They really are thick as pig shit mate. Look at the current England squad and tell me how many of them you would consider intelligent. And the implication that many of them being from a working class background contributes to their perceived (but actual) stupidity is mildly offensive.

@dastardly, I think the point he is trying to make is that just because they are not well versed in the workings of Hans Kung and are unlikely to win a pub quiz does not necessarily make them as 'thick' as they are portrayed. Conversely most Oxbridge dons would find it difficult to find some space when being man-marked, improvise what to do when they get the ball yet still recall the team's tactics to know where to place their pass / shot, all in a matter of seconds.

They no doubt have high bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, but seem to be retarded among the other intelligences. An affliction that other pro sportsmen seem not to suffer from. This is quite specific to contempary British footballers I should have stated. A culture thing I reckon.

@dastardly I agree it seems peculiar to Britain but I think there are far-reaching socio-economic reasons for this which I lack the necessary knowledge and expertise to pass adequate comment upon. However I do know that promising young footballers are taken out of school at early ages to focus on football, with only a token gesture from the academies on a wider education (a handful of GCSE's), whereas the other sports (rugby / cricket) tend to take their talent from universities and "good" schools, it stands to reason that the latter will probably be more academic than the former. However despite these disadvantages I still fail to recall when the England football team last got found pissed up on a pedalo or throwing dwarves around a bar while they were on duty representing their country at a World Cup. The other sports have their fair share of buffoonery too.

@ dastardly Do you think that the lack of more conventional forms of intelligence has hampered England at international level? I would to do the research for an article concerning whether English players are indeed quantifiably less intelligent than their peers at international level and whether such a disadvantage has been manifest in our failure to win anything.

There will be a cross section of all degree's of intelligence,the thing that I find it hard to get my head around is the self imposed uniform of awful tattoo's,mohican hair,and gay bar footy boots.And any player who has a message on his vest should be shot with a pellet of his own shit.

@FRONTWHEEL 2 well said sir!

Maybe footballers are intelligent in things such as geometry, spatial awareness, body language and physical co-ordination. I think we can all agree though that as a rule they are not 'academic'.

This is hilarious.

Intelligence is certainly poorly measured, let's be honest how many so called intelligent people are actually thick as shit? They might be able to crack some obscure sequence but have the social intelligence of a brick. Go figure!

The problem with British football, and the same can't be said for most other European countries, is that education and learning is frowned on. The game's remained fervently working class which eliminates quite a chunk of society, i.e. the middle classes. Probably goes some way to explaining why English managers are generally so poor - all they want to do is regurgitate what other unqualified managers have told them in the dressing room. And why people like Alan Shearer are still in demand as managers despite having zero experience or qualifications. Wouldn't happen in any other industry. So I would agree that footballers are thick in the academic sense but it's because that's what's expected of them as good working class lads - if you read The Guardian you're gay.

@Monkeysocks I agree with you, but the minute we deviate into such commentary we are at risk of playing the snob and classist cards, though the anecdotal evidence backs up exactly what you say - essentially a bunch of teenage lads frowning upon the 'swots' and to be cool you've basically got to act the twat. Interesting point about English managers and the 'more passion, tracking back, get it into the mixer' nature of their upbringing - it simply wouldn't wash in any other country in the world. I recall the outright suspicion with which Arsene Wenger was treated when he arrived with his economics degree and experience in places like Japan. Roy Hodgson also suffered the same sort of inverse snobbery for a large period of his career and it's only in the last few years, since getting Fulham out of the relegation dogfight, that he has become 'accepted' in the UK despite a career that saw him learn a clutch of languages and manage Inter Milan.

I'm sorry I'm not convinced. With a few rare execeptions (Graeme Le Saux, David Wetherall etc) footballers are generally as thick as pig shit. The idea that someone who has good 'spatial awareness' etc has 'spatial intelligence' or whatever is ridiculous when followed through. Does someone with a good sense of smell possess have 'nasal intelligence'?

Maybe its a mixture. I went to school with a future Premiership footballer and he was just as intelligent as anyone else. I'm not saying he would have discovered a cure for cancer but he certainly wasn't an idiot. I'm sure some players aren't the brightest but the players these days come from a large denographic so there are bound to be clever and not-so-clever ones.

It's not lack of intelligence it's a lack of education. They get taken out of mainstream education in their early teens and stop learning. The mind is a muscle. Foreign academies give their players an education in addition to their football training. They understand that developing the mind enhances the mental agility of players on the pitch. English players don't lack technique or tactical discipline. They lack the ability to focus and concentrate on a task. Which is why in international football they start hoofing it. They make schoolboy errors because they never learned how to be schoolboys, to persevere with something that may not seem to have any benefit now but will have benefit them in the future. Education will make them stronger mentally. Also many footballers end up bankrupt after they retire because they have not been taught to function properly in society. There has always been an anti-intellectualism in football but education was never frowned upon. In the past footballers could not rely on the money they made to sustain them after retirement so many would have to learn a trade or go into business after they had hung up their boots. The money in football now means that there is little pressure on footballers to plan ahead for after their careers. English footballers aren't thick. They are uneducated.

Frank Lampard is intelligent but plays it down. Steve Heighway and Brian Hall both went to Uni. But yes, most footballers have straw for brains.

The accent of the typical footballer, be they London or northern has a significant part to play in the perception of English footballers too. Your stereotypical cricketers and rugby union players tend not to have accents that resonate of areas outside the home counties or the middle class of the west country. Anyone dismissing the socio economic based prejudices of the English class obsession is missing a major piece of the picture here.. Researchers in the Karolinska (IIRC) ranked footballers, especially midfielder) in the top 15% average intelligence. I don't believe their research was restricted to Swedish players.

Seeing as Wayne Rooney's new contract is worth more per week than I , and most, will earn in 10 years, who's the thick one?