England won't win the World Cup again in my lifetime - Hurst

Three Lions legend Sir Geoff Hurst admitted last night: “England will never win the World Cup again in my lifetime.”

On a goodwill visit to Azerbaijan - home of iconic 1966 World Cup final linesman Tofiq Bakhramov - Hurst, now 69, threw in the towel.

Still the only man to score a hat-trick in the biggest game of them all, Hurst warned English football was doomed to another generation of failure - because the Premier League has become all-powerful.

Hurst also said the FA’s gamble on paying foreigns up to £6.5million-a-year to end the nation's 45 years of hurt had not paid off.

Admitting he took no pleasure in his view, Hurst said: “I fear we won’t win the World Cup again in my lifetime, because the national side is no longer the priority.

“In the past, I’ve always backed us to do well and last year I thought we had a genuine chance in South Africa, but it turned out to be the worst World Cup campaign we’ve ever had. A disaster from start to finish.

“Winning the World Cup remains the ultimate goal for English football, but too many people only pay lip-service to it as a holy grail.

“The Premier League is a fantastic product, but the club v country issue is more of an obstacle now than it has ever been.

“It irritates me when I hear of players retiring from international football because it doesn’t dovetail with their club commitments.

“We also have to accept that the experiment of hiring foreign managers has not made our results at major tournaments any better.

“For the amount of money we have paid the last two managers, results at the last three World Cups have been no better than under home-grown coaches.

“Fabio Capello came to England with a fantastic record, and he qualified for South Africa comfortably, but he made a big mistake last summer - which he has admitted - by taking the squad away to a camp in the Alps as soon as the season was over and training the players twice a day.

“He didn’t understand the lads needed a break because the culture of our Premier League is different to any other league on the continent.

“Barcelona and Real Madrid are fantastic sides, but they are so far ahead they can stroll a lot of games in La Liga - English football is so competitive you have to perform flat-out for 90 minutes every week, so in terms of physicality we look tired and jaded.”

Hurst believes Harry Redknapp should be named as national coach when Don Fabio leaves Wembley after Euro 2012 - not because they were once team-mates at West Ham, but because he is the best current English manager.

Redknapp steered Tottenham to the Champions League quarter-finals last season and Hurst said: “When I played with Harry at West Ham, he was just about the last bloke you would have picked out as a future manager.

“But everywhere he has gone, from Bournemouth to West Ham, Portsmouth and Tottenham, his sides have played good football and the players have responded to him.

“He finished fifth and seventh in the Premier League at West Ham - they wouldn’t mind some of that now , would they?

“For all the problems that come with the England job, if anyone can overcome them and take the team forward, Harry can.”

Players should NEVER retire from England duty says Geoff Hurst