Joe Davis column: EFL experience has helped to mould England's players

At the height of the pandemic, we feared for the future of the English Football League. The clubs that formed this country’s proud and fiercely competitive football pyramid were struggling to keep their heads above water due to losses in revenue.

Macclesfield Town, who spent 17 years in the EFL across two spells, were the first to fold during the financial plight, while players and coaches sought career changes to put food on the table at one point.

Upon the abrupt curtailment of the 2020/21 season, the football community made their voices heard and eventually it was the Premier League’s £250m bailout package that kept clubs afloat.

It was a significant moment because of the role our lower league clubs play in powering the conveyor belt of homegrown talent.

The reason for me rewinding to those precarious times is because we are reaping the rewards of that bailout today as we witness players like Jude Bellingham, a product of Birmingham City’s academy, excel on the World Cup stage.

In fact, a staggering 23 of the 26-man England squad either came through an EFL academy, played in the EFL via the loan system or made their professional debut in an EFL competition.

Harry Maguire and Kyle Walker are from Sheffield United’s academy, John Stones rose through the Barnsley ranks, while James Maddison and Callum Wilson shot onto the scene at Coventry City.

Jordan Pickford made his league debut for Burton Albion and captain Harry Kane got his first taste of first-team football with Leyton Orient in League One.

There is a certain grit-your-teeth attitude about the aforementioned nurtured in the lower tiers.

Maguire’s ability to shrug off the barrage of criticism and Kane’s ice-cold composure leading his team epitomise that.

I put that down to their upbringing and how different it was to those that graduated through Premier League academies.

Having come through at Port Vale at 18, I was exposed to the ruthless, cut-throat environment of League Two, where players and coaches would scrap for points.

If you wore anything other than black boots you would get hammered. You would make tea for the manager on the way to away games, help load the bus and show respect to the experienced professionals. If you let the team down, you knew about it.

It was a sink or swim environment and those who swam at an early age would generally go on to have decent careers.

I witnessed the other side when I moved to Premier League newbies Leicester City at 20. You got looked after – steaks for lunch, boots cleaned, kit laid out for you.

It was a culture of professionalism with in-depth, technical coaching but all the pressure that exists in the lower reaches – the anxieties around earning another one-year deal or the unrelenting drive to bring home three precious points – wasn’t there.

We will need to display all those qualities to overcome world champions France.