James Lawton: Back to basics policy is now a must to teach England virtues of keeping it real

No one showed the journey away from football reality more than David Beckham

Steve McClaren has yet to utter the phrase that so bedevilled the last days of John Major's political career, but at the dawn of his own as the man charged with re-building the nation's football team it is hard to believe he could saying anything more appropriate in the Old Trafford dressing-room tonight.

There might be catchier battle cries than "back to basics" before the friendly with Greece, but none would go so easily to the heart of a problem which threatens to turn, for one night at least, the "Theatre of Dreams" into a mausoleum of betrayed hope.

The tepid demand for tickets, everyone connected with the team should realise, is not the result of one lost tournament, one more anguished tearing down of the flags and all the unfounded optimism. It is what comes when the celebrity culture collides once too often with reality, what happens when a "golden generation" is feted too hard and believed in too much, and not least by themselves.

What the nation saw in England's dishevelled performance in the World Cup in Germany was that fame means nothing in football. You can sell millions of souvenir shirts across the globe, you can be marketed to the heavens, but you still have to go out and do it when it matters.

The tournament, England and their accompanying WAGs learnt in the Black Forest, was not Big Brother. It wasn't a popularity contest, something you could talk and posture your way through, borne ever upwards on a tide of tabloid publicity. You had to perform like Fabio Cannavaro or Maxi Rodriguez or, before he had his brainstorm, Zinedine Zidane, a man who remembered right up to his moment of supreme folly that reputations mean nothing when you are playing for the greatest prize in the world game. It is just you and what you have inside, what you have honed down the years and tested in the most significant way.

If McClaren does make a "back to basics" speech, he will not lack material - and not least from some of the more banal passages of the great tide of autobiography which was supposed to cash in on England's first World Cup triumph since 1966. Steven Gerrard at least had the grace to indict himself as one of the most prodigious writers of advertisements for himself.

Gerrard reflected that the optimism, of himself and his team-mates and the nation itself, was ridiculous - and should never be developed to such levels ever again. This was in refreshing contrast to many of the post-tournament euphemisms of Frank Lampard, arguably the most disappointing of all the golden generation when the action became decisive. Lampard was appalled by media criticism, said that he and his team-mates deserved more respect. He also wrote on the subject of Wayne Rooney's red-card meltdown, "Wayne Rooney assured me he didn't mean it" and then added, "Fair enough."

Unfortunately it was anything but fair enough. It was a terrible example of failed discipline - from the young player who for six solid weeks had been projected as England's best chance of making a serious impact on the World Cup. Of all the "golden generation", Rooney has most undisputed talent, most cachet, but when the final test came he failed.

Michael Owen swore that England, man for man, were the best team in the tournament, a view endorsed by Gary Lineker, who should have known better. If McClaren does indeed project seriously the need to return to some of the old truths of football, with the assistance of Terry Venables, a man who has played for his country at every possible level, he must hope the self-glorification will be tossed on to the bonfire of discredited vanities.

The fact is - and it would be churlish to deny it - McClaren has already made the most symbolically dramatic attack on the culture of England that crumbled so relentlessly in Germany.

In strictly football terms, some insisted that the ejection of David Beckham was harsh. At 31, he still offered formidable skill, if only from set pieces and when unencumbered by sound defensive marking out wide. But the truth, alongside his woeful general performance, was that no one represented the journey away from football reality more profoundly than Beckham. After his omission, he talked of his passion for England, and inevitably his apologists reached back for that day when it was most visible - when he scored the late free-kick that ensured England's qualification for the 2002 World Cup. Yes, indeed he ran prodigiously that day and finally he scored with the dead ball. But when Beckham led England to Germany his greatest glory in the nation's shirt was nearly five years old.

The golden generation cannot escape the harsh judgement that it was proved a myth. It simply didn't produce the results to justify such a description. Was it a golden generation when it foundered against the 10 men of Brazil, when it dissolved two years ago in the European Championship almost at the moment Rooney was injured? Was it the golden generation when it failed to produce a single cohesive performance against the likes of Paraguay, Trinidad, Sweden and Ecuador - and then shrank from the challenge of a weakened Portuguese team? What about the ransacking in Copenhagen by a Denmark who failed to qualify, or defeat by a Northern Ireland for whom scoring a goal had become an achievement of Himalayan proportion? Did they look like a golden generation two years ago when being outplayed by Spain and Sven Goran Eriksson was required to withdraw a Rooney who had slipped utterly out of control.

Beckham, Owen and Gerrard had an unforgettable night in Munich when they beat Germany 5-1, but that, too, was five years before the denouement in the Ruhr Valley.

It is true that under different, more intelligent and much less indulgent command something more might have been made of some undoubtedly impressive individual talent. But that didn't happen, and the self-regard reached levels that simply could not be supported this summer.

McClaren was part of the regime, of course, and we never heard him break ranks. Indeed, he once supported the view of Rio Ferdinand that the result not the performance was most important. But then to where did the single results lead? Some great expression of unity and confidence and certainty when the great challenge came? Hardly.

The new coach, it has to be hoped, knows better now. If he says that England have to return to basics, he will not be talking about the fundamentals of skill and tactics. He will be discussing an attitude of mind, an understanding that in the end there is only one truth and it will invade those who are not prepared, physically, or psychologically, for the highest challenge. Rooney has time to learn, to augment the brilliance of his talent with some greater knowledge of himself and the demands he faces. Gerrard and Lampard would no doubt benefit from a similar understanding.

It may be that there was significance in the fact that England's best player in Germany was Owen Hargreaves, someone detached from the loop of celebrity and self-lionisation. Perhaps he is the soundest model for young prospects like Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright-Phillips and Michael Dawson.

Perhaps he has something to offer far beyond the sum of his good talent. It is that in football you can never celebrate your triumphs before they happen. You cannot rehearse a clever line - a Big Brother campaign. You're not on a show. You are living reality.

Greek triumph and tragedy: A turbulent journey from European champions to an international football ban

How did Greece become European champions?

By not conceding a goal in the knock-out stages in Euro 2004, winning each game 1-0. Greece wore down their opponents, scoring goals at important times, in particular the 105th-minute decider in the semi-final against the Czech Republic.

What happened to Greece after that triumph?

They shot up the world rankings from 35th to 14th and were favourites to top their World Cup group. However, they failed to qualify. They are now ranked 32nd. England are fifth.

Why were the team banned from international football this year?

On 3 July, Fifa cited the Hellenic Football Federation for not being sufficiently independent from the Greek government, despite a previous warning in 2001. Fifa overturned the ban after the Greek parliament amended the offending laws.

Who is the coach?

Euro 2004 proved the value of the team over the individual. After leading Greece in Euro 2004, tactician Otto Rehhagel became the first foreigner to win "Greek of the Year" and is still coach.

Who are their key players?

Greece's failure to qualify for the World Cup finals Germany was blamed on a lack of form and the absence of defender Traianos Dellas and striker Angelos Charisteas from important games. Stelios Giannakopoulos was one of the few to improve after 2004 and was impressive for Bolton last season.

What next?

Greece are in a group with Turkey, Norway, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Hungary, Moldova and Malta for Euro 2008 qualification.

Robert Frische and Steve Attree