Pioneer spirit How Italia 90 set the bar for England's relationship with sports science

The eve of Italia 90. Gazza’s tears, England’s heartache, and the cascading emotions of a World Cup that sang and ultimately stung still lie ahead.

- Sean Ingle

For now, the sports scientist tasked with acclimatising Bobby Robson’s side to the Italian summer is using cutting-edge technology to assess each player’s fitness: a BBC microcomputer, a dot-matrix printer, and a few clunky Polar heart-rate monitors.

Some in the England setup initially regard Prof John Brewer, the Football Association’s first head of human performance, with suspicion. But after monitoring the squad with a bleep test at Lilleshall before they fly to Italy, again when they arrive, and for a third time after a fortnight’s training in the hottest part of the day, Brewer can prove to the players they have adapted to the heat, and can play their familiar high-tempo game.

What Brewer helped to pioneer 36 years ago now feels like something from the dark ages. In 2026 England’s players have super-light wearables to track their blood oxygen levels, skin temperatures and sleep, and use hyperbaric chambers for recovery.

Yet speaking to Brewer is to relive not just a thrilling World Cup but the moment that English football began to move towards the light.