Steven Gerrard has delivered a stark assessment of the task awaiting England if they are to regain the trust of the nation by insisting the side is at its lowest ebb since the failure to qualify for Euro 2008 and it would "take years to turn this situation around".
Fabio Capello received the backing of his captain today, but Gerrard and his senior team-mates are braced for a barrage of abuse against Hungary at Wembley tomorow night with all but one of the anticipated starting line-up having been in the squad which failed so miserably at the World Cup.
"Recovering [the trust of the supporters] is not going to happen overnight," he said. "It is not going to happen in weeks and months. It is going to take years to turn this situation around. This is as low as it gets, going out the way we did.
"It's quite similar to when we did not qualify [for Euro 2008] under Steve McClaren. That's the position we're in at the moment. Even if we win games in qualifying for the Euros, the fans are still going to be saying: 'Can they go and do it in a tournament situation?' To make the fans totally happy, and to be a successful team, we're going to have to wait until a tournament to prove ourselves. This is going to be a long process of getting the belief and the confidence back from the supporters before it becomes really enjoyable to play for England again.
"I'd like there to be no booing in this game at all but, if there is, I hope it's at us, the experienced players. The fans have the right to boo. They've paid their money and gone [to South Africa] expecting the team to do well, and we haven't.
"If I was a fan there at Wembley, I'd probably boo. We deserve it. This is a proud nation with a massive following. I can understand their frustrations but it's easy to say: 'Oh yeah, we're sorry' to the fans. But they don't want an apology. They want to see the team go out and show how sorry we are by turning things round and qualifying for the next tournament.
"We need to raise performances, individually and collectively. We have to change quite a lot of things, both mentally and technically, but it's certainly not just about putting the blame on Fabio. We've got to share it and put it right together, all the players, me included. It would've been stupid to get rid of the manager and start again with a different guy. Who is there out there that is better than Capello?"
The Italian lost Darren Bent as well as his goalkeeper Ben Foster to a back injury today but still intends to give Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs their international debuts late in the game once the senior players have taken the brunt of the supporters' frustrations. Gerrard admitted he had considered retiring from international football in the wake of the summer's toils, yet he remains convinced this group of players can redeem themselves and, eventually, flourish at a major finals.
"I suppose it does cross your mind at times," he said when asked if he had considered his future. "But very quickly you switch back to thinking of turning things round and having a successful tournament. I've played for England for over 10 years and would love nothing more than to go out on a high, rather than looking back at memories of South Africa and how we went out losing 4-1 to Germany. I want to turn this round.
"I love playing for England. I love being down here and I love the standard of the training. If we were to go to the semi-final of the Euros, would it have been worth the hassle? It would for me because I would be able to tell my kids. I've never got to a semi-final. That's the motivation for me: to try to get to a semi final or final. I think England should be getting to semi-finals with the players we have. I really do.
"It might help if expectations were lowered, but will that happen? I don't think so because we have massive support. We've got 60,000 coming against Hungary, which is going to be the biggest crowd in Europe in midweek, which just goes to show the support we've got. Are people really going to lower expectations? Anyway, this should be the way it is with England. We've got good players. We have to deal with [the pressure] better."