The impossible job

[Barn]

Okay so as a people, as England we want an English manager to take charge of the England team, to generate a team that's capable of winning the next major tournament.

Off the back of Hoddle and Keegan the FA decided that regarless of nationality they needed to find the best manager. Bring on Errikson! He didn't work, why? We had the best group of English players that we've ever had but he couldn't make them work as a team. Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard - there's no way the three of them can all play in the same midfield, so who would you leave out?

Beckham; most Chelsea fans at that stage would have picked him, he didn't hold a position, he wasn't good enough anyway and it's always about him! In hindsight we'd say that he's the only player that cares about the shirt!!!

Gerrard; One of the best midfielders in the world, as a club we wanted to sign him but it didn't happen, as a nation he's scored lots of goals but never really done what he does for his club - let's think about his club for a mo though, Raffa (okay I think he's a big fat twat) will not pick him as a centre mid, he'll never build a team around him, maybe he's not as good as the press tell us???

Would you leave him out, at that time most Chelsea fans wouldn't have!

Lampard; Are you effin' stupid. He's a similar player to Gerrard, he doesn't offer much more or much less but the press don't love him in the same way that they do Stevie Me! We as fans would not have dropped him.

So what are the options for an England manager?

1) Pick players that are performing well for their clubs? Graham Taylor done that and was crucified for playing people like, Andy Gray, Tony Dailly

2) Pick the best players that are English? Becks, Lamps, Gerrard all in the same midfield??? Not worked to date!

3) A mixture of the two? This is the only option that will work but if a player does come in and doesn't work then the manager has to drop him. If he drops him and the replacement (an experienced pro) doesn't affect the next result, the manager should have given him more of a chance!!!

The big problem is that of all on this website we can't agree, not only on the team, but on the formation. and if that doesn't work then we will disagree on what went wrong!

McClaren was the right man for England manager because when Sven was bought in the FA committed to putting in a young English coach as his number two to learn the ropes. What went wrong is that generally a number two does not progress to be a number one (it's a personallity trait). So where do we go from now? We could get a manager in to build for 2010, will we accept defeat after defeat till then (we never have doen before!), we could get a manager in to make our current players win the next game, but how long will that last and what do we do when those players become too old?

What I'm getting at is that for every obvious answer there is an obvious reason why that is not the right answer. we need to change the basics of the English psyche if we are ever to win anything, but one thing that is for sure is that every time the press butcher a player or a manager it has a negative affect on that individual which is not good for us!

[bonetti]

McClaren was the right man for England manager because when Sven was bought in the FA committed to putting in a young English coach as his number two to learn the ropes. What went wrong is that generally a number two does not progress to be a number one (it's a personallity trait).

McClaren was only the right man for the England job if you were determined to make sure that England failed or in the case of the FA, ignorant enough to appoint him.

Barwick appointed McClaren after interviewing Martin O Neill, Curbishley and Avaslice as well as making an absolute cock up of the appointment of Scolari. He then claimed that McClown was his 1st choice - absolute bollox.

McClarens record at Middlesboro was dismal, nobody jumped for joy at his appointment (except McClown when he looked at the £000s), at the time even Southgate said he wasnt ready for the job.

Yet the FA with their wealth of expertise - Barwick with his extensive experience in Commerce (specialist subject - TV contracts) and Thompson the Chairman, whose CV includes being a referee and Career Administrator used their 'extensive knowledge' of Football and Football management to persuade an equally naive committee (including a Building Society Manager and an Estate Agent) to approve their choice.

That is a complete joke - but are the FA going to step back and let the choice be made by people who know what they are doing - are they f**k. They will preserve all their trappings, perks and power to the death - at our expense.

For En ger lund to have any chance in the future - the FA needs to be shut down and re-started with people who know how to find and appoint a Manager that not only is a natural leader, but knows how to win and can command the respect of the players and their club managers - Captain Manwaring and his dads army team of amateurs could only achieve this by an unlikely accident.

Good riddance to McClown - we never stood a chance with him at the helm - but the FA should take the blame for his failure - instead they wash their hands of their own incompetence and pay £2.5m to McClown, on top of the £4.5m they gave to Sven and whatever they knowingly (and unknowingly) paid to Venables.