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**Mosiah** · November 22, 2007, 01:21 PM

Originally posted by X View Post

Maybe now the FA can concentrate next summer on building up from scholls and clubs instead of going on jollies with free tickets to the championships.

Schools?!? What a novel idea!

**Jamaica2099** · November 22, 2007, 02:41 PM

Despite richest league, England can't punch its weight in Europe
td.yspwidearticlebody { font-size: 13.5px; }By ROBERT MILLWARD, AP Soccer Writer
November 22, 2007

LONDON (AP) -- England has the wealthiest soccer league in the world, with matches screened across the globe and business tycoons from the United States, Russia and Asia lining up to own the clubs.
So why can't England put 11 Englishmen on the field to succeed on the international level?
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if(window.yzq_d==null)window.yzq_d=new Object();window.yzq_d['v17ZHNj8a5w-']='&U=13butgc6b%2fN%3dv17ZHNj8a5w-%2fC%3d619213.11520160.12019918.1806201%2fD%3dLREC %2fB%3d4919460';Steve McClaren became the latest coach to pay the price Thursday, getting fired after England's 3-2 loss at home to Croatia meant the team failed to qualify for the 2008 European Championship.
While the likes of World Cup champion Italy, Germany, Spain, France the Netherlands and Portugal will be out to try to take the title away from Greece, England's stars -- including David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen -- will have to watch the games on TV.
The Football Association now has plenty of time to search for a coach who can lift the nation credited with establishing the modern game to the same level.
Just one World Cup triumph on home soil back in 1966 isn't much of a return for one of the high-profile soccer nations. Coaches such as Bobby Robson, Kevin Keegan, Glenn Hoddle and Sven-Goran Eriksson couldn't even get the team to a championship final.
McClaren fared far worse: It's the first time England has failed to qualify for a major championship since the 1994 World Cup, and first failure to reach the Euros since 1984.
So just what is eating at English soccer?
Perhaps the fact that foreigners outnumber English players 2-1 in Premier League starting lineups.
Arsenal regularly fields lineups without a single Englishman. The Gunners have finished in the top four every season for over a decade, and lead the league this season.
Manchester United, a nine-time Premier League winner in the past 15 seasons, sometimes has up to five Englishmen in the lineup but often has only two. Chelsea and Liverpool rarely have more than three Englishmen. These four clubs are the only ones which regularly win titles or reach finals.
Thanks to the revenues gained from enormous TV contracts, Premier League clubs can pay huge salaries. That has helped attract big-name stars from Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Portugal and France.
Manchester United and Liverpool are owned by American investors and Chelsea by a Russian. Arsenal is the target of a possible Russian takeover.
The laws of the expanding European Union are another factor. The EU sees soccer players as employees who have the right to travel freely from country to country without the need for contracts. The influx of hundreds of overseas stars to English soccer means that young English talent gets little chance to shine.
The FA, whose role it is to administer the game in England as well as find a coach capable of winning titles, doesn't seem to know what the solution is.
"Everyone keeps saying that there aren't enough quality England players. Whether there are or whether there aren't is just conjecture," Premier League chairman Dave Richards said Thursday when the FA announced McClaren's departure.
"The Premier League can't shoulder the responsibility always for the national team. The clubs are very successful and, if you look around the clubs and the players that are there to be picked from, there's a substantial amount."
Another problem is that none of the most successful coaches in the league are English.
The English coaches don't have the tactical flair to compete with Arsenal's Arsene Wenger (French), Manchester United's Alex Ferguson (Scottish), Liverpool's Rafa Benitez (Spanish) and Chelsea's Avram Grant (Israeli), who took over from Jose Mourinho (Portuguese).
While these coaches lead the title-chasing teams, the Englishmen are floundering with the likes of Wigan, Birmingham and Bolton, all near the bottom of the standings. A glance at the current Premier League standings shows that only one coach in the top nine teams is English, and that's veteran Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp.
England certainly has some talented players. Along with Beckham, Rooney and Owen are central defenders John Terry and Rio Ferdinand and goal-scoring midfielders Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.
But England can't find a reliable goalkeeper.
Scott Carson's blunder in failing to hold onto a weak, long-range Croatian shot on Wednesday was a reminder of what happened when England faced Croatia in an earlier game. Paul Robinson also looked foolish when he tried to clear a back pass from teammate Gary Neville, the ball hit a divot and he missed it completely. He could only turn to watch the ball roll into his net.
Even long-serving David Seaman is remembered more for the ball sailing over his head into the net than for his saves, and David "Calamity" James is renowned for conceding goals after wildly racing off of his line.
Some critics of the current team also believe there are too many inflated egos within the wealthy squad of players that prevent them from playing as a team.
"I tend to think there are too many egos in there. I look at the England setup and they don't look a happy bunch for sure. The body language sometimes isn't great," said Roy Keane, the former Manchester United and Ireland captain who is now manager of Sunderland.
"I don't think that international football is that important to a lot to these players nowadays. Club football has definitely taken over especially to the top players who are involved in Champions League football. The egos are definitely a problem, particularly with the English players."
The biggest ego problem of all might be with English soccer itself.
Many of the people associated with the team -- players, coaches, officials, fans -- seem to assume that England, as the so-called founder of the modern game, has some kind of right to win titles almost without kicking a ball. After only 18 games in charge, McClaren knows that's not true. So will his successor.

**Mosiah** · November 22, 2007, 02:54 PM

Dollyhouse mashup!

**Sir X** · November 22, 2007, 03:23 PM

Kevin Garside
on Formula 1
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Kevin Garside is in his fourth year as motor sport correspondent for The Daily Telegraph. A wandering minstral of sports reporting, Kevin came to us via football, cricket, tennis and boxing as well as Formula One, fields he had ploughed with varying degrees of success for the Daily Express, the Sunday Express and the Daily Mirror. Known as Rocky on the beat, not for his boxing prowess, but his perceived pedigree, misguided though it is, as an Italian stallion.

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Google Reader or Homepage My Yahoo! Bloglines My AOL Technorati Favorites Netvibes Pageflakes Windows Live Other readers Croatia outshine baby Bentley boys
Posted by Kevin Garside on 22 Nov 2007 at 13:29
Tags: England, Peter Crouch, Wembley, Premiership, England manager, Croatia, Brian Barwick, Horwood Ravens Under-9s, MK Dons, Paul Ince, Stevie G
And I thought F1 could not manage a booze-up in a brewery. Here are some thoughts from an Under-9s coach that might be of use to Brian Barwick, should he wish to consider them before beginning the pursuit of a new England manager.

All over: England's all star cast were knocked out by Croatia

I have introduced the concept of loving the ball at Great Horwood Ravens Under-9s. Instinctively most of the boys want to wallop it as far as they can. This always, always results in the surrender of possession, much like the England team. So I have asked them to first control the ball, caress it with their foot lovingly, then look up, then pass to a team-mate. When they have executed the pass they know to run into a space so as to be ready to receive it again, and on towards goal.

For a grown-up version of this concept I would refer you to the Croatia team that played so beautifully at Wembley, particularly in the final 15 minutes when the game was there to be won. The England team should be made to watch a video of that closing period every day before training. Alternatively they could come along to my Under-9 clinic and I'll talk them through it.

While Stevie G was launching rockets in search of Peter Crouch's head, Croatia were busy running at pace into space, passing to each other and shooting at the opponent's goal. Simple eh? If my Under-9s understand that lumping the ball hopefully in a forward direction amounts to surrendering possession, why do the highest paid players on earth not grasp the point?

Croatia have no star names and, Eduardo apart, do not possess a player who would interest Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea or Liverpool. Neither would they break into the Premiership top-four. Yet they made the baby Bentley boys look like cavemen. No imagination, no poise, no idea.

Watching England plod stupidly around Wembley I was reminded of the comments made by Steve Coppell after Reading's 3-1 home defeat to Arsenal. "We could never play like that," he said.
There you have it in a nut shell. Reading can't play like Arsenal because Coppell does not think like Arsene Wenger. It is a failure of coaching.

Drop down a division or two and take a look at MK Dons. They play like Arsenal, like Croatia, like Italy, like France, like Manchester United, like Great Horwood Ravens Under-9s (well, almost). It's called football. Paul Ince understands it well enough and his team are prospering. Pass and move, surely England can do that.

The problem is we now have a talented TV executive charged with identifying a football coach. I like Brian, he's a top bloke and a real talent in televisionland. He cares deeply about football and is a keen Liverpool fan. Well, I care too, and I'm just as big a fan of my club as he is of his. But that does not qualify me to assess the qualities of the man charged with rebuilding England.

Hold on. I am a coach. I know, I'll do the job for free. You have my number Brian. At least we would pass and move and any player who lumped the ball aimlessly off the deck would spend the next week training with the Under-9s.

Posted by Kevin Garside on 22 Nov 2007 at 13:29

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Monkeys
NMCAV 22 Nov 2007 15:11

People were dumbstruck. Everyone in the local last night was devastated (save for a few girlfriends who were elated at the prospect of now being able to spend time with their boyfriends next summer). "They should sack him" shouted one fan next to me. "Why can't we get a decent manager" moaned another. This morning it was the same on the tube and in the office, as people chatted about the demise of English football. McClaren this and McClaren that. I'm wondering if it is just me, but Yes I can see that the England team have had a woeful manager and yes, it is embarrassing to not even qualify when we (apparrently) have some of the best players in the world, but hang on a minute. Surely a large portion of blame should go to the multi millionaire monkeys who last night masqueraded as football players. They were promised huge bonuses on top of their huge salaries if England qualified. Shouldn't the reverse equally apply though? If they can be awarded huge bonuses for struggling to get England to qualify then shouldn't they equally have their salaries docked for bringing shame and embarrassment to English football...? In spite of the loss last night, I still suspect England's football team are smiling all the way to the bank...

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**Sir X** · November 22, 2007, 03:25 PM

Watching England plod stupidly around Wembley I was reminded of the comments made by Steve Coppell after Reading's 3-1 home defeat to Arsenal. "We could never play like that," he said.
There you have it in a nut shell. Reading can't play like Arsenal because Coppell does not think like Arsene Wenger. It is a failure of coaching.

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