Following England's second round knockout loss to Germany, the UK's leading takeaway website commissioned research of 1641 English fans to investigate attitudes towards the national football squad and their performance at the FIFA 2010 World Cup.
In response to the volume of people talking about England's performances and subsequent exit at the World Cup, the UK's leading takeaway website http://www.Just-Eat.co.uk decided to find out just how fans of the team felt in relation to the unsuccessful campaign.
www.Just-Eat.co.uk found just 19% of England fans believe Italian-born Fabio Capello should retain his job as national manager, according to the survey, with 81% expressing dismay at the fact he was able to renegotiate his contract prior to the World Cup.
When asked by Just-Eat the multi-answer question, "What do you think is the main reason England failed to go further in the competition?", 67% said they thought the lack of 'home-grown talent' in the Premiership was to blame, with 21% suggesting that 'internal issues' could have directly affected the team.
46% said losing captain Rio Ferdinand to injury affected the team negatively, while 18% say 'media attention' potentially had something to do with it.
83% of people blamed Fabio Capello's team selection, whilst 56% said they thought his insistence on maintaining a 4-4-2 formation hampered any chance England had of making it further in the competition.
When asked "How did England's progress at the World Cup make you feel, as a fan?" just 6% said the performances made them 'optimistic' about England's footballing future, compared to 62% of people that said it made them feel 'ashamed'.
46% of the respondents said they thought the commercialisation of the game, namely the big-money marketing campaigns involving players prior to the World Cup could have negatively affected the mentality of the squad.
David Buttress, managing director of Just-Eat had the following to say, "Love it or hate it, football is a matter of national pride, and quite frankly, it's difficult to defend the performance of England throughout their brief World Cup campaign.
"Takeaway food has long been an important social aspect of supporting your team, so it was no surprise to see thousands of our customers getting involved in debates before, during and since the competition. However, the sheer volume of talk surrounding England's failings made us want to look deeper at just why people believe Fabio and the squad got it so wrong."
He continued, "I personally believe a number of factors were key in the team's general poor performance. Of course, losing your captain in the build-up to a World Cup campaign is going to damage the teams moral somewhat, but I have to question whether it is singly accountable for losing, or if it is as simple as England not having enough talent."
