What is next for England?
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Having just watched another abysmal England performance, two things struck me. The first is what on earth made the FA think putting Steve McClaren in charge was a good idea? He was in charge of a boring negative Boro side that struggled through to a UEFA Cup final despite of him, and despite the fact that the teams they played on the way there were, at best, average sides. The second one is: how dumb must he be to think he was up to the job? Though I am not sure it is stupidity, more a mark of the arrogance of the man, that he believed he was up to the job.
It is plain to see that he is miles out of his depth and that Terry Venables is keeping his head down to avoid being dragged down with McClaren. In fact it seems clear to me that El Tel is doing just about everything he can to keep his reputation intact and to make McClaren bear all the responsibility for England's failings. Venables clearly believes McClaren will fail but unfortunately for him it is probably too late to keep his reputation intact as his hand is plainly visible in the tactical choices made.
But while we all know it is time to change the manager, the real question is who takes over when McClaren gets the boot? Curbishley's performance as West Ham manager rules him out, he clearly can't make a bunch of underachievers into achievers. Sam Allardyce, even if you ignore the whiff of corruption around his transfer dealings, has hardly shown that he can get a team to play good football. Though I would think Kevin Nolan and Kevin Davies would be delighted as they would more than likely become England regulars. In fact other than Wenger and Ferguson I fail to see any outstanding candidates for the England job. Perhaps England's biggest problem is that they are either stuck with McClaren or they replace him with yet another mediocre coach?
Article written by Tris Burke