Cast your minds back to the 1998 World Cup in France and try and recall how much it meant to you for England to do well. Tears were shed across the country as Paul Ince and David Batty missed their penalties to condemn England to a penalty shoot out defeat against the old enemy Argentina. Now think about how you felt when England didn't qualify for the 2008 European Championships - hardly a whimper? You wouldn't have been alone. The face of football in this country has changed such a great deal in the last ten years meaning that club football is consistently overshadowing the international game.

So why has the significance of the national team's fortunes diminished at such an alarming right? The answer could lie with the linkage of two contributing factors. The first of which being that England, as a football team, have been dramatically underperforming. The latest failure being their inability to qualify for the 2008 European Championships in Austria. The second being that wages amongst the England players are higher than ever, with stars such as Jon Terry and Frank Lampard earning in excess of £100,000 every single week.

So let's get this straight. The England team are putting in their worst performances for years while being paid more money than ever. No wonder people find it hard to relate to the players when they say 'we tried out best out there' after crushing to another defeat. Even the new manager has failed to create much optimism because let's face it if the recent friendly against France is anything to go by, fans won't exactly be flocking back to watch Fabio Capello's England.

The main reason for international football's decline is out of Mr Capello's hands though. It is the rise of the Champions League and the importance of club football that has had a huge effect on football fans' priorities. Many fans of larger clubs now have links with the other national teams which may serve to diminish the intensity of identification with one team only.

This is worth further discussion. Are there really fans out there who support other national teams as well as England? Are there Liverpool fans who support Spain because of Fernando Torres? 
                                                                             
Something like this is healthy to an extent. If English fans support another national team during this summer's tournament then fine.

England aren't competing and they may as well follow somebody. The problem for the national team starts when the dominance of club football becomes so overwhelming that Liverpool fans want 'their' Torres to score against 'Portsmouth's' David James when Spain play England. Would that really be healthy for the game of football?

The scary thing is that these fans do already exist. Many Manchester United supporters for example, are openly advocators of the expression 'I support United. Not England.'

They have even been heard chanting 'Argentina!' at some of their games, in support of their former left back Gabriel Heinze. So that's English football fans cheering for Argentina - imagine that back in 1998.

Admittedly a lot has changed in football since then, with a look at the first names of the Premier League top scorers from that year compared to this year, telling its own story. Jimmy, Michael, Nicolas and Andrew of 1998 compares to - Cristiano, Emmanuel, Fernando and Dimitar of 2008. This echoes Jon Williams' sentiments that the best football isn't necessarily played in international football anymore. For leagues such as that in England are filled with international superstars of their own. Meaning you'd have to be a brave man to predict that England would emerge victorious against any of the top four club teams in this country at the moment.

Despite all of this, don't be surprised to see England fans flocking back as the 2010 World Cup draws closer. If there is one thing the English football team does well it's unite a nation, even if it is usually in despair. Winning the World Cup would still mean everything to the majority of English football fans.

The build up to the next World Cup could be different though. England have let down its fans far too frequently and finally it seems there won't be a the usual sense of unrealistic optimism regarding the team's fortunes. Maybe England fans have realised that they don't have a divine right to win every trophy they go for. This lower expectation could actually work in the teams favour, but we will have to wait a couple of years to find that one out unfortunately.  It won't be as long a wait for football fans in England to witness some of the best players in the World unite for the same occasion though, as they have the Premier League to soak up all their football priorities.