England's abject failure off the pitch
Marc Fox
July 12, 2016
If you think England's abject failure at Euro 2016 creates little optimism for the national team's immediate future, then it only takes the briefest glance at the FA's pursuit of a new manager to offer a degree of perspective.
Thought that England getting knocked out by Iceland was the country's lowest ebb? Then, take a look how the three men given the job of finding a successor to Roy Hodgson - FA chief executive Martin Glenn, technical director Dan Ashworth and vice-chairman David Gill – are going about searching for a successor.
The state of the national game at the most senior level in England will continue its perilous decline if the game's governing body does not shake itself from its stupor and begin to plan with the team's long-term interests in mind.
This year more than in recent memory, the list of potential candidates for the England position is patchy, with German Jürgen Klinsmann, the current United States national team coach, the 2/1 favourite with the bookies to land the job.
Among the other frontrunners are Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce, Bournemouth's Eddie Howe, Glenn Hoddle and Guus Hiddink.
Hoddle, a sentimental choice given his modern, possession-based approach both as a player and as a manager, appears to have entered the running for Hodgson's replacement simply by virtue of having been working as an ITV pundit for the past two years.
Indeed, Hoddle has not actually managed in the professional game since leaving Wolverhampton Wanderers a decade ago, but his media work and the public's sympathetic feelings about his first stint in charge seem to have catapulted him into contention.
If Hoddle, why not then Terry Venables, England's most successful tournament manager of the past 20 years after leading the Three Lions to the semi-finals of Euro 1996 on home soil? Surely, Venables might be able to be tempted out of retirement and away from running Hotel La Escondida near Alicante to take on the impossible job.
Or Steve McLaren, who has just been sacked twice in the past season, once from Championship side Derby and then again by Championship-heading Premier League team Newcastle United?
The FA's frequent job search process is obviously an easy target at ridicule; however, maybe a simple yes/no question in the recruitment process, which was clearly known to fans and likely candidates alike, would help prevent some of these more ludicrous suggestions.
Q: Have you been sacked from a football club in the past five years? If yes, then don't bother sending us your CV.
A threshold that would seemingly apply unquestionably in the business world doesn't seem to carry much weight in football circles.
When a CEO of a Fortune 500 company gets the boot for the firm's failings, he rarely gets offered another similar post within 12 months to repeat the same mistakes. But that is what happens repeatedly in football management.
If the FA were to apply this quality check to their search for a new national team manager, the conversation would seem all the clearer.
For example, Allardyce, the frontrunner for the post of all the English alternatives, wouldn't even get an interview given he left West Ham United a year ago after being deemed less able to improve the team than incoming coach Slaven Bilic (rightly, with hindsight).
Nor would now Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers, who the English FA were rumoured to be courting before it all went south for the Northern Irishman at Liverpool.
Of the remaining Englishmen, surely the England job would be too soon for Howe, the 38-year-old that has only a season's worth of experience of managing in the Premier League, while Crystal Palace's Alan Pardew is seen as divisive.
Which somewhat leaves Hodgson's successor seemingly likely to be a non-Englishman. Arsene Wenger has stated publicly that he would not rule out taking on the England challenge but only after fulfilling his next 12-month commitment at Arsenal.
Hiddink, Bilic himself and even Laurent Blanc are outside bets, which leaves Klinsmann. While he was sacked from his only club position at Bayern Munich, that was seven years ago and he has been a relatively successful national team coach not only in the US but also alongside Joachim Low with Germany before declining to renew his contract after the 2006 World Cup.
What's more, he's got Premier league knowledge and speaks fluent English.
Maybe the FA are onto something after all.
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