World Cup: What Might England's 2022 Line-up Look Like?
Manager - Gary Neville
Age in 2022: 47
Currently: England coach, 85 England caps
Roy Hodgson will be 75 by 2022. Even if he does enjoy more success than his immediate predecessors, he will not still be in the job that long. How smooth the transition is to his replacement, though, depends on Hodgson doing well enough to leave on his own terms rather than being pushed out.
Of course part of the reason that Hodgson is in the job in the first place is the lack of talented English managers at the top level. It's very possible, then, that, like with Sven Goran Eriksson or Fabio Capello, England will appoint a foreign manager to try and deliver the World Cup in 2022. If, however, Hodgson does well enough to pass things on to a successor of his choice then it is likely to be somebody from his current team.
Neville's appointment by Hodgson as a coach with England implies that Hodgson perceives him as someone capable of running the national team after he retires. Neville has the strong international experience as a player that will earn the respect of today's generation of players, but is completely unproven as a coach or manager. If he does well working with Hodgson then this is likely, but he could equally fail completely.
Other possible contenders: Nigel Adkins (age 57 in 2022), Karl Robinson (42 in 2022), Gareth Southgate (52 in 2022), Paul Ince (54 in 2022), Chris Powell (53 in 2022)
Another member of Hodgson's current team who could stand a chance is Under-21 manager Gareth Southgate. Not such a great player for his country than Neville but still one with a decent amount of international playing experience, Southgate has not shown a great deal of managerial quality in the past at Middlesbrough. A good performance with the Under-21s could still make him a contender for the top job, though.
In his time at Southampton and, before that, at Scunthorpe Adkins showed himself to be one of England's best young managers. On a similar note MK Dons' Karl Robinson is tipped as a future managerial success, having been a league manager since the age of 30. Neither would stand a chance of getting the job if Hodgson leaves after 2014, but may if they get an opportunity to manage a big Premier League club in the next few years.
If England would rather go the route of a former player then the previously mentioned Paul Ince has the experience of a former England captain and has a good managerial record as Robinson's predecessor at Milton Keynes and at Blackpool, albeit less successful in his only spell as a top flight manager at Blackburn.
Is this a line-up that could plausibly defeat the world, then? It's potentially a much better England team than the current one, but World Champions? Probably not unless every one of these players lives up to their potential and doesn't go off the rails, which given the various dodgy temperaments involved seems unlikely. Of course another generation of young players will emerge between now and 2022, England are going to have to hope that that is where their 2022 secret weapon comes from.