The countdown to Italia 90 was marked by moments of joy and sorrow, with Paul Gascoigne’s tears and the poignant memories of a World Cup filled with passion and heartbreak yet to unfold. At this pivotal time, the sports scientist entrusted with preparing Bobby Robson’s squad for the challenges of the Italian summer was employing state-of-the-art technology to gauge player fitness, utilizing a BBC microcomputer, a dot-matrix printer, and bulky Polar heart-rate monitors.
Initially, some members of the England team viewed Prof John Brewer, the Football Association’s inaugural head of human performance, with skepticism. However, after conducting a series of bleep tests at Lilleshall both before their departure to Italy and upon arrival, followed by another test two weeks later in sweltering conditions, Brewer demonstrated to the players that they had successfully adapted to the heat, enabling them to maintain their high-energy style of play.
What Brewer introduced 36 years ago now seems archaic. By 2026, England’s players will rely on ultra-light wearables to monitor critical metrics such as blood oxygen levels, skin temperature, and sleep patterns, in addition to utilizing hyperbaric chambers for recovery. Yet, conversing with Brewer evokes memories not just of a thrilling World Cup, but also of the moment when English football began its transformation towards a more modern approach.
Despite these advancements, challenges persisted. Prior to Italia 90, Brewer convinced Robson of the necessity for players to increase carbohydrate intake before matches. He recalls the surprise when the team chef presented swordfish steaks just hours before their opening game against Ireland.
“Bob and I looked at it and said: ‘What on earth is that?’” Brewer reflects. “But the England doctor, John Crane, stood up and said: “I want to give the boys what they want.’ We told him that it was not the time or the place. But the attitude from the medical team was to ignore the evolving sports science. It had been accepted in other sports, particularly running, but football saw itself as different.”
This mindset extended to alcohol consumption. Robson imposed a ban on alcohol two weeks before the tournament but allowed players the occasional drink. Nevertheless, Brewer noted that some players, whose names he chose not to disclose, violated curfew and indulged excessively.
Brewer observed that many England players who had experience playing abroad, like Chris Waddle and Trevor Steven, were more amenable to nutritional guidance. Surprisingly, Paul Gascoigne, who managed to drop to about 10% body fat for the tournament, was also momentarily dedicated to improving his fitness.
“I think he probably was the fittest he was in his career,” Brewer states. “Gazza was quite stocky in build and there’d been a bit of criticism about his weight. But when he came to Lilleshall, I measured his body fat, and the results spoke for themselves. He didn’t have a high body-fat percentage compared to the rest of the squad.”
Brewer fondly recalls numerous one-on-one discussions with Gascoigne, who sought reassurance regarding his dietary habits.
“Yes, he was the life and soul of the party and the other lads used to play up to that, but he was fully professional – football was everything to him,” Brewer adds, “Because at the time it was a case of: ‘Let’s just knock the ball about a bit and then do a few little doggies’ – as they liked to call them – ‘or sprints and we’re ready to go,’”
With a background in working with elite athletes at Loughborough, including double Olympic champion Seb Coe, Brewer’s insights were largely embraced by Robson and his coaching staff, even though they were unconventional at the time. These practices, now standard, included having players warm up without a ball to elevate body temperature and enhance muscle flexibility, as opposed to the previous norm of merely passing the ball and doing a few sprints.
Brewer also recommended that substitutes engage in stretching and warm-up routines at regular intervals instead of remaining inactive throughout the match. Additionally, he urged squad players to maintain their fitness levels during training sessions between matches, which particularly benefited David Platt when he stepped in for the injured Bryan Robson. On a basic level, Brewer initiated simple changes, such as providing electrolyte drinks to players on the bus after training, as they had previously not consumed anything on their return.
Despite the challenges, Brewer’s admiration for Bobby Robson, both as a person and a manager, remains strong. Robson was instrumental in bringing Brewer into the England setup during a time when the FA’s director of coaching, Charles Hughes, was advocating for a more direct style of play based on statistical analysis, which Brewer believed to be flawed. Robson, however, had the wisdom to adopt a more progressive approach while still considering the technical aspects of preparation, fitness, training, and nutrition.
“It was a strange dynamic between them,” Brewer explains. “Charles was very much into his statistical analysis about the need to play a long‑ball game, which I think was quite flawed, but while Bobby listened and took on board the stuff around preparation, fitness, training and nutrition, he did his own thing when it came to football. “In the end Charles left the FA as a frustrated, disillusioned character. I’m sure to his dying day, he believed that had his ideas been fully accepted England would have won a World Cup in 1994, 1998 or 2002.”
“Players are fitter nowadays. They have to pay even more attention to their training and diet because the frequency of high-intensity games is much higher than it ever has been.”
Now retired, Brewer continues to keep a close eye on football and sports science developments.
“When I set up the FA human performance centre, clubs used to send their players to us for their pre‑season sport science and fitness testing. From July onwards we would get three or four teams a week, including the likes of Liverpool. Obviously that would never happen today because they’ve got their own teams of people.” he observes. “And when it came to testing, I had a BBC microcomputer, a dot-matrix printer, and a couple of very ancient Polar heart-rate monitors that I had to download individually in order to get the data. We thought it was cutting edge. But compared to today it was pretty basic stuff.”
As Brewer points out, contemporary players also benefit from more resources.
“When I set up the FA human performance centre, clubs used to send their players to us for their pre‑season sport science and fitness testing. From July onwards, we would get three or four teams a week, including the likes of Liverpool. Obviously, that would never happen today because they’ve got their own teams of people.”
He reminisces about the rudimentary tools he used during his tenure, stating,
“And when it came to testing, I had a BBC microcomputer, a dot-matrix printer, and a couple of very ancient Polar heart-rate monitors that I had to download individually in order to get the data. We thought it was cutting edge. But compared to today, it was pretty basic stuff.”
