Brian Barwick’s comical search for England’s next messiah
For the sake of my sanity and on good medical authority (because you would have to be extraordinarily retarded to put on such a show), I can safely say that Brian Barwick and the Football Association (and while we’re at it, the Premier League as well), have England’s best interests at heart.
Perhaps this is more troubling than the alternative (that BB is out to screw England royally), because it tells us that the people who run football in England are out of touch with reality and lack the vision and understanding of football (and politics) to do the right thing.
Take the FA’s current farcical search for the next England manager. I missed Eriksson’s appointment but I’m pretty certain it was driven by the same mindset - to hire a foreigner with a commendable track record. They’ve gone the same route again, but with the caveat of asking leading figures in the media (as opposed to the best footballing minds - John T and Stevie G, come on!).
The need to get a second opinion is a sign of progress, but it raises two very important questions -
One, was England in SUCH a bad position that we could find no one else but Steve McClaren, Martin O’Neill, Stuart Pearce and Sam Allardyce to audition for the post of England manager?
Two, if Brian Barwick needs input from Michel Platini (a man with an agenda, as witnessed by his proclamation that England should hire an ‘English’ manager), John Toshack (not exactly Lippi, you know), Beckenbauer (respect but rent-a-quote Franz?) and the likes of Stevie G and John T, is he really qualified to do the job of selection himself when he doesn’t know who to ask for help?
The answer to #1, we’ll probably never know. What is clear is that this time around, the FA want to rectify their mistakes and are conscious of wanting to do and especially appearing to do the right thing.
For #2 though, the situation is a joke. Asking Wenger, Fergie, Beckenbauer and Charlton are good ideas, but what will they tell him that he doesn’t know? That the England players need to play to their strengths? That they need a motivating force? That they need a manager they can respect? That they need someone who can adequately deflect the pressure off the players? That they need someone who is tactically astute and able to turn games around?
There is no perfect candidate for this post, there never is. There are potential candidates, and the likes of Mourinho, Lippi, Capello and Klinsmann are all good options (although in my view K needs some time at club level). Mourinho advantage of knowing the players and the language is tempered by his inability to get his teams to tactically shift gears in high-value games (champions league semifinals, anyone?), although his powers of motivation are incredible and his ability to get the most out of players is what counts.
If no one else wants to come onboard, we know that Capello is interested and he would be a solid appointment, so what’s the need to spend time listening to others? Is Wenger going to point out a 14-yr old genius manager from Senegal who could lead England to World Cup glory in South Africa? Does Ferguson know a manager no one else does? Do you really think that the managers who are successful at club level or preparing for Euro 2008 would come and manage the poisoned chalice that is the England hotseat?
Few people want the job. Mourinho and Capello are the only ones I would back unconditionally, despite the fact that Capello has language issues and Mourinho is a ticking timebomb and will cause nightmares for the FA public relations department.
So by all means, Mr Barwick, take your time in appointing a manager with world-class credentials. It is a bit disappointing that you don’t have people in mind already or that you haven’t approached the best replacements immediately (and allowed other clubs / teams a chance to snap them up first).
I can only hope that you get the right man this time. Because while I can go to Euro 2008 supporting Italy and making a play for hot fans, I don’t think South Africa 2010 can afford not to have England present.
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Well, it was nothing less than what we should have expected really. I do not find anything weird in asking Wenger or Fregie about potential replacements though as they will NOT tell him anything that he actually knows. What he will get from those two, however, is the tactical ability of managers.
They say it takes one to know one, right? so Fergie, having come up against Mourinho for example knows, to a certain extend, what he can and cannot do. Add to that that he has plenty of English players in the squad whom he knows inside out by technical and tactical ability and he will be able to explain to Barwick if a certain manager has any chance of getting the best out of his players/team.
Wenger, who has no English players in his team, will be able to give his view on opposition abilities. For example, in their current group for WC2010 qualification he will be able to tell him what manager would best be able to combine England’s “experience” and their relatively promising youth.
These managers know what goes on behind the scenes and they will be able to recognize a good manager from a mile away. Barwinck might know what it takes to be a manager but… wait, he thought McLaren was a good manager. Anyway with the help of two of the best football has ever seen, it should be easier to pick the right man for England.
Going back to your qestion one though, you have to remeber that the population was screaming it lungs out for an english manager. McLaren was the best/available one. Pearce, as he has proven at the youth level is quite all right! So another mistake on Barwick’s account.
Le sigh. This is driving me mad now. Every day straight to the papers or on the net to find out if there’s a smidgen of news. It’s torturous. Seems like Mourinho wants the job by latest news-he speaks English, has the support of most fans and media, knows the players and has all the qualities you listed above.So just ask him dammit and give us a silver lining. If Capello really can’t speak English(i spose he’d have plenty of time to learn but still….)then i don’t want him.If we can’t produce a talented, inspirational manager ourselves we can at least employ one who speaks the same language as the players. I vote for a public vote!The FA Have had plenty of chances to pick the right man. They failed. Our choice couldn’t be any worse than theirs.Now they’re putting off all the people who are interested with their dithering.End of rant
I think Barwick is right to approach all those that he has and intends to. It’s a great opportunity to get diverse views from the great and the good who also know a fair bit about football, players, management and administration (Beckenbauer, Platini, Charlton, Wenger, Ferguson, some of the senior players etc.). The issue is not simply about choosing the right person for the job; it is also about that person the right brief. To discuss the real difficulties experienced by the players behind the scenes, the tactical short-comings, the tension they feel representing England, the suffocating fear of failure and ridicule by the media and fans. How are the preferred candidates going to deal with all these things? Does the candidate’s views of the reasons for England’s repeated failures accord with the views of others? Has the candidate presented a new insight?
In life, the best way of making a decision is to make an informed decision. That means you take all the relevant information you can from a variety of sources and then sit down, analyse and decide. England at international level are a bit of a basket case. It is not as simple as saying to the guy you are thinking about appointing: “Oh, just go out and win the world cup”
The likes of Beckenbauer and Platini are no longer trammelled by narrow national interests. It is in the interests of FIFA and EUFA to have a big money spinner like England (perhaps the biggest money spinner in the world) present in the later stages of the big international competitions. Beckenbauer and Platini will want to see England fare well. I would set great store by their views. They are highly intelligent men, were amongst the greatest footballers ever to play the game, are world cup and Euro cup winners, repeated winners of the champions league (European Cups)went on in the case of Beckenbauer to manage a world cup winning team, and then each rose to the top of football administration. These are exceptional men. Their views carry great weight. Only the ignorant would dismiss them, or their views, out of hand.
Just because we may disagree from time to time with someone’s views (e.g. Platini) does not mean that those views are not worth seeking. After all, it is always possible that he might be right, and we wrong. No one owns a monopoly on always being right, although we all like to think so when it comes to our own views. In truth, you lose nothing by seeking someone’s views.
Currently, there is no urgency to appoint an England manager. If Mourinho really wants the England job, he’ll get it. But does he really want it? A 4-year contract with England with a 2 year break clause (after the next World cup) should suit Mourinho fine. He could do a good job, take England to world cup glory or get very close to it and then return to club football at Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Bayern Munich or a club in the premiership (Manchester United? - now you could imagine Mourinho and Carlos Queiroz working together after SAF’s retirement).
The opportunity to coach a team as big as England, the media exposure, his knowledge of the English players, the popular well of English support, the pride the Portuguese people would take in his appointment, must appeal to Mourinho’s not inconsiderable ego. To go down in sporting and cultural history as the man who unleashed the Three Lions on the world… now that is a challenge and legacy Senhor Mourinho might relish. How could coaching a club side to a domestic title (”seen it, done it, got the tee-shirt”) or to the Champions cup (”seen it, done it, got the tee-shirt”) or any other honours at club level possibly compare with taking England to a world cup win? The chance to coach England might never come again. Opportunities at club level will always be there for a man with his record of achievements.
Barwick et al are supposed to be in charge of a national institution and they look like amateurs. Surely with a possible sacking of Maclaren approaching they should have formed their short list of replacements before he was sacked. In fact I can´t understand why, even at any time during Maclaren’s tenure, they didn´t have a short list of replacements. It should be an ongoing thing with odd quiet word to the main candidates to canvass interest.