Graham Taylor fears England may never win the World Cup again.

The former national team boss believes the game in this country is so geared towards club football that it makes it almost impossible for England to regain the biggest prize of all.

Their bid to end 40 trophyless years this summer ended in quarter-final defeat to Portugal, and Taylor - who spent three years in the managerial hotseat - can only see England's hopes diminishing unless there is a fundamental change of emphasis.

"I thought this was now the time we were going to win it and I have this dreaded feeling that we're not going win it again," Taylor said.

"I was upbeat before but now I'm like the rest of us.

"The thing is, there's got to be a big look fundamentally at our football.

"Are we club-orientated? Do our clubs come first? Of course they do.

"And then, every two years, we play an international tournament. We never really prepare for the tournament football and our clubs come first.

"Every two years, in the heat of the summer, we expect our teams to perform. Our clubs will always come first."

Taylor believes the influx of foreign players into the Barclays Premiership is having a real effect on the England set-up below the senior level and predicted the situation could become as bad as that in Scotland, whose national team have failed to qualify for the last four major tournaments.

He added on Radio Five Live: "What does worry me more than anything else is when I look at the selection of players and the clubs they are from in our under-21 team, I wonder what will happen to our international side in 10 years' time.

"That's when I think you'll find that all the foreign players that make our Premier League such a good league

will show we've played a full price for it with our international side.

"We could even become another Scotland."