England‘s so-called “Golden Generation” probably thought the struggle to live up to that moniker ended with their playing days. Shortly after Sven Goran-Eriksson’s side went to Munich and thrashed Germany 5-1 in a 2002 World Cup qualifier, a slightly giddy Football Association chief executive named Adam Crozier coined the phrase to describe a team with seemingly boundless potential.
Frank Lampard, John Terry, Steven Gerrard, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Michael Owen would soon be joined by Wayne Rooney bursting onto the scene to increase the hype around a group of individuals excelling at club level.
Between 1999 and 2012, English clubs won the Champions League four times with only Spain winning more (five) in that period. Premier League titles were contested with English players at the vanguard of the race as Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea tussled at the top. Yet that undeniably talented group fell short at both Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup — exiting both tournaments at the quarterfinal stage — before failing to qualify for Euro 2008 and, as if to complete the circle, by 2010 they were hammered 4-1 by a youthful Germany side in a World Cup last-16 tie.
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The Germans did it when it mattered and four years later in Brazil, they were world champions.
Reflecting on that England team’s shortcomings, Gary Neville said in 2014: “If people ask, ‘What is the biggest regret of your career?’ my answer never changes. I always say: England. But if I could return to one moment and make it different — change a small event to produce a happier outcome — it would be 27 minutes into the England vs. Portugal Euro 2004 quarterfinal, when Rooney limped off with a broken metatarsal. We drew 2-2 after extra time in that game but lost 6-5 on penalties.
“Euro 2004 could have been ours. Of all the tournaments I played in during the 2002 to 2010 period, that was the one we could have won. In that first half-hour Rooney was ripping Portugal to shreds. They couldn’t handle him. We were in control of the game, with a starting XI of: David James, Neville, Terry, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, Scholes, Owen and Rooney.”
If that team — celebrating its 20th anniversary this year — was the apotheosis of the “Golden Generation” era, it serves as a reference point for the relative failure that followed.
Many went on to be highly decorated at club level — Neville, Terry, Cole, Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, Scholes and Rooney all won the Champions League. That lineup can count 44 Premier League winners medals among them. Owen won the 2001 Ballon d’Or. Yet this talented group was never able to translate that success to the international stage, and the evidence is mounting that they face a similar uphill battle as managers.
Rooney became the latest in this select group to endure another managerial failure, sacked by Birmingham City last week after just 83 days and 15 games in charge. Neville, Lampard, Gerrard and Scholes have all struggled in the dugout as they did playing for England. So were the “Golden Generation” always fated to live in the shadow of that nickname, or is there a deeper reason behind their shortcomings?
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Lampard took Derby to the Championship playoff final in 2019, where they lost to Villa, and that achievement was enough to earn him the chance to manage Chelsea, albeit in tough circumstances with the club serving a transfer ban.
In a departure from the norm at Stamford Bridge, Lampard promoted young players including Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham and guided Chelsea to a fourth place in the Premier League and an FA Cup final defeat to Arsenal. However, there were often grumblings about his tactics and sources told ESPN that several players complained about his man-management, believing they received insufficient explanation why they were not in the team. Chelsea spent heavily when the FIFA ban was lifted, and expectations increased even as performances did not.
Lampard would later help steer Everton away from the relegation zone, but he won just 12 of his 43 matches in charge and was sacked, resurfacing at Chelsea on an interim basis to preside over a dismal end to the 2023-24 campaign, winning one of his 11 games.
Again, the club was in limbo under new ownership and awaiting a permanent appointment as manager, but Lampard’s inability to organise a disparate group casts doubt over how successful he could ever be in the dugout. As a player who continued well into his mid-30s and consequently had his game-time managed, it remains a surprise his communication skills were criticised by so many.
Others from the “Golden Generation” tried and failed with lightning speed. Gary Neville was sacked by Valencia after four months in charge, later admitting he did not sufficiently understand LaLiga, the Spanish culture or the language. Paul Scholes managed League Two side Oldham Athletic — his boyhood club — for 31 days before resigning amid complaints he was not given the level of control he anticipated. John Terry has worked effectively as an assistant coach at Aston Villa and briefly at Leicester City before returning to work in Chelsea’s academy, where Ashley Cole has also been employed.
Sol Campbell left League Two side Macclesfield Town after eight months amid the club’s financial difficulties after avoiding relegation on the final day of the 2018-19 season. He dipped his toe again at Southend United in Oct. 2019, but left the following June by mutual consent after they were relegated from League One. David James managed Indian Super League side Kerala Blasters — where he finished his playing career — in two short spells.
Perhaps Beckham had it right all along, eschewing the pitfalls of management to become a team owner with inter Miami making waves in Major League Soccer with Lionel Messi‘s arrival heralding a new era for United States football.
All in all, it is an extremely modest post-playing list of achievement for some of the game’s finest talents from the 2000s. It is not an affliction consigned to England — Thierry Henry, Andrea Pirlo and Fabio Cannavaro are just three examples of supremely gifted players elsewhere in Europe who have not had the managerial careers many anticipated.
Ultimately, the correlation between playing ability and managerial ability is not a straight line. Zinedine Zidane, Carlo Ancelotti, Diego Simeone and Guardiola prove a high level can be sustained across the two disciplines, but Klopp, Mourinho and Lionel Scaloni had modest playing careers only to win some of the game’s biggest prizes as managers.
Guardiola, Xavi and Mikel Arteta came through together at Barcelona and are all competing at the highest level in the dugout. Simeone had Mauricio Pochettino for company in the Argentina team which lost to England in the 2002 World Cup group stage. Yet England’s “Golden Generation” is still waiting to produce a truly elite, successful manager.
Crozier and that nickname still have a lot to answer for.
