Crystal Palace legend Mark Bright has taken a swipe at the 'soft' nature of today's England players.
Bright was writing in the Palace match programme:
"'I was no Raheem Sterling, let's get that clear, but at 19 years of age I was working 40 hours a week in an engineering factory in Stoke-on-Trent. I used to get up a 5am every morning, catch a bus to work and clock on at 6am.
"At 3pm I would clock off, catch another bus to Vale Park where Port Vale's first-team coach John Rudge would be waiting for me at 3.30pm to take me into the gym to work on my heading, control, fitness and other aspects of my game. Around 5pm I'd shower and walk home to get some dinner then collapse into my bed.
"I did this roughly three times a week along with a Wednesday reserve team game for one season. I was tired and exhausted most of the time, sometimes too tired to go out socially with my friends at weekends, but I did it because I wanted to be a professional footballer."
He added: "Too much reward too soon isn't something that can be reversed in football nowadays but at times it might be an easy way out when the going gets tough.
"I'm not suggesting that Sterling is doing this but I've heard players spend countless hours playing FIFA 15 on Xbox or PS4, sometimes well into the early hours of the morning.
"What players must do is make sure they are preparing themselves in the correct manner, in which they can maximise their full potential."
