Items to consider:
- post-imperial malaise – a mix of nostalgia, self-esteem issues and residual (but still utterly pervasive) sense of entitlement resulting from lost “greatness”.
- post-war malaise – being on the winning side in WW2 meant we *survived* rather than *triumphed*. There are two outcomes: 1) a siege mentality (this may actually predate the war) and 2) where’s our bloody prize?
- national achievement vs club-level achievement. Apart from a hiatus resulting from the European ban in the late 1980s, English clubs have done exceedingly well in European competitions. The Premiership is the richest, and possibly the best, league in the world. What possible excuse can there be for the national team consistently struggling?
- being an island race, Britain is extremely jingoistic, almost xenophobic. Britiain is *not* European: Britain stands alone. The fact that it’s 1,000 years since we were last successfully invaded probably also contributes to our failure to process national shortcomings. See also siege mentality above.
- under-performance against expectation: apart from two very notable exceptions – Italia 90 and Euro 96 – every England team since 1970 has failed to live up to potential, frequently as a result of self-sabotage: missing penalties; unnecessary sendings off; forgetting to pass to players on the same side; unbelievable team / squad selection (e.g. WC2006, where our “manager” selected 4 strikers: two were injured, and one has never played a senior game in the top division (he wasn’t used)). In the two exceptions I mentioned (1990, 1996), there was great support and jubilation. However, it was swiftly followed by a resumption of normal service, which resulted in a reversion to sullen, morose and pessimistic type by supporters
- British values: doggedness in the face of adversity, humility, standing up to bullies, admitting to mistakes, self-containment, self-deprecation, putting the team before the self. Demonstrated by the England set up, from FA Chairman to players, by, er, no-one
- The British press. You’d be hard pushed to find a serious football fan who believed we were going to win the 2006 world cup, for example. But the papers said we would. The casual fans believed it. We failed to do so. Serious fans said “Yup, as expected”. The press said “We were robbed” or “we were rubbish”. Casual fans were confused and bemused

> Would another World Cup win achieve this?

To an extent. But only if followed by some reasonably consistent football. Not winning everything – just decent performances.

> Why didn’t the Rugby win do the same thing?

Rugby is not a populist sport in England (it *is* popular, but is not populist). A triumph in basketball, an international spelling bee, or world cup knitting would also not address the problem. The nearest analogy would be winning the Ashes in cricket – but again, if this is immediately followed by crumbling under the next available pressure, it seems like self-defeatism.