Tucked away fairly quietly in the Daily Telegraph this afternoon: the Government borrowed £13.3bn last month, £1bn more than analysts expected and a blow to Chancellor George Osborne. For once, a market observer makes a very telling point (my emphasis):

‘Samuel Tombs, senior UK economist at Capital Economics, said: “May’s public borrowing figures contained tentative signs that the coalition is struggling to bring down the deficit in line with the fiscal plans this year….the real concern lies not in the strength of spending….Instead, tax receipts have continued to disappoint. Growth in receipts is therefore falling short of the recovery in nominal GDP.”

If you balance these latest data atop the mountain of other evidence contradicting The Draper’s Drivel, it really would be very hard to avoid an avalanche of nay-saying facts.

Across the globe in the economic sense, in January this year, the World Bank expected ‘a Rebound in 2014 [with a] faster increase in public and private investment and policy reform to drive productivity’. Eleven days ago, the World Bank cut its growth forecast for the global economy in 2014 following a weak start to the year in both rich and poor countries.

Or, put another way, the World Bank’s optimism was complete bollocks.

And after two less than glorious 2-1 defeats, England has failed to progress beyond even the Group stages.

The media are full of the why’s on this one, but they are all short term and narrow. As to how we ensure that England reaches a World Cup final by 2022, the answer for me is very simple: an annual tax on the FA, Newscorp profits and Premiership clubs….with a view to creating a ring-fenced college of football excellence for promising youngsters.

I have resisted commenting on England’s performances in Brazil, because it seemed rather too gloaty of me to predict an early exit and then revel in its occurrence. But our problem here is, as ever, neoliberal greed, media hype and the belief that money alone is all the Beautiful Game needs. What the English game needs is dedicated coaches teaching inspired kids that glory and entertainment are more important than money….while athletic self-respect and commitment will produce long term achievement – not big salaries, prostitutes, gambling, and booze.