Bluedaddio suggested the appointment of Steve McClaren as England manager as a farce worthy of consideration.
McClaren, of course, had had a good run in the UEFA cup with Middlesbrough. In the league... not so much. The FA, as late as April, were reputed to have a shortlist including McClaren, Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, Sam Allardyce, Alan Curbishley and Martin O'Neill. It was a painful saga, even for those of us watching with amused neutrality.
Here things become a little hazy. It was alleged that Scolari was offered the England job but then turned it down citing media intrusion. However, he later apologised for suggesting that was the case. In the end, the FA opted for McClaren, who at least had the important quality of being English.
***
McClaren has taken up where Sven-Goran Eriksson left off in providing uninspiring, at-most-halfway-competent team selections, formations and performances. It's hardly a first offence for the FA on this front - I'd cite Taylor, Keegan and Hoddle off the top of my head as desperately poor choices for the job. Yet it's a job nobody in their right mind would want to do. Is it the case that England fans have unrealistic expectations of what their team should achieve? How much difference does the coach really make to the team? How would you have done things differently?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
McClaren was out of the running for the England job until the press got Xenophobic and the FA got spineless.
After seeing the treatment Scolari got even before he had the job i'm not surprised he got cold feet, he may be a bit of a gun for hire, but his managerial skills are ten fold compared to those of McClaren; whom i think was actually that cause of as many of the Sven era problems as the Swede himself.
As an aside to that; something i have never seen mentioned in the press, is how Curbishley basically whored himself out to the FA by leaving Charlton when he did, i really believe that if the FA didn't take him then he thought that either Middlesborough or Newscastle would; I think he was very shocked to find himself still unemployed come December, recent evidence suggests he shouldn't have been.
Oh and may i add how I cried on the inside when Martin O' Neill said, during the BBC World Cup coverage, that he would have taken the England job if it has been offered to him.
He may be feeling the burn a bit at Villa currently but given a season or two and the hope that Houllier might well try and dismantle one of the best teams in Europe to his favour again he will soon be proving what a class act he is.
And yes by class i mean two 6 foot plus fat strikers and extensive long balls.
The press wanted an Englishman. There wasn't one qualified. For some reason, English managers refuse to do what other managers do if they want to be considered for top jobs; go to manage clubs where they can win trophies.
Why, if they believe they are qualified to take on England, did neither Curbishley nor Sam Allardyce put themselves in the running for the job of manager at PSG? It's the perfect club to make a name for yourself. A sleeping giant with massive support. Win the French league and do well in the Champions League, or win the UEFA cup and people will certainly sit up and take notice.
People complain that the big English clubs are all run by foreigners (with the exception of Man Utd, but Ferguson has made his feelings about the England job quite plain) but those managers were recruited because of their records. Could Stuart Pearce win the Spanish league with Valencia? Could Sam Allardyce win the Champions league with Porto?
The answer is, we just don't know. If those managers really want to advance their careers they'll have to cut the apron strings and get themselves off to clubs that might present them with the chance to fulfil their potential and actually win something.
Post a Comment