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England embark on search
Written by Sawyer | 3rd February 2006 | 0 Comment(s)
Eventually it had to happen, and now Sven Goran Eriksson has confirmed he will depart following the World Cup Finals in Germany, the tabloids are finally going to get their man.
Considering the amount of stick he has taken Eriksson will probably be quite happy that this latest episode of being duped by The News of the World has finally given him the chance to stand down from a job that has become untenable for the Swede.
As far as the press are concerned he has set himself up for a fall on many occasions, most notably the Ulrika Johnson and Faria Allam affairs and the tapping-up by Chelsea.
Nevertheless, it does seem to be a favourite pastime in this Country to ridicule the England manager whoever he may be, but surely a single bloke is allowed to have romantic liaisons. The Chelsea business was a little more serious though.
Those that disliked Eriksson based on his Nationality may or may not now get their wish, but undoubtedly the press will lead the campaign for an Englishman to take the reigns.
Criticism has followed almost every move Eriksson has made as he is allegedly unable to motivate his players and isn’t sure what system to play. He must be absolute rubbish then?
Apparently, according to his critics, he can’t motivate his players due to the fact he is Swedish, but surely the players are English and just how much motivation should they really need once they have pulled on their National shirt?
His critics love to castigate whichever system he plays, but in reality he knows that a team must have more than one way of playing and these things do need to be tried out. If all the players actually turned up for friendly matches rather than crying off with a broken fingernail, he may have had more success in this area.
He certainly would appear to have created a pretty solid team spirit, and his players often back the England boss when questioned.
A fair criticism would be that he has generally attempted to defend a lead in an important match, and it invariably hasn’t worked to England’s advantage. Mind you, attacking also proved insecure when England was dispatched from Euro 2000 by Romania.
Of course, all these negatives were far from peoples thoughts when he picked up the reigns from Kevin Keegan, and took England through to Japan and Korea beating Germany 5-1 along the way. They even made a song about the guy!!
The reality is that a manager can only be as good as the players he has, and although many believe England has the armoury to succeed this summer, failure will no doubt fall once again at the manager’s door (even if failure from 12 yards proves to be England’s
undoing once again).
Confidence and enthusiasm will reach it’s usual state of fever-pitch, but is Michael Owen any better than Gary Lineker, Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard better than Bryan Robson, Ashley Cole better than Kenny Sansom or Stuart Pearce, John Terry better than Tony Adams, Paul Robinson better than Peter Shilton or David Seaman, Joe Cole better than Chris Waddle? Undoubtedly you see the point; the players of the past didn’t win anything internationally so why should we expect the present lot to do any better?
Considering Wayne Rooney’s age, it is difficult to find an exact comparison, but as the talisman of the team Paul Gascoigne may do, even though their positions are different. The pressure on the Man Utd forward will be tremendous, and all we can do is hope that his temperament holds firm.
The closest England has come in recent World Cups was in 1990; another tournament where the incumbent manager, Bobby Robson, was to leave the post following its conclusion. Did the players play above themselves for their outgoing boss: probably? Maybe the same could happen for Eriksson; who knows?
The FA (not Faria Allam) has drawn up a short list of candidates. Considering the pressure and snipping of the media following most defeats, they may be well advised to make it a long list instead, as there is no guarantee that the managers they would like to see in the role will actually make themselves available.
Many will undoubtedly like an English manager to take the role, which would probably boil down to Sam Allardyce, Steve McClaren, Alan Curbishley, Stuart Pearce, Bryan Robson or possibly Peter Taylor. There may even be shouts for Paul Jewell or Steve Bruce, but in reality there is not a great choice.
Dare the FA go foreign again? Guus Hiddink has a good reputation and it is likely that he could be persuaded to relinquish his duties with Australia after the World Cup, but the question would be whether he or any other foreign manager would want a role that puts the incumbent up for National ridicule?
Of the English contingent, McClaren would probably be in-keeping with continuity and is the only one with a trophy of note to his name. However, his neck would be in the noose as Eriksson’s lap-dog if things went wrong, but he will probably be given the first opportunity if the FA decide on an English manager.
Of the others, International experience would be on the side of Pearce and Taylor, but would the former be ready and would the later want the role? Bryan Robson also has plenty of National experience and could be a possibility when considering that Marco Van Basten and Jurgen Klinsmann basically earned their roles due to being respected players.
The rest have done ok at a so called smaller club, but didn’t we have that when Graham Taylor was promoted into the role, and look at the stick he got.
Whatever happens, the media have now got their way and will no doubt settle on which man they think is right for the position. Mind you, give them a couple of years, and they’ll be telling everybody that he was the wrong man for the job in the first place.
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