England's Euro 2016 flops should give their wages to the fans who travelled to France, says Paul Merson

Sam Long29 June 2016

England's players should donate their wages to the fans who travelled to Euro 2016 to support them this summer, according to Paul Merson.

Roy Hodgson's side were aiming to become the first Three Lions team to reach a major quarter-final in a decade but came up short and were dumped out of the tournament by Iceland.

The tiny Nordic nation have a population of just over 300,000 but claimed a shock 2-1 victory on Monday night thanks to goals from Ragnar Sigurdsson and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson.

Hodgson has stepped down in the wake of the shock result and has seen his reign in charge fiercely criticised but Merson is adamant the players should be made to pay - literally - for their poor performance.

Player Ratings: England vs Iceland

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"They give should all give their wages to the fans who went out there to support them," he told the Daily Star.

"How can you lose to Iceland? If I had played in that game I would retire right now, it’s that embarrassing.

"It’s England’s worst result ever. The players don’t care.

"If they care, why don’t they all give £10,000 each back to the fans who spent a fortune going out to France to support them?" Merson insisted.

England won just one of their four games at the tournament and face an uncertain future ahead of the start of the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign.

The search for Hodgson's successor is underway, with several high-profile managers already linked to the vacant role, but Merson believes the days when England could consider themselves part of the footballing elite are over.

"Look what they’ve done at this tournament. Russia were useless. We couldn’t beat them. We beat Wales with the last kick of the game.

"We couldn’t even break Slovakia down. Germany could have beaten them 28-0. And we think we’re a footballing superpower? Don’t make me laugh.

"England have no world class players. None. It’s time to stop pretending we have all these great talents to build a team around," Merson added.

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