Roy Hodgson insists there has to be more to his job as England manager than merely getting results.
Whilst predecessor Fabio Capello showed little interest in anything beyond the senior team, following the opening of St George's Park, Hodgson is making it his business to see how the various England youth sides operate.
"Some people suggest the eye on the present should be your only focus," he told www.fifa.com. "I don't agree with that. I think you should be trying to do the job in the present while at least bearing in mind that one day you're no longer going to be the manager. What are you leaving behind? What sort of work will have been done when your time with the national team happens to be over?"
Not that Hodgson would allow that work to obscure the task of reaching Brazil 2014.
"There's no doubt the present is very important," he said.
"We need to have a successful team. If we're going to fall by the wayside at national team level then our messages are going to be harder to put forward.
"There's no doubt we're going to see a vast improvement over the coming ten years, and I think you see it already if you look at the young players that are coming through today.
"Oxlade-Chamberlain, Welbeck, Cleverley, Bertrand, Gibbs, Wilshere - in all of these players you can see that technically they are of a very good level. It can only get better."
Source: PA
