1 England
I’m certain that when the Football Association appointed Steve McLaren as the next England manager, I wasn’t alone in thinking that a major mistake had been made. Things had become stagnant under Sven Goran Eriksson and needed changing, but surely appointing someone from within the current set up was wrong. I can’t believe that Steve McLaren didn’t have some input into team affairs, and if he did, it must’ve been obvious that problems would arise once he was given the job himself. After all, this was what he was being groomed for. I imagine, the F.A must have felt that once he was solely in charge, he would bring his own ideas to the fore and that he could take England forward. But the question must be asked why did they believe this would be the case? Was there any evidence to suggest that he would be a resounding success? The answer must surely be no.
Eriksson, with a track record of massive success in club football, was unable to lift England to the dizzy heights we so desperately crave for, although it must be added was able to take England to three successive quarter finals, something which hasn’t been achieved in about 40 years. This however isn’t enough. The England supporters and media demand more. It seems that in some areas, many people believe England have a divine right to win every tournament we enter, purely because “We’re England”. This however is a misguided belief. There are a number of nations in world football that have achieved more than England and will always form a formidable barrier to any future English success.
So with this in mind, how was McLaren with his one league cup and UEFA Cup final, in which they were thrashed, supposed to do the job? Personally, I always felt that it was an appointment doomed to failure and to echo the words of the Daily Telegraph’s Henry Winter was “bound to end in tears.” In his tenure as Middlesborough manager, he was given a large amount of money to spend and yes brought Middlesborough their first ever trophy, their league position was never respectable given the money that had ben outlaid. In his time as England manager, the team seems to have regressed even further despite the number of quality players that are in the squad. The team seems disjointed and are simply not creating a great deal. It started brightly enough however. The decision to drop David Beckham from the squad was, in my eyes, a good decision. There was plenty of talent on the right hand side of midfield to worry most opposing nations. There were wins in the 1st few games too and Peter Crouch featuring heavily in the goals meaning there was someone to take the pressure away from Messers Owen and Rooney. But problems from the Eriksson era still lurked. Gerrard and Lampard playing together despite countless attempts to make it a success, simply doesn’t work. Lamaprd was also desperately out of form whilst playing for England. A further problem was McLaren’s refusal to play Jamie Carragher. In Carragher he had a player who would put his heart and soul into the cause, a player who receives plaudits week in week out, yet could only get a game as a last resort, with McLaren opting to play Wes Brown ahead of him in the last qualifier, despite Brown not being first choice anything at Manchester United. Now he has lost him forever, with the Liverpool man turning his back on his country to help his beloved Reds win the league.
I guess the FA wanted a yes man, a man who wasn’t going to create many headlines for his antics in the bedroom as well as on the pitch. Eriksson was also criticized for his lack of passion, but ask Manchester City fans where passion now sits on their list of priorities now that city are performing well in the league under the cool Swede compared to the fiery Stuart Pearce. Oh and where’s the man he replaced? That’s right he’s England Under 21 coach.