Steve Peters, the psychiatrist tasked with helping England’s footballers prepare for major tournaments, is unlikely to be kept on as part of the new management regime despite plans at the Football Association to expand that side of the operation.
Peters, recruited before the 2014 World Cup with Steven Gerrard among those endorsing his work to Roy Hodgson, is a popular figure with several England players and well respected within his industry because of his work at Liverpool as well as with Sir Chris Hoy, Ronnie O’Sullivan and members of Team GB at the London Olympics.
No blame is being apportioned to him for the way England’s players, in the words of the FA chairman, Greg Dyke, “froze” and were “scared” during their ignominious Euro 2016 defeat against Iceland but Peters has been part of an unsuccessful regime and the people tasked with finding a new manager appear to be going in a different direction.
The FA has already brought in the sports company, Lane 4, set up in 1988 by the former Olympic gold-medallist swimmer Adrian Moorhouse, to work with every level of the national side from under-21s down. The idea is that this might now be expanded to include the senior team for the first time, with the sports psychologist Jonathan Zneimer taking a more influential role.
Zneimer, one of Lane 4’s partners, was seconded to work with the FA in January as part of a new team set up by Dave Reddin, the organisation’s head of performance services, to increase the focus on working on the players’ minds and improving teamwork. Zneimer was involved with England’s ladies side in their third-placed finish in the 2015 World Cup and has also worked for Arsenal, as well as being on the Psychology Advisory Group of the British Olympic Association.
Reddin’s own performance has come under scrutiny after England’s latest disappointment and the man who helped mastermind English rugby union’sWorld Cup success in 2003 has become a divisive figure at the FA during a turbulent year of cutbacks and changes behind the scenes.
Reddin, who had no football background before his appointment in late-2014, has been trying to put in place a period of change, with the backing of the FA’s technical director, Dan Ashworth, but has encountered resistance to his methods and is not always popular among his colleagues.
