Arrogant and one-dimensional, England need institutional change to move out of dark ages

It has been the most tumultuous of weeks in a land once full of hope and glory, but after a nation became bitterly divided amidst the biggest political shift in history, England gave fans back home further reason to be fearful on the French Riviera.

Much like the flailing Conservative hierarchy, Hodgson didn’t seem to have a plan for the tenacious European Championship first-timers and would have had to come up with an Article 50 lifeline of his own to avoid that P45 coming his way after such a shambolic defeat.

It was a very British exit. Nobody even considered that a country with the population less than that of Croydon could pull of such a feat, and just as David Cameron comfortably sat in 10 Downing Street assuming that the nation would stick to keeping things just as they were, Hodgson lacked ideas, creativity, and some basic planning was remarkably overlooked. Arrogance is an imperial characteristic that the English cannot seem to shift.

The Iceland fervent following have been having a ball in scorching conditions on the Nice beaches for the past few days, but the locals better get used to the usually serene Cote d’Azur being more chaotic in the aftermath of such a result.

It wasn't even that big of a surprise. Before the match at the magnificent Allianz Riviera stadium, fans and journalists alike saw it coming: “The country is a mess, and so is the team,” was a common theme.

Whereas Antonio Conte adapts his Italy system to fit his players, Hodgson seems to just play the players who he feels are ready to produce the goods, sticking them into his 4-3-3 formation.

However, there have been sides set up much more disjointedly by previous coaches - playing Daniel Sturridge out wide, for example, was ill-advised with hindsight but it might have worked. The problems run much deeper into the psyche of Englishness than that.

Experts and fans alike were predicting that a first goal for the Three Lions would see them on their way to a comfortable victory over the “plucky” Nordic minnows, and that age-old arrogance clearly set in after England were gifted an early penalty following Hannes Halldorsson's foul on Raheem Sterling.

“Their game plan was probably to shut us off from early on, and I think they thought they did. To get an equaliser so early on was huge psychological advantage to us.” Iceland coach Heimir Hallgrimsson proclaimed post-match. In other words, they were just waiting for England to implode.

84 seconds elapsed before Ragnar Sigurdsson popped up with a volleyed leveller, but the manner in which it came about was almost laughable.

Speaking to the media two days before the last-16 clash, Hodgson was adamant that he and his staff - one coach in particular is very familiar with a long throw - had a plan in place to nullify the threat of Cardiff City's Aron Gunnarsson's long-throw missiles; less than six minutes on the clock and the England coach was made to look mightily foolish.

The question has to be, if England were prepared to cancel out Gunnarsson, why on earth was Wayne Rooney marking the Icelandic aerial dynamo of Kari Arnason when Gunnarson’s throw landed right on his head, allowing the defender to set up man of the match Sigurdsson for the equaliser?

This was a greater shock than when the men from down under embarrassed their discoverers at Upton Park in 2003, Stanley Matthews and co’s incredible loss to then footballing minnows USA, and even arguably as seismic as the “your boys took one hell of a beating” Norway loss in 1983.

The scenes at the end were magical, with England fans looking on with a wry smile as Iceland players initiated the spine-tingling chant first conjured by club side Stjarnan - a series of claps followed by the most booming of grunts.

Then, the country's president got involved. Can you imagine David Cameron speeding onto the pitch, spinning in glorious pirouette after an England success?

In contrast, the ill-feeling down the other end was clear for all to hear as the famous old “you’re not fit to wear the shirt” was channelled in the direction of the sunken England flops.

Hodgson was right to go after such a humiliation, but the underlying mentality of a nation that feels like it deserves success for founding the beautiful game has to be eradicated, from top to bottom. The resignation has to be only the first step.

Sticking to their old ways, rigid systems, the “put another striker on” philosophy will see the next coach suffer the same fate. Seven knockout tournament wins since 1966 isn’t down to individual coaches, it is much bigger than that.