven Gerrard</p>&#13;

Gerrard, who is currently in the process of acquiring the A Licence qualification required to coach at international level, echoed his former England team-mate’s remarks.

"It's a waste on the FA's behalf if they don't involve players that have played for England over 100 times or 50, 60, 70 times. It's a waste for England if people don't tap into that knowledge and experience.

"If you're 16, 18, 21 or if you're Ross Barkley, Dele Alli and you turn up and play for England, do you not want to see Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand? I'd have loved that. Let's use these players to make the national team better."

Perhaps this is one of the problems with English football, however, that players automatically believe that experience on the pitch is worth more than experience off it.

&#13; Allardyce is reluctant to use ex-players in his coaching set-up &#13; (Getty)

Would Gerrard and Lampard really be better placed to improve England’s players than Lee, Shakespeare or Clement, or any of the bright young coaches – Jason Wilcox, Lee Carsley, Steve Stone – that have built on successful playing careers by learning their trade on the training pitch?

After all, these are two of the most gifted players of recent years, yet neither was able to devise a tactical plan to ensure their partnership succeeded on England duty.

At club level, they could both impress and motivate young players with tales of how they won the Champions League, but how would they deal with a question about what it takes to succeed at international level or how to overcome the psychological barrier of progressing beyond the quarter-finals of a major tournament?

Sam Allardyce (right) speaks with Lee and Shakespeare during an England training session (Getty)

Lampard and Gerrard managed neither, so how much does their experience count in that situation?

Their England careers were ultimately stories about failure to deliver, so they hardly provide the best examples for those coming up behind them.

Will England really get better by indulging those who could not take their chance as players or should there simply be a clean slate, with the best coaches, rather than the best former players, being tasked with turning the team into winners?

Sammy Lee has followed Allardyce into the England set-up (Getty)

It can take as long as seven years for a player to gain the qualifications needed to coach in the Premier League and it is a road that involves lengthy days of study and pretty much going back to school.

Since St George’s Park opened its doors in October 2012, 1,398 coaches have attended Uefa A, B or Pro Licence courses at the National Football Centre and many have gone on to secure jobs on the coaching staff of leading clubs.

Germany coach Joachim Löw and Portugal coach Fernando Santos, who guided their teams to the last two major international titles, both became successful coaches after learning their trade following unremarkable playing careers.

Allardyce will hope to do the same with England in Russia in two years’ time having made his own lengthy journey to the top.

As for Gerrard and Lampard, and all the other recently-retired internationals who fancy a crack at coaching the new generation, the only way to earn the right to coach the best is by learning to be the best.

What happened on the pitch is part of the past that England, and Allardyce, so dearly need to move on from.

United exile summarises Schweinsteiger’s unfitting farewell

Bastian Schweinsteiger will win is 121st and final cap for Germany against Finland in Monchengladbach on Wednesday and it could be the Manchester United midfielder’s last appearance of any kind for a while.

Banished to the Under-21 dressing room at United by Jose Mourinho and told he has no future at the club, the World Cup winner goes into his farewell appearance for Germany with less than half of the 41,000 tickets sold.

Schweinsteiger ends his Germany career this week (Getty)

It is a sorry end to a glittering career and, unless United are prepared to rip out the remaining two years of his contract in order to help him secure a move to the MLS, Schweinsteiger faces an even longer farewell in Manchester.

Write Kane off at your peril

Harry Kane doesn’t enjoy August, having never scored a Premier League goal during the opening month of the campaign.

&#13; Kane is a regular slow starter, but he'll come good once again for club and country &#13; (Getty)

The Tottenham forward is often a slow starter, gaining momentum as the season goes on, so perhaps the first Sunday in September, against Slovakia in Trnava, would be the perfect time to start scoring again.