The first installment of the famous F365 Euro 2024 England Ladder plays a load of guessing games
The English scale is dead, long live the English scale.
The World Cup is over, and just like that, we turn our attention back to 18 months at the Euros and try to figure out what the England squad might look like by then. It's always incredibly difficult - when we did our last World Cup ranking in September, Callum Wilson didn't make 50, which is the latest in a long line of times we've regretted our commitment towards Phil Neville - but this one in particular.
Call it getting our apologies early if you like, but it's pretty tricky to do when you're trying to get inside the head of a manager you've spent six years mastering. Now we have to try and consider a) the percentage chance of Gareth Southgate staying on as England manager and b) who could take over if he leaves. Again, the scale is as always our best guess of what the England manager thinks, which now includes trying to work out how we feel about his answer to 'Should I continue as a that England manager?" maybe.
This list is going to be even more wrong than usual in a few months, that's what we're saying here. But anyway, knock yourself out…
1 (2) Declan Rice got a precious half-hour off against Wales once top spot in the group was all but assured, but that was the only time Gareth Southgate felt comfortable playing. not having Rice on the court. To be honest, even then we were a bit unsure about it. It's not just how good Rice is, it's how well Rice plays alongside Jude Bellingham and it's not just how well Rice plays alongside Bellingham, it's how point they both seem utterly irreplaceable by any other midfield option available to England.
2 (5) Jude Bellingham's why this absurd teenager overtakes some senior team-mates to take second place in the Euro 2024 top rankings. Rice is 23 and Bellingham is 19; looks like the first two places on the ladder could be sewn up for quite a while, right? Probably until the seas rise and claim us all around 2029.
3 (1) Harry Kane There were wild talks during the World Cup that Gareth Southgate should drop Kane and pick Callum Wilson. There are wild talks now that 29-year-old Kane should be on the 'phased-out' list. There's no one left - not Wilson, not Ivan Toney, not Tammy Abraham, not etc. etc etc – halfway able to deliver what Kane offers and that's not preparation for a weak joke on penalty. He never had much pace to lose anyway, reads the game better than most CMs and has all sorts of smart, tricky little youngsters to run for him. England are better with Kane. This is unquestionably true today and will certainly be true 18 months from now. We hope and expect some sort of challenge by 2026, if we're being honest.
4 (3) Jordan PickfordCould he have done better with France's first goal? Maybe? It still feels like there's a bit of harsh talk about it, with the most egregious mistake being the referee Southgate being far too nice to be rude to, but we don't have a such scruples. There's currently no face we'd rather see in a tournament goal for England than Jordan Pickford's angry little one after he was forced to do literally any goalkeeper. He has now played in three major tournaments, and he is still only 28 years old. There's no worry either way: either Pickford is in goal for England, which is fine, or someone did something remarkably good to move him, which is fine too. We can't see who that someone might be right now, if we're being honest.
5 (5) John StonesIt's the season for all those fools in 'England's starting XI for the 2026 World Cup' to hit the net (seriously, guys, it's hard enough to trying to pick a roster of 50 for a tournament round the corner, trust us). Although it's a literally impossible task – begrudgingly hats off to any seer who had a 15-year-old Jude Bellingham as England's starter nailed after the last World Cup – we're slightly surprised to see that so far just about everything the world thinks England will have grown from what in 2026 will be a 32-year-old John Stones. We'd be amazed if he's not still a top-choice starter for England in the USA/Mexico/Canada and absolutely flabbergasted if he isn't in 18 months, which is our immediate concern here. . Not faultless, but it's a class act and...
The English scale is dead, long live the English scale.
The World Cup is over, and just like that, we turn our attention back to 18 months at the Euros and try to figure out what the England squad might look like by then. It's always incredibly difficult - when we did our last World Cup ranking in September, Callum Wilson didn't make 50, which is the latest in a long line of times we've regretted our commitment towards Phil Neville - but this one in particular.
Call it getting our apologies early if you like, but it's pretty tricky to do when you're trying to get inside the head of a manager you've spent six years mastering. Now we have to try and consider a) the percentage chance of Gareth Southgate staying on as England manager and b) who could take over if he leaves. Again, the scale is as always our best guess of what the England manager thinks, which now includes trying to work out how we feel about his answer to 'Should I continue as a that England manager?" maybe.
This list is going to be even more wrong than usual in a few months, that's what we're saying here. But anyway, knock yourself out…
1 (2) Declan Rice got a precious half-hour off against Wales once top spot in the group was all but assured, but that was the only time Gareth Southgate felt comfortable playing. not having Rice on the court. To be honest, even then we were a bit unsure about it. It's not just how good Rice is, it's how well Rice plays alongside Jude Bellingham and it's not just how well Rice plays alongside Bellingham, it's how point they both seem utterly irreplaceable by any other midfield option available to England.
2 (5) Jude Bellingham's why this absurd teenager overtakes some senior team-mates to take second place in the Euro 2024 top rankings. Rice is 23 and Bellingham is 19; looks like the first two places on the ladder could be sewn up for quite a while, right? Probably until the seas rise and claim us all around 2029.
3 (1) Harry Kane There were wild talks during the World Cup that Gareth Southgate should drop Kane and pick Callum Wilson. There are wild talks now that 29-year-old Kane should be on the 'phased-out' list. There's no one left - not Wilson, not Ivan Toney, not Tammy Abraham, not etc. etc etc – halfway able to deliver what Kane offers and that's not preparation for a weak joke on penalty. He never had much pace to lose anyway, reads the game better than most CMs and has all sorts of smart, tricky little youngsters to run for him. England are better with Kane. This is unquestionably true today and will certainly be true 18 months from now. We hope and expect some sort of challenge by 2026, if we're being honest.
4 (3) Jordan PickfordCould he have done better with France's first goal? Maybe? It still feels like there's a bit of harsh talk about it, with the most egregious mistake being the referee Southgate being far too nice to be rude to, but we don't have a such scruples. There's currently no face we'd rather see in a tournament goal for England than Jordan Pickford's angry little one after he was forced to do literally any goalkeeper. He has now played in three major tournaments, and he is still only 28 years old. There's no worry either way: either Pickford is in goal for England, which is fine, or someone did something remarkably good to move him, which is fine too. We can't see who that someone might be right now, if we're being honest.
5 (5) John StonesIt's the season for all those fools in 'England's starting XI for the 2026 World Cup' to hit the net (seriously, guys, it's hard enough to trying to pick a roster of 50 for a tournament round the corner, trust us). Although it's a literally impossible task – begrudgingly hats off to any seer who had a 15-year-old Jude Bellingham as England's starter nailed after the last World Cup – we're slightly surprised to see that so far just about everything the world thinks England will have grown from what in 2026 will be a 32-year-old John Stones. We'd be amazed if he's not still a top-choice starter for England in the USA/Mexico/Canada and absolutely flabbergasted if he isn't in 18 months, which is our immediate concern here. . Not faultless, but it's a class act and...
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