Bleep tests, alcohol bans and Gazza: Italia 90 set the bar for England and sports science | Sean Ingle

T he eve of Italia 90. Gazza’s tears, England’s heartache, and the cascading emotions of a World Cup that sang and ultimately stung still lie ahead. For now, the sports scientist tasked with acclimatising Bobby Robson’s side to the Italian summer is using cutting-edge technology to assess each player’s fitness: a BBC microcomputer, a dot-matrix printer, and a few clunky Polar heart-rate monitors. Some in the England setup initially regard Prof John Brewer, the Football Association’s first head of human performance, with suspicion. But after monitoring the squad with a bleep test at Lilleshall before they fly to Italy, again when they arrive, and for a third time after a fortnight’s training in the hottest part of the day, Brewer can prove to the players they have adapted to the heat, and can play their familiar high-tempo game. What Brewer helped to pioneer 36 years ago now feels like something from the dark ages. In 2026 England’s players have super-light wearables to track their blood oxygen levels, skin temperatures and sleep, and use hyperbaric chambers for recovery. Yet speaking to Brewer is to relive not just a thrilling World Cup but the moment that English football began to move towards the light. Not that things went entirely smoothly. Before Italia 90, Brewer persuaded Robson that his players needed more carbohydrates before games. …