FA want answers from Aidy Boothroyd over England U21 failure

Eliminated: England finished their Group C campaign with a 3-3 draw against Croatia
PA
James Olley25 June 2019

Aidy Boothroyd will be asked to explain England’s disappointing performance at the European Under-21 Championship, but his position is not thought to be under immediate threat.

England finished their Group C campaign with a 3-3 against Croatia having already been eliminated following defeats in their first two matches against France and Romania.

Boothroyd’s management has been questioned during the tournament in Italy, not least his use of Manchester City prodigy Phil Foden, who was rested against Romania despite scoring a superb goal against France.

There was also the public admission that Aaron Wan-Bissaka — who scored a stoppage-time own-goal against Italy which condemned England to defeat — had been distracted by continuing speculation over a proposed move from Crystal Palace to Manchester United.

Wan-Bissaka was dropped against Romania and Croatia, while Foden was recalled last night despite England’s exit already being confirmed. It is standard practice for the FA to hold a detailed debrief and Boothroyd is set to face questions over a variety of decisions which also include leaving out Everton forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who impressed in qualifying.

But the 48-year-old signed a two-year contract extension in May tying him to the post until 2021 and stated after England’s defeat to Romania that he had no intention of walking away.

That would mean the FA would have to take action, but Boothroyd has credit in the bank given England’s Under-21 success at the Toulon Tournament last summer and the development of several players into Gareth Southgate’s senior side since the latter replaced Sam Allardyce.

There is also understood to be some sympathy for Boothroyd over England’s involvement in the inaugural Nations League finals this summer.

Southgate selected a youthful squad in Portugal which featured several players who would have been eligible for the Under-21s, including Jadon Sancho and Joe Gomez.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in