From DARREN BENTLEY, in Austria. . .
MENTION the name Hans Krankl to anyone in Austria and you feel nostalgia fill the air.
For allied with the fact that Krankl is arguably the greatest footballing icon the country has ever produced, comes the realisation he is also the last.
It's now over a quarter of a century since the strapping striker scored twice to inspire Austria to arguably their greatest ever result - beating mighty West Germany 3-2 in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.
Krankl, who went on to score four goals in the tournament, returned a national hero.
Sadly, despite a few flurries, such as reaching the World Cup Finals in 1982, 1990 and 2002, no-one has since come even close to taking that mantle.
Austrian football is locked in a deep, deep depression. A woeful decline in coaching standards, dwindling support, average foreign imports stifling young talent and a passion for individual sports have all contributed to the horrific nosedive.
Willy Lackner remembers the golden era with clarity and fondness. The former Admira Wacker sweeper was even on the receiving end of a four-goal blast from Krankl in his heyday during the late 1970s.
And he sees nothing but gloom for future generations without a radical overhaul of the nation's entire soccer strategy.
Lackner said: "Hans is so well known because of 1978, but the fact he is still the only name most people know shows the problems we have in Austria.
"If you have a small country of only 7.8 million inhabitants, you cannot always have great players.
"But we are talking about 25 years ago, so you cannot just talk about a missing generation.
"Other small countries, like the Netherlands, Sweden and Belgium all manage, so something must be wrong with Austrian football. Where do you want to start?"
Lackner bemoans a lack of financial support for the Austrian League, which has just ten teams in the Premier League, ten in the First Division and then three semi-professional feeder leagues.
Most teams average around six thousand fans and with only two or three teams ever challenging for the title, Lackner believes that provides an unhealthy environment for developing young players.
Clubs are slowly schooling talented teenagers. However, scouting has long been in decline after the clubs themselves chose not to purse football Academies in the blinkered belief players would still come through.
The generation that did were then unforgivably allowed to leave the country after becoming bored with the stifled Austrian game and the fact so many cheap foreign imports arrived to halt their progress.
Despite Austria winning the U17s and U18s World Championships, a veritable flood of what Lackner describes as "average Eastern Europeans" has led to as many as seven or eight in every team.
And, drastically, that has led to a potential new breed of home-grown talent turning their back on the game.
Lackner explained: "In youth football in the Netherlands and Denmark 70 per cent of the children up to 14 are involved in playing football.
"In Austria it is just 12 per cent. We're not adapting to team sports and Austrians now tend to lean towards competing in individual sports, such as swimming, tennis and skiing."
The fact football in Austria hibernates for a winter break between November and March completes the gloomy picture.
There are small chinks of light, however. Austria, now managed by Krankl, will co-host the 2008 European Championships with Switzerland, which may help resurrect flagging interest.
Then there is the small matter of two games against England in the upcoming 2006 World Cup qualifiers - where tickets for the game in Vienna sold out in just one hour!
Yet Lackner explained: "I think many of the spectators only want to go to the match to see the English players like Beckham and Rooney.
"Krankl was a great player, but he has not had big success as a manager at club level and I think maybe he is not the man for the team.
"But then they say a manager is only as good as the players he has."
And therein lies the problem.
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