Football Crazy
What a crazy week or so in the football world!! Arsenal winning 7-1 against Blackburn, a cat on the pitch at Anfield on Monday, the F.A. strip the England captaincy from John Terry and now England have no one at the helm just before a major championships. This, I cannot get my head around.
Let's start with Terry. The guy is definitely a little bit dodgy. He does come from a background of drug dealing and god knows what else, but nothing excuses casual racism during a "game" of football, or at any other time for that matter. The thing is, however the words he said to Anton Ferdinand look on the tv, we have a system in this country where you are innocent until proven guilty and I think the F.A. should respect that. I understand that the press would have a field day during the European Championships when Terry would have to conduct interviews, but it isn't as if he hasn't been engulfed in controversy before (notably when he couldn't keep his trouser snake out of his best mate's girlfriend). The job of a captain and manager is to take all the criticism and flack and deflect it away from the rest of the squad so they can concentrate on football. I know that this is a fairly perverted view, but I think that if all the focus was on him, the rest of the team could get on with their preparations and think about winning the bloody thing!
So, the F.A. called Terry in for a meeting and politely asked him to step down as captain, which was certainly a sensible thing for him to do on paper, but as the patriotic and committed player he flatly refused, which I think does show why he has the mental strength to lead his club and country. Unfortunately they said "fine, we've given you the option so we'll make you piss off ourselves!" Not sure those were the exact words, but you get the gist. The problem was, they went behind Fabio Capello's back when doing this, and the last time I checked it was the kind of decision that involves the manager. You wouldn't see the Glazers demoting Vidic from the captaincy at Manchester United. Every decision involving the squad would be made by Ferguson, and I don't understand why it isn't the same at international management. Why employ a guy when you are only going to disregard his opinion anyway?
Capello says "Ciao"
Last night, the shocking news unfolded: "Capello steps down as England boss". I was fairly taken aback to be honest. I new the two parties were in for the meeting yesterday, but I thought they would keep Fabio from reeling with a nice big cheque and a pat on the back with the assurance that it was the last involvement in team matters until he steps down as manager after the Euros. Apparently it was all something to do with an interview Capello made to an italian newspaper undermining the F.A.'s decision, but I'm not entirely sure, but what I do know is that the whole thing is a bit of a mess. One day we will go in to a major championships without any hoo-ha or scandal and be totally focussed and win a bloody trophy!!
Replacing Fabio
The next task is to get someone in, pronto. There is one obvious candidate. A man who literally hours before Capello's resignation was giving a press conference outside Southwark Crown court after clearing his name for tax evasion. A story in which there were more dodgy dealings than a Guy Richie movie and involving two of the seediest characters in English football. A man who, when phoned up will either be at the dogs or eating ham, egg and chips. Harry Redknapp. To be fair to him, he is the most successful English manager around at the moment. He has taken Tottenham from their worst start to a season ever, to Champions league and playing the best football in the premier league at times. He oozes Englishness with his cockney ramblings and "Dirty 'Arry" nickname. He is one of the only managers in the league who seems to give the press the information that they need. When asked about potential transfer dealings and targets, you can always tell he is giving as much information as he knows or can be allowed to divulge. If you have a good relationship with the journos it's half the battle won already!
Stuart Pearce has been announced as the care taker manager for the game against the Netherlands on 26th February. I think, if Redknapp is to take the job, he should be part of the behind the scenes team for that game and do it on a part time basis until the end of the season where he should take charge permanently. I cannot see a man so patriotic and striving to be the top dog in football turning down the biggest honour an English manager can be offered! Unfortunately this may happen.
Other Options
As I have said previously, I think the F.A. will try and go English or, at least, British. Other decent candidates are few and far between though. My next option would be Martin O'Neill. A man who actually applied for the job back in 2006. The way the Irishman has transformed an extremely average Sunderland side into a consistent and well oiled machine in such a short space of time shows his tactical awareness and ability to motivate players, which I think is more suited to international management, as a lot of the top clubs just buy the talent in and send them out to play, which you obviously can't do with national sides. The problem in geting O'Neill would be that he has only been in his current role for a very short period of time and there is little or no chance of him leaving.
Alan Pardew is another name being banded about, but I dont feel he has proved himself at Newcastle quite yet after some dreadful spells at Southampton and West Ham. The rank outsider could be Blackpool manager Ian Holloway, who was superb in the Premier league last season and is in the same bracket as Redknapp with his patriotic and pure views on the game. After those names I really do draw a blank. Why is it we can't produce top English managers any more? There certainly aren't many in the Premiership!
Overseas candidates must include Arsene Wenger, who is surely nearing the end of the road at Arsenal, and Jose Mourinho, the Portugese genius who is rumoured to be leaving Real Madrid at the end of the season.
One thing is for sure, whoever takes the job is going to have to fight hard to get the English team back up with the best, and has the expectation of a nation, desperate for silverware. I certainly wouldn't want the task...would you?
This video is why Harry is perfect for the job!!
Who is your first choice? feel free to comment below and share this blog with your friends/enemies!
Sweet video :o) Lovely job!
ReplyDeleteDo you think 'Arry can take the England job after Daniel Levy has stood by him through this ordeal for over 3 few years .... it would be a tad heartless on him and Tottenham only hours or days after he was acquitted... or do you think its too big a job to turn down regardless of the timing?
Damo
Love the blog Dave, disagree a little about the FA decision to strip Terry of the Captaincy, partly because I honestly don't think he should be going anyway for footballing reasons, though that part is the managers decision, but partly due to the rumblings from the England players. There were quite a few comments appearing here and there that a lot of the England players were not happy with Terry retaining the captaincy, imagine the start we'd have to the Euros if 5 or 6 players simply refused to play for their country with him in charge.
ReplyDeleteI don't blame him at all for not stepping down, why should he if he is innocent (which he is until proven guilty) but I think Capello needed to make the decision that if the matter would affect the whole teams preparation then sadly Terry would have to deal with losing a job he's never been that good at anyway, as you said part of his role as captain is to be a shield for the rest of the team, while unfair to him personally his role as captain at the euros was untenable, and I think in the end possibly the best thing for himself as well as anyone else, any failure at the euros was going to pinned entirely on him as captain. Also I wouldn't say the FA went behind Capello's back, they asked him to do it, he said no, so they did it, he knew they'd do it he just wanted to make a point, which is fair enough, but to then go and criticise your boss on tv is a bit stupid, other managers have even come out and said they agree the FA had the right to do it, they pay him to do a job, if he doesn't do it the way they want then they have the right as his employers to do it for him, same as with any other job.
As for Capello i'm glad he's gone, he should have gone after the world cup, hopefully the FA will learn not to give people ridiculous lengthy contracts before they've shown they're capable so they can fire them if needed, it was insane to hear that after the world cup the FA wanted Capello to resign, but they couldn't afford to sack him because they'd given him a 4 year contract weeks before his first ever major international tournament...
Harry should be good for England, I think he could do it part-time until the Euros, he knows the English players well enough and Pearce can fill him in on the youngsters, we're fairly boned anyway, he should make a point he's looking to build for the next world cup, scrap any players over 28, take a young team and learn who can handle the pressure, if they do well then he'll look amazing, if they don't he can just blame Capello. Then he can build for the World cup and go on from there.
I would have said O'Neill wouldn't be a bad choice either, but he's ruled himself out (as has Pardew), probably due to being ignored last time round. I don't know if we have to have an English manager for certain, after those 2 who else is there, but lets have one who can speak English at least. My big concern is that if we don't get Harry then the FA are under so much pressure to pick someone English we may end up with Hodgson or someone else ridiculous. Benitez has been banded about a bit, my first thought was "are they mental", but if he was ever good at anything it was taking a bunch of not great players and winning a cup with them, so maybe it's not a bad idea, it was mainly his awful transfer dealings that screwed him at Liverpool in the end, which wouldn't be an issue at international level.
Gonna stop there cos this is huge lol.
It's a tough one damo. I think that he has always wanted the job, and he'd regret turning it down. I can't see him walking out on spurs at this time of the season, so maybe Pearce will be in charge till may and then redknapp and pearce co manage during the euros. In my opinion the fa HAVE to get harry in!!!
ReplyDeletePhil, I think terry has to be in the squad as he is experienced and commited to his country. Even if he doesnt play every game, he has to go. They did go behind capello's back in a sense because he was totally undermined and it was as if his opinion was irrelevant, even though he knew it was going to happen. definitely dont want hodgson. Benitez is an option i suppose, as he knows the british game inside out. you should start our own blog mate!