Football Focus

[StraferJack]

"EXCEPT the FAs incompetece and arrogance was in giving Capello an improved and non-results orientated extension to his contract PRIOR to the WC in South Africa, which folloiwing the debacle thereafter has left practically everyone scratching their heads about a) Why? and b) what to do with an overpaind, failed international manager who 'wouldn't' fall on his sword after failure as he had a watertight lucrative contract. "

well yes that is of course true as well - although isn't Bernstein picking up the pices from that debacle? So fair play to him (so far anyway, the jury is still out on whatever the next steps are. is 16/1 on Pardew a decent bet?)

fazer - chances of me, or anyone, doing you a favour are slim. You slash and burn in the style of Atila (go one, say "who???") but without his genuine softer side

[fazer71]

When I work with British companies I come across people like David Bernstein and Fred Goodwin regularly?

Barings for example totally clueless and look what happened (I worked there it was comic a disaster just waiting to happen).

These British senior management live in another world they all think they are James Bond Driving Aston Martins they are the chinless wonders who meddle in an incompetent dangerous way with all out lives making decisions which they have no knowledge about, they are always a problem I need to overcome in every major project I get involved with.

It?s a big British problem which is why I like working in Asia or Germany.

The press are now saying what a great thing this is for English football.

Great for the British Press.

[Loz]

One question: why the hell would anyone want to be England manager anyway? Especially if they are managing a decent sized Premiership (or equivalent) club.

Seems like a pretty thankless job to me, unless you can pull off some sort of miracle.

[ratty]

Redknapp wants it. He believes the press will be behind him and in that case he cannot fail.

[Bluerevolution]

Capello en route to Italy

http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/513235695.jpg?Expires=1328785406&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIYVGSUJFNRFZBBTA&Signature=ih~9b-A9kSmLT9a68rv3SdDsjdonnhN56rh~0h0kTuydoWgkr6W4sS-iY1H7u5DyDbELBpD-znpTjKpBhXp1MKIIZJ7zCIgiDr5zGso8Gn-OkRceMBtkcHlXcgjrUH1PrJcIwYKJQuGNl1W5p2Q0od4-lKMSkyxK2bfjuo0LwmQ_

[Laddy Muck]

But what is he doing with Dopey?

[fazer71]

Loz Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> One question: why the hell would anyone want to be

> England manager anyway? Especially if they are

> managing a decent sized Premiership (or

> equivalent) club.

>

> Seems like a pretty thankless job to me, unless

> you can pull off some sort of miracle.

Yep

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_b5GSryT89p0/TELkMCSnWfI/AAAAAAAABy8/Lynu864jNrg/s400/PoisonedChaliceWeb-4202.jpg

Press are making comparisons between Harry Redknapp and Kevin Keegan ......

[Otta]

.

[Otta]

Harry is old skool, which means that he still believes (quite rightly) that international football is the pinnacle , and that being capped for England is the greatest honour an English player can receive.

I am hopeful that he can get some of this to rub off on the players, so they can go to the Euros, and get knocked out on penalties after a lion hearted effort in The semis, where one of our players is sent off unfairly early on, but the rest of the team play for the 3 lions on their shirts.

It could be beautiful...

Unfortunately these days most people think their clubs are more important, and that is a damned shame.

[maxxi]

fazer71 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Barings for example totally clueless and look what

> happened (I worked there it was comic a disaster

> just waiting to happen).

J'accuse!

Otta Wrote:

--------------------------------------------------------

> Unfortunately these days most people think their clubs are more important, and that is a damned shame.

Yep. Guilty.

The FA was, is and always will be arrogant and incompetent but it is also a self-serving assoc. full of men terrified that they are about to lose their expense accounts. They are constantly making cow eyes at big business to try and attract "The right sort" (like Crozier etc.) into the FA to keep those accounts safe.

Guesses about the next manager are fun (and I think Pardew is worth a punt at those odds) but if I think long enough and hard enough I realise that I just don't care... enough.

I would rather see Mad-Paulo win something with Swindon before taking over at Upton Park (did you know he's really into "Samurai culture" now? Wonderful!).

[Jah Lush]

We'll have to wait and see how loyal Harry is. Does he need the aggro? He's got a good thing going at Spurs. I'm hoping he stays though the timing seems perfect to me for him to take it. Less work for more money.

What or who is the alternative if he says no? I'd give it to Stuart Pearce. He's been groomed with the Under 21's (no smutty jokes please), has experience of international competition as a player and a manager. And of course is a lion hearted Englishman through and through. If the cap fits let him wear it.

[????]

I think the other thing that this shows is that the Foreigh Coaches we've tried so far have been good at getting us to qualify for major competitions (which we should as a matter of course) with a bland slighty anglicised version of defensive continental football which then gets pulled apart by decent teams - give me the football and excirtement of Robsons, Venables and Hoodles taem ANYDAY - the last time I really enjoyed watching England in a Euro or World Cup Finals was France '98, there's hardly been an exciting England game in a Final since Argentina in '98. Crunched results followed by anti-clinmatic unisnpiring deserved exit (or a right tonking in South Africa).

[StraferJack]

I'd agree with the excitement levels and eras, but wonder if it's more to do with the generation of players than it is provinence of manager

[????]

There's a bit of that agreed but I think that quite a few players haven't looked of felt happy (ie Terry's failed Coup/Gerrards performences period!) playing like that. Heatrbreaking though they were 90, 96(Euro) and 98 were fantastic tournaments in which England were involved in some of the best games..caveat on 90 'cos there were no great teams but some great games

[Chippy Minton]

Pards has "ruled himself out" although it's easy to do that before you've even been approached.

How about Big Ron - he has the race relations experience ;-)

[StraferJack]

Agreed it's probably a combination of factors, with your suggestion being one of the big ones

And yet it's foreign managers getting the best out of most of the English players at team level

[DJKillaQueen]

I can persuaded by the idea that the fa saw the opportunity to avoid compensation from a sacking SJ. I think that the fa though is too wrapped up in the 'business' of football tbh to make good decisions.

As for Harry....I think he will encounter the same problems every england manager does.......lack of training time.......lack of world class players....etc etc. Being a successful club manager is a completely different thing to success at international level, which absolutely depends on having a pool of quality players to draw upon who can play together instinctively.

[????]

to be honest with hindsight England's 5-1 victory over Germany was the worst thing that could have happened, it meant Sven got far more credibility than he deserved (from one result) and he was then untouchable until the growing awareness of his inability to get us to compete at a finals (Japan but especially Germany) grounded to nothing as he took all our money (and shagged half our women):(

[El Pibe]

wot quids said on pretty much all those above counts.

I was reading a fawning article on the beeb today about how statiistically Capello was the best manager EVAAAA.

It's ridiculous. Laughably weak qualifying groups and a string of good results against easy opposition followed by pathetic tournaments. See also Sven's reign.

It was much more fun when we squeaked through, had a couple of poor group games and then stormed to glorious and noble defeat looking like the shining stars of the tournament, and how clse, how beautifyully close in 90 & 96.

Ironic that '96 gave us '30 years of hurt' when actually the subsequent 15 have been far more galling. Give me excitement and pain over arrogance and inspidness any day of the week. Golden genereation my arse!

[red devil]

Yep, guilty as charged too...

http://www.tshirtsunited.com/images/designs/unitedgreaterthanengland_redtshirt.jpg

I do support England, but fell out of love with them a long time ago, more to do with the fans than the actual team/FA heirarchy.

It's not often I praise politicians, but Huhne last week did the decent thing and resigned straightaway.

If the court case finds him not guilty, no doubt he will be reinstated in the cabinet. Terry had the chance to resign, and therefore nullify a lot of the baggage that he would've carried into the Euro's, that's what the FA were concerned about. But as we know, Terry's too far up his own arse to see the bigger picture, so the FA were right to strip him, BUT they should have consulted Capello first, sat him down, explained the reasons why.

I'm sure 'arry will take the job if it's offered to him.

It would be a once in a lifetime opportunity for him, and he's getting to the stage of his career where the next job might be his last...what better way to go out.

Jah, I don't it's fair you painting him as being disloyal if he does accept the job, he's done wonders at Spurs...who know's, it might be the perfect job for someone like Mourinho to come in and take you to the next level.

Maxxi, friendly question, you don't strike me as a knuckle-dragging bonehead, so I just wondered how you squared your obvious liking for Di Canio and his well known pro-Mussolini/fascist views...

[Otta]

I totally agree with the last few posts, but I really really want to care about England again.

[Jah Lush]

red devil Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Jah, I don't it's fair you painting him as being

> disloyal if he does accept the job, he's done

> wonders at Spurs...who know's, it might be the

> perfect job for someone like Mourinho to come in

> and take you to the next level.

Hmmm.... You're right. I didn't mean to infer he would be disloyal if he left Spurs but that's what I wrote. So guilty as charged.

I don't think many Spurs fans would begrudge him the England job if he took it. He's worked wonders at Tottenham since he took over from Ramos and we'd all be very upset at him leaving.

Mourinho's style of football (one-nils and close the shop) wouldn't suit the Spurs brand of football. It might win titles though but I'd be unhappy if our style of play changed and was boring to watch.

[red devil]

Jah Lush Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Mourinho's style of football (one-nils and close

> the shop) wouldn't suit the Spurs brand of

> football. It might win titles though but I'd be

> unhappy if our style of play changed and was

> boring to watch.

I thought that when he's been touted to replace Fergie, but his early Chelski team with Duff and Robben was actually quite exciting to watch. I think he went for a more pragmatic style of play to try and win the Champs League, which he could get away with at a club like Inter.

The current Real Madrid team isn't exactly short of exciting flair players, so maybe he just adapts to suit the club/players/fans???

[StraferJack]

well he ALWAYS spends a lot of money, wherever he is. And wherever he is is unlikely to be for long, as he tends to be off quite sharpish

[Jah Lush]

Agreed. High profile equals high maintenance. Not sure if we could afford him anyway.