It was almost a decade ago that Gerald Ratner infamously described one of his jewellery firm's products with a four-letter expletive and soon felt the consequences as customers duly stopped buying them.

But Football Association chief executive Adam Crozier has still trodden the same path as he continues to attempts to smooth the way ahead of Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Crozier has used his own four-letter expletive to describe England's displays at last summer's Euro 2000 finals.

''I said we were crap in the summer but then I think the players thought we were too. The thing I've learned is that the game is brutal and what players say in private is very brutal,'' he said.

For the players to feel privately that they performed badly last summer is one thing though. For their FA boss to say so publicly in such a basic form is surely another.

Crozier may be speaking his mind but if that is indeed his view, why has it taken him this long to say so, if at all? And why was Keegan therefore not sacked at the time?

Given also that the team have so far hardly improved since last summer despite the promise shown amid a defeat in Rome, why should fans bother to watch them against Spain at Villa Park or Finland at Anfield?

All of which are valid questions that have now been raised by his comments, with West Ham boss Harry Redknapp declaring: ''Adam Crozier is not a football man in all honesty.

''He has got his opinions but is not really qualified to talk about how England play. In that sense, he is no different to any other punter.

''This is one of the problems with football. For example, the England manager is kicked by certain people who don't know an awful lot about the game but they run the game and that is just the way it is.''

Crozier had previously been rather more cautious in his descriptions of England's poor Euro 2000 displays despite a measure of honesty that at least demonstrated that failings were being recognised.

What a difference a few months and a change of manager makes. Crozier is now determined to do all he can to ensure Eriksson cannot be seen to fail, with the FA chief executive, a Scot, revealing that he has even received hate mail following his decision to appoint a Swede.

Crozier argues that you cannot pull the wool over supporters' eyes. He is indeed right, and many fans were saying similar things about England's displays last summer as he has just done.

But he still has a position of responsibility and former FA chief executive Graham Kelly believes this is simply another example of the ''spin'' being used to ensure that Eriksson is put in a position where he cannot lose.

''I'm sure that Adam Crozier thought about it before he used the word in question. I used it once but I regretted it,'' he said.

''The only difference between last summer and now is the match in Italy as we now could be said to be on the road to recovery.''

Crozier may have blown away the cobwebs at Lancaster Gate and now Soho Square, reorganising the Victorian structure, setting up a long-overdue coaching structure and organising a new national football centre.

He has also started to tackle important issues such as racism and child protection, has supported women's football and is investing in the grassroots.

But while Crozier's fate rests in one sense in the Swede's hands, Eriksson's appointment must be judged on its own merits and the past cannot be dismissed quite so bluntly even if the future now looks brighter