Lampard, Gerard and Ferdinand reveal what held back England's golden generation

In a revealing interview with 'BT Sports', the three former England stars came together to debate why a team including the likes of Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Owen Hargreaves, Michael Owen, John Terry and Wayne Rooney, as well as themselves, failed to win a major honour at international level.

Ferdinand started by commenting on his and Lampard’s transitions from West Ham to Manchester United and Chelsea respectively.

'We came through at West Ham together, did everything together like proper mates. I left and went to Leeds then Manchester United, Frank went to Chelsea and around that time our communication just disintegrated.

'It was down to, from my perspective, the obsession with winning. I didn't want to see Frank have an edge on me.

'It was the same with Stevie and England, when we were battling them (Liverpool) for the Premier League, I didn't want to sit around and have a beer with him because I didn't want to hear what Liverpool were doing... I think that's what held us back.'

A remarkable 10 minutes of TV from 3 of England’s ‘Golden Generation’ and the issues they faced in their time as Lions...fascinating TV... pic.twitter.com/ZYy6VB66A2

— Jake Humphrey (@mrjakehumphrey) 25 de novembro de 2017

Lampard agreed with Ferdinand, saying it was difficult to put club rivalries aside and bond while on international duty.

'You feel so passionately about the club you play with your team-mates, your own performances that to be a bit pally with someone you're competitive with... it may have [held back England],’ said Lampard.

'We didn't hate each other but by nature we would sit on different tables.'

Lampard went on to say England's situation was, and still is, different to that of countries where players are spread across more than one domestic league.

'A lot of other nations have players playing all over the world and then they come back together and they don't have that competition - every week we were at each other,' he added.

Gerrard agreed: 'I think it was more of a respectful relationship around England rather than a closeness where there was love there.'

'[Philippe] Coutinho can't wait to go away with Brazil, it's the best 10 days of their season. But you didn't get that feeling with England.

'We have to improve the bond, the togetherness and the closeness and I think Gareth [Southgate] is trying to do that and I think that will help results on the pitch.'