Sack The FA
It feels less and less like England will qualify for the European Championships. England under McLaren are just not good enough and there's a good chance that once we lose the next qualifying match, the pressure will be too great for Steve to stay. But should he be the only one to pack his bag? I say no. It's time that the FA was put to the sword and a top to bottom clear-out was made.Case for the Prosecution:
1. Steve McLaren was a mistake that's put us back years.
2. The gift of a really soft qualifying group for the European Championships has been spurned.
3. English Referees are now considered some of the world's worst.
4. Complete poverty of choice in strikers and goal keepers.
Discuss.
posted by gooner71 @ 2:08 PM
5 Comments:
I reckon it's a fifty-fifty proposition. England needs to win its home matches and draw the away ones - simple as that. A tough order but not impossible. I don't really understand all the fuss about the Rooney injury - the bloke hasn't scored for England since bloody Euro 2004! He was hardly going to score the goals to get us qualification with that record. Crouchie's the one - twelve goals in fifteen games so far. Plus we need a fully fit Owen to nick a few goals for us on the way to his beating Sir Bobby's record.
I think England are good enough but McClown is a disaster. Still I wouldn't sack him until we either crap out in the qualifiers or, more likely, go out on penalties to Portugal in the quarters.
McLaren's gone. The idea that we're going to win our home matches is just wishful thinking. We don't ship a lot of goals, true. But worse than that, we don't score goals. 0-0 against Macedonia and Israel, 0-2 against Croatia, we only get proper winning scorelines against Andorra and Estonia.
But you're missing the point of my post, surprising really because I'm proposing revolution more than anything else.
The FA has shown themselves to be poor and negligent stewards of the English game.
The FA are custodians of the success of the national team. Yet, we have a situation where the national team has drifted backwards since 2002. You could be forgiven then thinking that with the appearance of Joe Cole, Wayne Rooney, Paul Robinson, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard, and Frank Lampard, to add fire to Beckham, Owen, and Scholes, that England were on the verge of something not seen since '96, or '90. But the FA frittered that away with the appointment of Sven Goren Eriksson whose defensive tactics and hidebound insistence on playing the out-of-form, and the in-form in positions and formations that didn't suit them turned disastrous. Then in Germany, he was told he was getting the sack before he went to the tournament. And he behaved like any disgruntled employee by bringing few strikers, and fewer fit ones, and a boy that hadn't an appearance for his club team. Then they screwed up the succession by alienating both Hiddink and Scolari and picked the clueless McLaren.
We also have a situation where few young players have been successfully brought through into the national team. It's hard to think of many which is why a speed merchant with no final product like Lennon, and a player whose athletic output far exceeds his footballing talent like Richards are so celebrated. The FA is responsible for bringing fresh talent through so that in a situation like now, with Owen fighting back to fitness from injury, and Rooney crocked for 3 important fixtures, we don't have to return to the likes of Heskey and Pip Neville. Need I say anything about the disastrous goalkeeping situation?
Back when the qualifying group for next years Euros was announced and our main rivals came up Croatia, Russia, and Israel, who didn't think, "wa-hey! Croatia were crap in Germany, Russia were worse, and Israel haven't succeeded in getting into a tournament since, I believe Mexico '70." This group was a gift, a gift spurned now that we've played so badly under a coach whose contribution is to take modestly successful club players and elevate them beyond their ability, thereby ruining their club form and making enemies of their clubs.
Finally, the FA is in charge of refereeing standards and has stood by and watched as the ilk of Mike Riley, Steve Bennett, and Graham Poll have embarrassed and blackened the name of English refereeing world-wide. And they've allowed clowns like Rob Smythe, Uriah Rennie, Dermot Gallagher, to ruin two out of three matches they work. They've simply not kept pace with the standards that the Germans, and forgodsakes, even the Italians have maintained. That's ridiculous.
This is why the FA have to be routed out of their current existence. Barwick at the top surely must take the biggest fall, but everyone with decision-making power should go too. New men need to be appointed on a 1-term basis so that if they fail as miserably as Barwick and co have, they get the chop too.
It may put current English international hopes back for a few years, but only serious surgery will do.
Gooner, your observations are so thoughful and honest . . . is there any chance you'd take over and run the effing FA? . . .
Ooh, yes. I have frustrations to work out.
You back from the edge yet? I'm sorry that you've not been feeling well.
90 percent and no playing footie until 10/1 . . . but am, indeed, back from the edge . . . thanks!
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