No Ellis. I think you meant Innes. Osman didn't play much that season.
We did however have a very good squad full of decent players. I could field players in a number of different ways depending on the tactics. I think I was the first England NT manager to actually have to deal with gdp, previously as I'm sure you know most NTs played LI almost exclusively.
I also was able to use a blank lineup which suited us because the players played fewer minutes and because of our depth we were able to compete throughout most games.
Gascoigne, Sharpling and Marshall were superb players, Mac was getting there but we had a number of bigs who could play a role. Simpson was probably the best of them at that time.
You'll see in that game despite Italy getting gdp right our defence was still outstanding. We actually had higher OD than Italy, a massive nation. A testament to the great training done on those players. Not all of them trained in England of course.
We don't have those players now and the current generation can't be compared.
That game you linked to was the semi final. It was on my birthday and was the only game I wasn't able to watch live. Although we lost by 10 points in the last two minutes we were withing a basket of levelling the game and from there we'd have had a very different final minute. (The difference in the score was inflated by the last minute stupidity of the GE.)
If I'd guessed inside, which I of course considered, then we win the game and go to the final. The following two seasons are when the decline we're still seeing really started. Part of the responsibility for that is mine, and Zeus, and the guys who have been u21 manager since then have been putting that right.
If someone does stand against Zeus, and I'd have welcomed competition when I was in charge, then I'm sure it would be someone with links to the community. I don't see an outsider having any chance.