Rome Wasn't Built in a Day, Chapter C; Never change a winning team

In 1963, England got around to appointing their first manager. The days of teams picked by committee were over, but after scaling the summit of world football, by 1974 they were back in the dumps.

c. Never change a winning team

The last goal of England’s 6-3 home defeat to Hungary had been scored by Alf Ramsey of Tottenham Hotspur. Slightly less than a decade later, he was back as the England manager. His managerial career had begun in the summer of 1955, when he joined an Ipswich Town team that had just been relegated into the Third Division South. The club had wanted him to sign as player-manager but Ramsey refused, stating that he wanted to concentrate on management.

Seven years later, Ipswich were the champions of England. In his second season at Portman Road he took them back up, and in 1961 they won the Second Division title, capping it all off by winning the First Division at the very first attempt. When Ipswich started the following season poorly, Ramsey insisted on staying with them until the end of the 1962/63 season even though he accepted the offer of the position at the end of the previous October. Ipswich finished the season in 17th place in the table.

Ramsey knew when he accepted the job that radical changes were needed if England were going to improve, and the most visible change that he demanded was complete control of all team affairs. The FA had little choice but to give it to him. The days of the national team being picked by an FA selection committee, an anachronistic state of affairs with its roots firmly planted in the 19th century, were finally over.