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Rosie47
So we're actively considering a man for the England job who was proven not guilty on tax evasion largely because he spent a not inconsiderable amount of time convincing the jury he is stupid? Good call.
Jonny K (No Captain, No manager, let's just sell Wembley and have the greatest night out ever), Newcastle
Why Does Anyone Care?
I don't understand what all the fuss is about this week in regards to Capello leaving and what England need to do next etc. etc.....
Forgive me if I'm wrong but isn't every International week filled with mails stating how boring international football is and how everyone can't wait for the real football to resume with the Premier League. People have even spoken in large numbers about how they have fallen out of love with the England team in general??
So do people actually care about who the manager is or do you lot just really like to moan and give out regardless of what the topic is?
John Whelan, LUFC, Dublin
Well, This Is Gloomy
The idea of blooding the next generation for the Euros in order to concentrate on 2014 seems to be growing in popularity. A promising collection of youngsters, untainted by previous failures, will learn how to play together and get used to the demands of tournament football free from the crushing weight of expectation. See Fred Winter in yesterday's mailbox.
It sounds great in theory. In practice it won't work.
Every tournament, our wonderful media stokes the unwitting public into a frenzy, paints us as world beaters, and then sharpens its knives for the inevitable inglorious failure. This paralyses the team, reducing them to trying not to fail as much as the next man, lest they become the target of orchestrated tabloid scapegoating and hilarious pizza hut adverts. If we build our team around the next generation, the media will simply go with the FEARLESS YOUNG LIONS READY TO TAME THE WORLD narrative and expectation will be as high as ever. Then, when inexperience puts us out of the tournament, no allowances will be made, they'll just be written off in disgust as just as bad as the last lot, and we'll turn to the next batch of 16 year olds that look like they might make it.
It doesn't matter who we send, who's managing them, whether the WAGs are allowed along or not. The only way we can be successful is with a sympathetic media happy to focus on long term goals and ignore individual errors. So I guess it's inglorious failure, then. Again.
Jon Gibson, LFC
Of Course, This Is Ignoring There's No Way In Hell He'd Take It, But...
So I am writing this at 4am after waking at 3.30 with another of my night terrors! As I lay there bathed in cold sweat I had an idea on who should be the nest England manager. The English media and players often remind me of this lynch mobs that you see on the Simpsons from time to time. Ignorant hordes that seizes upon the most easily grasped idea that is a available. IN this case Harry Redknapp's appointment as England manager. Now ole 'Arry is your typical 2nd hand car dealer, little bit whoo, little bit whey, gets his round sort of bloke who has taken Tottenham on a good run over the course of his appointment. In all honesty though I think Harry is a bit dim so that's why instead of appointing him England manager I think the FA should appoint...Alex Ferguson.
Now before you shout he's madder than mad jack mcmad! Think about it carefully! What is the one job in England that is bigger than the Man United job? No offence to the other 91 league clubs! Alex could embrace less demanding day to day role in his senior years and his appointment would make way for the appointment of the Special One at Man United. If we all know one thing its that Ferguson knows how to win things and can handle the media in his own unique way. He gets his crack at international management with a team of decent players (Sorry Scotland!) and Man United get a manager in his place that they know can carry on the success of the club.
Everyone wins! Except Harry that is! But that's what you get when name a bank account after your dog!
And let the screaming of "You stupid Irish @!@!£@!" begin now..
Dave
...Now I am a Man United fan, and there is no way in hell that I would want Alex Ferguson to leave United. But with all this talk of Harry Redknapp being appointed just for the Euro's shouldn't Alex Ferguson be in the running for that as well.
Publicly no employed manager would come out and say that they want the job. With Harry seemingly ruling himself out, I can't think of anyone British besides Ferguson who I think can pull this English team together. He may not want to do it (publicly) but I am sure the FA bigwigs can talk him into it - give him Capello's salary just for Euros.
Surely SAF is better than anyone else out there at getting players to perform above their level of ability.
You guys should start a campaign for Ferguson being appointed in charge for the Euros.
Sarovar Chandra
The Nice Side Of John Terry
Not sure if you print links to other sites but I strongly reccommend this link to people...
http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/chelsea/109807/former-chelsea-youth-players-candid-account-reveals-another-less-gimpish-side-to-john-terry.html
It's apparently a copy of a account written by former Chelsea trainee Sam Tillen and all about John Terry. As all we hear about him is from the tabloids its good to read a first hand account from someone who knew him personally and its not what most people would expect.
Martin Coad
Can Anyone Explain The Terry Love-In?
Following on from mails yesterday about how John Terry got Capello the sack.... Couldn't agree more!! Now it appears that Guus Hiddink is also compromised due to his relationship with Terry?? Are 99% of the general public missing something...
For people's minds that go further back than the Wayne Bridge affair, this is someone that mocked American tourists on the day of the Twin Towers tragedy, charged with assault (later acquitted) has had shady business dealings apparently charging for a 'JT' guided tour of the Cobham training ground (being England captain adds zero's to his marketing exploits - a reason to not quit the captaincy??). Wouldn't any normal person with dignity and morals have quit as captain? I don't believe the FA need to take the innocent until proven guilty route. Any accusations of this type have already brought a stain on English football and anyone that saw the YouTube clips know what was said? And that's why I hate the bloke, he is still denying saying it despite what the clip shows....
I and ever normal person I know thinks the bloke is despicable yet the Premiership 'bubble' seem to love him. I'm talking the Ray Wilkins types, the Keys and Grays, Managers past and present..... Is he a really good guy in person?? Or are all these people rich and naive and so blinded in the world of the Premiership and the worship they receive - to the type of bloke he really is?? I just can't understand it.
Personally I have never thought he was a great footballer, a lack of pace and positioning but putting his body on the line has got him past this..... I don't think his leadership skills at the Euros will make up for the liability he could be at the back. He shouldn't even be in the squad let alone Captain!!
Can anyone explain the JT love in??
Dave (Bring back the Dentist chair - We will win the Euro's)
Why Is It Like Cheating?
I never normally send in to the mailbox (as my mails are sh*te and I don't have much to say) but I have to disagree with the sentiments of some of the mailboxers. Xenophobia aside, some of the comments are plain ridiculous. Having a foreign manager feels a little too much like cheating? Do you think the Koreans or Russians felt that way under Guus? Or any number of African teams who have benefitted from the experience of an outside coach?
Apply the rule to any other work place. Ludicrous. Troy 'The above more than makes up for my CV' Hodgson said that he is sick of intelligence and tactics and would prefer enjoying watching the team. Would Inter Milan have settled for a double in 2010 but have outplayed Barcelona and lost? If you apply that rationale to the Spain game in November we'd have a team full of Phil Jones instead of Scott Parker and would have been given an absolute hiding.
Obviously, we were schooled as it was, but much better to be schooled and win than schooled and embarrassed. Best man for the job every time.
Jonny (Our arrogance exceeds all boundaries: Would another foreign coach want it?) Newcastle
The Irish Will Take Capello
As an Irishman with his head firmly in footballing reality, may I be the first to offer Fabio a role within the Italian friendly setup in place here in Dublin?
That way he can still have his trip to Polkraine in the summer, can get down to some good old fashioned football training with real players, who understand they are not on the same level as the best teams in europe but who also understand they are there to play, as a team, rather than - bang women / gamble / tweet / play playstation - as individulas, and are grateful to accept the knowledge and wisdom of coaches experienced at winning at the very highest level.
Who knows, at some stage in the competition he may even get an opportunity to help plot a little piece of the sweetest revenge imaginable!
But hey, what the hell... You fellas knock yourselves out with the artful dodger but in [insert length of time till England are technically outplayed by the likes of Lichtenstein]'s time, when the press are screaming from the rooftops that England are lightyears from the likes of Spain, Holland, France, Germany, Croatia, Guinea, Indonesia and the Nepalese U14's in terms of technical ability... You'll only have yourselves to blame.
Diarmuid (a little piece of British sanity dies every time someone utters the "he didn't understand the psychology of the modern british player" bollocks - sooner or later they're going to have to accept that the modern british player no longer understands what it means to be a footballer), Cork
The P Word
Do my eyes deceive me, or a people really, genuinely, unironically still demanding that the England manager 'needs to show more passion'? It seems almost too easy an argument in response to that to say 'two words: Kevin. Keegan'. Nevertheless, two words: Kevin. Keegan.
Yours, exasperated,
Andrew, London
And This Was All It Took...
Liverpool away against Man U this weekend, Suarezgate/Racistgate/We all hate LFC gate and we get 2 mailboxes full of Terry/the Fa/Capello.
Is that all it took... here is to what I hope unfolds next week to save me the "he said/she said" nonsense that will start post the final whistle after Saturday's early kick-off
- 'Arry knocks back the FA, but not to remain at Spurs but to embark on a new coaching career in Italy under Silvio Burlesconi.
- After engaging in a ploy to get Silvio back into the hot seat of the Parlamento Italiano, which involved a bonus payment to a Monaco bank account, which just happened to coincide with one of the infamous bunga bunga parties 'Arry run's into John Terry, Wayne Bridge's Ex, and Anton Ferdinand, who was supposed to be visiting his Gran.
Feel free to interpret how that one ends...
But in reality let's hope that a Suarez brace seals a win against United on Saturday not because I'm defending him, not because I'm racist, but because I f*cking hate those Bastards!!!
Seany , LFC Toronto
Why 'British'?
So Bernstein has stated "Clearly there is a preference for an Englishman or a British person..."
Where does the British come into it? We either narrow the criteria that only an English manager can apply (which I personally disagree with), or we say any nationality can be manager. The "British" clause seems to have been added purely so Martin O'Neill can be included on the shortlist. I don't want him - and I'm sure Sunderland fans don't want him to leave them.
If Pearce does well as caretaker, why not give him the role? At the end of the day, we're never going to win anything so we might as well just get someone who won't cost a bomb.
Boom (ITFC), Singapore
New Rules
I know people tend to exaggerate the facts when arguing about something like Capello's England record, but could everyone refrain from:
1) Referring to the Euro qualification campaign as "flawless"...unless flawless (definition being "perfect, without fault") now extends to home draws with Switzerland, and failing to beat Montenegro either home or away.
2) Calling anyone who doesn't want a foreigner as manager as xenophobic...(definition being "irrational fear or hatred of foreigners") unless it is that hard to believe that some people simply believe that the England football team should be led by an Englishman on principle.
3) On the flip side stating that none of the big international teams would have a foreign manager...unless we are so arrogant as to see ourselves so much above Portugal and Russia (sorry Irish fans, you don't count...he says, awaiting the backlash).
4) Lambasting the FA for being spineless and lacking decision makers...fine, have a pop at them for not involving Capello in the Terry decision, but at least recognise the leadership and decision-making inherent in, well, making the decision in the first place.
Nick Smith
