Greg Dyke: ‘We’ll shoot ourselves if England crash out at Euro 2016 group stage’

Qualification looks a simple enough task for Roy Hodgson’s side in France, with Russia, Slovakia and Wales unlikely to provide a combined threat that eliminates the Three Lions – especially given that four out of six third-placed teams will progress from the group stage to the last 16.

[EURO PICKS: Make your Euro 2016 predictions]

"I think we'll all shoot ourselves if we don't get out of the group," said Dyke, who was launching a year-long 50th anniversary celebration of England’s 1966 World Cup triumph.

"But I wouldn't put that as the definition of success. I really can't say - it would be completely unfair because of the discussions with Roy to say publicly what we see as the definition of success.

"But clearly we've got to get out of that group. If we don't get out of that group then that really is bad news for English football."

England have rarely featured at the latter stages of international tournaments since their victory on home soil, making just one World Cup and one European Championship semi-final - losing on penalties both times, to West Germany in 1990 and the recently-reunified Germany in 1996.

"We owe it to a generation of teenage dreamers to show we can do it again," he said.

"The FA is the richest FA in the world, the most income. The FA has to take some of the blame.

"We should have won a tournament in the last 50 years. We haven't. But we will win in the next 50 years, hopefully long before."

Euro 2016 gets underway on June 10.

An unwise choice of words, but hopefully not enough to get the PC brigade into full swing. Anyway, England should get out of their group without fuss. Whether they can go beyond the last 16 or quarter-finals, however, is dubious. They always creak under their first meaningful test, and will probably need a healthy dose of luck if they are to make much progress in the knockout stages of the tournament.