- Oct 1, 2003
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By Tim Rich, Telegraph.co.uk 22 Nov
Once more the wreckage is picked over, once more failure is analysed and once more the Football Association promises a thorough-going review of the English game.
This morning at Soho Square, the FA did the easy bit, sacking Steve McClaren, a manager who proved painfully inadequate even for the relatively straightforward task of qualifying for the European Championship. A man who said he wanted to be judged on results and who, in 15 months, produced only one performance of note.
It was against Guus Hiddink's Russia, who almost made as big a hash of qualification as England, losing in Israel and then squeezing past Andorra with a 1-0 win. They were not as good as we thought they were but they were better than England.
The next bit was a little bit harder, sacking McClaren's assistant Terry Venables, and stifling the cries from well-worn sections of the media that he should be allowed to "rescue" England. Those supporters who had seen Venables attempt to "rescue" Portsmouth, Crystal Palace and Leeds United would be grateful for that. For once, Venables was not allowed to escape responsibility.
Bloodletting is easy, especially on mornings like Nov 22. The rest is far harder to come to terms with. There is a dearth of qualified English managers to replace McClaren - none has even the slightest experience of the Champions League. Of the candidates to succeed Sven-Goran Eriksson, Sam Allardyce and Alan Curbishley appear considerably weaker options than they were in 2006.
Only Martin O'Neill's credentials appear to have risen since the day the FA chief executive, Brian Barwick, confirmed that McClaren was "always my first choice" and any chairman who has tried to tempt O'Neill with employment will tell you that he is someone who agonises over his decisions.
And then there is Alan Shearer; a man with enormous presence, someone who might be what Jurgen Klinsmann and Marco van Basten were to Germany and Holland. But if Shearer fails, it will prompt Barwick's own resignation amid accusations of why he appointed someone who had not taken charge of a single competitive game to 'the impossible job'.
When England failed to qualify for a major tournament for the first time, the 1974 World Cup in West Germany, it was to be 16 years before they made a major impact in another tournament. They were humiliated in the European Championships of 1980 and 1988 and failed to qualify in 1984.
They never made it to the Argentina World Cup, ran out of steam in Spain and lost to the first decent side they met in Mexico. Only in Italy in 1990 did England prove their worth. It might take as long to recover from this setback.
A golden generation is fading and a quick study of the Under-21 side and the academy system reveals there is an awful lot of base metal coming up behind.
Without a quota system that would probably be illegal under European Union legislation, the pool of English-qualified players in the Premier League that now stands at around 70 will dry up still further.
Unless the Premier League can be cajoled into abandoning naked self-interest in the appointment of its managers and the buying up of young talent from Europe and Africa as a substitute for youth development, the national game will continue to corrode.
It is one thing asking for "root and branch reform" as the FA chairman, Geoff Thompson, did this morning, it is quite another asking why Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool have not produced a single regular England player from their academies in the last five years?
The Premier League is the most profitable in the world, it is not an organisation that will abandon the Nanis and Andersons while concentrating on developing the Kieran Richardsons and Wes Browns.
The Football Association was an enthusiastic backer of the Premier League when it was launched in the wake of England's failure to make the knockout stages of the 1992 European Championship. It knew it would break the power of the Football League and make rich clubs richer - a process that would supposedly encourage greater success in the newly-formed Champions League.
The FA sowed the wind of this great revolution in English football and this morning it is buffeted by a whirlwind of its own creation.
Good article
Once more the wreckage is picked over, once more failure is analysed and once more the Football Association promises a thorough-going review of the English game.
This morning at Soho Square, the FA did the easy bit, sacking Steve McClaren, a manager who proved painfully inadequate even for the relatively straightforward task of qualifying for the European Championship. A man who said he wanted to be judged on results and who, in 15 months, produced only one performance of note.
It was against Guus Hiddink's Russia, who almost made as big a hash of qualification as England, losing in Israel and then squeezing past Andorra with a 1-0 win. They were not as good as we thought they were but they were better than England.
The next bit was a little bit harder, sacking McClaren's assistant Terry Venables, and stifling the cries from well-worn sections of the media that he should be allowed to "rescue" England. Those supporters who had seen Venables attempt to "rescue" Portsmouth, Crystal Palace and Leeds United would be grateful for that. For once, Venables was not allowed to escape responsibility.
Bloodletting is easy, especially on mornings like Nov 22. The rest is far harder to come to terms with. There is a dearth of qualified English managers to replace McClaren - none has even the slightest experience of the Champions League. Of the candidates to succeed Sven-Goran Eriksson, Sam Allardyce and Alan Curbishley appear considerably weaker options than they were in 2006.
Only Martin O'Neill's credentials appear to have risen since the day the FA chief executive, Brian Barwick, confirmed that McClaren was "always my first choice" and any chairman who has tried to tempt O'Neill with employment will tell you that he is someone who agonises over his decisions.
And then there is Alan Shearer; a man with enormous presence, someone who might be what Jurgen Klinsmann and Marco van Basten were to Germany and Holland. But if Shearer fails, it will prompt Barwick's own resignation amid accusations of why he appointed someone who had not taken charge of a single competitive game to 'the impossible job'.
When England failed to qualify for a major tournament for the first time, the 1974 World Cup in West Germany, it was to be 16 years before they made a major impact in another tournament. They were humiliated in the European Championships of 1980 and 1988 and failed to qualify in 1984.
They never made it to the Argentina World Cup, ran out of steam in Spain and lost to the first decent side they met in Mexico. Only in Italy in 1990 did England prove their worth. It might take as long to recover from this setback.
A golden generation is fading and a quick study of the Under-21 side and the academy system reveals there is an awful lot of base metal coming up behind.
Without a quota system that would probably be illegal under European Union legislation, the pool of English-qualified players in the Premier League that now stands at around 70 will dry up still further.
Unless the Premier League can be cajoled into abandoning naked self-interest in the appointment of its managers and the buying up of young talent from Europe and Africa as a substitute for youth development, the national game will continue to corrode.
It is one thing asking for "root and branch reform" as the FA chairman, Geoff Thompson, did this morning, it is quite another asking why Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool have not produced a single regular England player from their academies in the last five years?
The Premier League is the most profitable in the world, it is not an organisation that will abandon the Nanis and Andersons while concentrating on developing the Kieran Richardsons and Wes Browns.
The Football Association was an enthusiastic backer of the Premier League when it was launched in the wake of England's failure to make the knockout stages of the 1992 European Championship. It knew it would break the power of the Football League and make rich clubs richer - a process that would supposedly encourage greater success in the newly-formed Champions League.
The FA sowed the wind of this great revolution in English football and this morning it is buffeted by a whirlwind of its own creation.
Good article
