Football
PA Sport 8y

England fans expect long wait for major tournament success - survey

England's wait for another major tournament success will extend to more than 100 years, according to a new poll.

A survey of 1,000 men and women in England conducted by Usurv and commissioned by the Press Association asked when the national team would end their current barren run of half a century and win a World Cup or European Championship.

The highest percentage of respondents felt it would take more than 50 years from now for the team to triumph again at one of those tournaments -- 32 percent.

The national team are at a low ebb after their defeat to Iceland at the round of 16 of Euro 2016, a defeat which triggered the resignation of manager Roy Hodgson and left the Football Association searching for a successor.

July 30, 2016 will mark 50 years to the day since Bobby Moore captained England to World Cup glory with a 4-2 win over West Germany at Wembley in 1966.

Only seven percent of those surveyed backed England to win a tournament within the next five years, suggesting there is very little national confidence in the team achieving success at the 2018 World Cup in Russia or in the 2020 European Championship which concludes in England.

Twenty percent of respondents felt England could win a trophy within five to 10 years, a period which includes the 2022 World Cup in Qatar which outgoing FA chairman Greg Dyke had targeted as one to win.

Those expecting a wait of between 10 and 20 years was at 22 percent and 19 percent of those surveyed felt it would take between 20 and 50 years, but almost a third of those surveyed thought England's fans would be waiting more than 50 years for a major title.

The survey found that men were more pessimistic than women, with 39 percent of male respondents saying they expected it would take England more than 50 years to win again compared to 25 percent of women.

Yorkshire was the most pessimistic region, with 38 percent of respondents expecting to wait more than 50 years to see England win a major tournament again. The most optimistic group were those surveyed in the east midlands, with 14 percent backing England to win a tournament in the next five years.

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