[Archived] More Madness From Mcclaren

[Paul]

Not a chance. If you messed a job up as badly as this then you at least have to finish it in the right way.

Think you'll find in the big, bad real world most people take the money. If I knew I was to be publically humiliated, probably unemployable, and made to carry the can for everything wrong with English football I'd take my employer for every penny I could before settling into a comfortable retirement.

Honourable reignation is all very well.............if you can afford it.

[Paul]

Has anybody thought that whoever we get will see the FA with 4 managers on the payroll?

I take your point and it's quite right but I think I read SGE has actually been paid off finally in recent months. Didn't he have to stop taking the FA's money when he found a new job?

[Eddie]

I think that was only if he got a job in the next 6 months or something along those lines, which he didn't manage. As for being in the big bad world, you can still sometimes have a bit of honour and fall on your sword, he wouldn't be the first.

[Exiled_Rover]

How did Sven get 'found out'?

Only took us to every major tournament, something all Englishmen would go a bundle on this morning if it was true.

I notice he's not doing too bad at club level right now either.

Sven's a better manager than McClown there's no doubt about that. However, he merely did the bare minimum i.e. got England to the Quarter Finals of the tournament, and he had a fair amount of luck along the way. Not to mention we were like watching paint dry.

As for him at club level, well having £50m to spend tends to help.

[Exiled_Rover]

One way of looking at this is to ask yourself a question. Saturday afternoon, Rovers at home to a PL side containing an England interntional or perhaps two, would you be worried? It's a serious question. If Utd come to town Rooney is always going to be a threat, probably Hargreaves as well, possibly Owen with Newcastle, maybe Gerrard with Liverpool. After that? Name player who has the "don't let him run with it," or "close him down quick" factor. There isn't one and therein lays the poverty of English football, all the star players in the PL are foreign.

Joe Cole, Michael Owen, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young, Steven Gerrard, James Milner, etc etc. There's plenty of talent there - any of those players would destroy Rovers if we let them.

[Exiled_Rover]

Gerrard has said we conceded the killer goal because we were going for the winner...

Is that code for sitting back and inviting Croatia onto us? School boy stuff.

[LDRover]

You say bare minimum but when you look at the FIFA rankings we ended up where we should be (ie- ranked 5th-8th got to quarter finals). It's time we took a leaf out of the jocks' book and lowered our sights. One major title in history does not make us a shoe in for every major tournament, we're actually not very good.

As for good luck, I don't call losing in two consecutive penalty shootouts as good luck. In my opinion Eriksson will go down in history as a poor manager only because of his nationality and nothing to do with his achievements with the team. Remember that Venables played only 5 meaningful internationals (all at Wembley) and only won 2 in regulation time. He had no arduous qualification games as England were the home nation yet he's still revered as some God like genius in regard to football management. Baffles the hell out of me.

50 million does help, granted, so what excuses do Curbishley and all the previous managerial incumbents at Newcastle have?

[Eddie]

Joe Cole, Michael Owen, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young, Steven Gerrard, James Milner, etc etc. There's plenty of talent there - any of those players would destroy Rovers if we let them.

Agree with that, the talent is there, that isn't the excuse. England, on paper, are as good as any side in Europe, but for whatever reason, be it the management, the mental side, the tactics, simply do not perform anywhere near to their potential ability when or to the standard that they play at when they play for their club sides. I'm sure people will respond to that by saying that they simply aren't good enough, but I can't accept that as Manchester United or Barcelona are a tougher task than Russia or Croatia. Had Gerrad been playing for Liverpool last night he would have taken over that game and pulled the win out by himself even if the other 10 players had refused to play, once he puts on an England shirt he seems to lose all of that; he isn't alone in that sense.

[Paul]

Joe Cole, Michael Owen, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young, Steven Gerrard, James Milner, etc etc. There's plenty of talent there - any of those players would destroy Rovers if we let them.

Well I did mention Rooney, Owen and Gerrard but outside of those three there is hardly a player in the England team that would make you think "oh sh1t don't let him through". On the other hand when we play Utd, Arsenal etc there's a whole bunch of foreign players that have me worrying every time they get in our half. That I feel is the difference between England and other national sides. Hardly had the colly wobbles every time Crouch got the ball for Liverpool a couple of weeks back!

[American]

The big mistake made was not hiring Big Sam. I was not a big fan of his a few years back, but he was the leader that England needed.

[Cocker]

The big mistake made was not hiring Big Sam. I was not a big fan of his a few years back, but he was the leader that England needed.

He is proving what an excellent manager he is at Newcastle. Turning a half decent team to a hoof the ball up field Bolton

[USABlue]

Lawro has just been on and when asked who should be next manager, he said Arsene Wenger.

Could you imagine Theo Walcott's reaction?!

I would agree with that choice, was on my mind this morning. The man clearly has an knack for bringing through good young talent.

As for Big Sam, would inspire some passion but I am not convinced he has the tactical ability.

As for Gerrard not performing, I had mentioned elsewhere if you don't have true confidence in what the boss is telling you it's highly unlikely you will put in a best effort, I feel that may have been the case with a lot of the players and McClaren. Still as the captain it's up to him to sort that out with the boss.

I am also becoming suspicious of this whole "International Break" thing. While it is good to be able to work with the players for a time I wonder if it is seen by the players as just that, a break. A bit of a holiday camp, players get in a bit of a relaxed state without the day to day pressure and focus of the Prem and it is hard to just switch it back on.

Edited November 22, 2007 by USABlue

[frosty]

Wenger would be my preferred choice too, along with Mourinho. Sadly, I can't see either of them wanting the job.

[Pinch]

There is no frickin way Chico is going to be the new England Manager

Cocker, your one liners have been golden today. I'm serious.

[Pinch]

I realise things in England are pretty crazy right now...but some of the names floated about for the new manager are crazy. Even Mourinho, who could do a nice job, would probably never get that chance under the current FA. Would David Gill appoint Mourinho? Not unless they are truthful about going in a totally new direction. More than likely someone like Stuart Pearce will get the post b/c he's also an insider with some sort of previous England experience. I just think most of those on "the list" would not be a major upgrade: Souness, Pearce, Shearer... why, why, why?

[The Harwood Yankee]

IMO there's only 2 serious candidates and they're Jose Mourinho & Martin O'Neill. Mourinho would be best by a mile. He's as thickskinned as they come, so no worries about dealing with the media. He already knows about English football but he brings an international perspective, but best of all, he's a winner. Even given the same players to work with last night there's NO WAY we would have lost that match with Mourinho in charge. Unfortunately, the FA probably will want another boring yes man or someone they perceive to be safe. God help us if its Shearer or Pearce or anyone else with random England credentials. We want a world beating manager. They botched it with McClaren & if they botch it again it should be the FA bigwigs resigning or sacked en masse.

[BlueMonday]

IMO there's only 2 serious candidates and they're Jose Mourinho & Martin O'Neill. Mourinho would be best by a mile.

Big disrespect to Stevei Cotterill there I'd say !

Edited November 22, 2007 by Azuri

[The Harwood Yankee]

Big disrespect to Stevei Cotterill there I'd say !

LOL You're right. Maybe the managerial 'dream team' of Steve Cotterill & Stan Ternett? And change the England white home kit for claret. Might as well, we're already the laughing stock of Europe!

[Oklahoma]

I would suggest Scolari.

His contract ends in July 2008, it is almost 100% certain that he will leave.

I doubt Mourinho will take any national team in the next years.

[Tim Southampton Rover]

Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he would welcome the revival of home internationals to ease the pain of Euro 2008 misery for the four home nations.

Personally would like to see the return of the home nations tournament whether it's next year or something which is organised in a few years time. It will be great to see England v Scotland and personally i'd enjoy playing all the home nations especially as the games against N.Ireland and Wales in recent memory were very enjoyable and had great atmospheres at both games. When club teams have derby matches, form tends to go out the window and it's usually the team who has the greater belief who goes on and wins the game. Hopefully it would teach England what belief means and might install some into us!

[RoyRover]

I was stunned when I heard people during the game last night refer to some newspaper article which said that none of the Croatian players would get into the England team. Even then, when England had had a miserable campaign and were only in the position where they could qualify, because Israel had done them a favour, were people making negative comparisons about a team that was top of the group. After last nights performance, where Croatia shredded England, there would be very few English players you would say deserved to be in the Croatian side. England have been a very poor team for some time now and even though they have big name players, who perform brilliantly in the Premiership, they don't have the technical or tactical abilities of other countries and this costs them dearly at the highest level. Last night some of the play by the likes of Dario Srna, Luka Modric, Niko Kranjcar, Ivica Olic and Vedran Corluka was quite outstanding. No, they aren't the same big names as England have, but my word they perform to such a higher level. As one of the commentators said last night, that was Croatia playing when they had nothing to play for, imagine what they would be like if they needed to win. When you hear people say that England will be missed at Euro 2008, I can't see why they would want to see a team that was so awful last night and has been so bad for so long play with the best teams in Europe. England were thrown the lifeline which their performances haven't deserved, and yet, when they are at home, against a team of 'players that couldn't get into the England side', they play like that. The idea that they will be missed by anyone apart from their own loyal fans is laughable. As so many of you have been saying on here for so long, England are a big name with famous players, but they aren't a major team.

[Jan]

Sorry- Just got this from a friend

Warning - SEPA flood Alert [scanned]

New Release 2006

Scottish Enviromental Protection Agency Warning!!!!!!!!

Scotland placed on a major flood alert. All areas of Scotland were last night placed on high alert as a major flood is expected this morning. This is thought to have been caused by most of Scotland pishing themselves laughing at the England result.

Edited November 22, 2007 by Jan

[USABlue]

Apart from the Ramsey era, and brief spells under Ron Greenwood, Bobby Robson and Terry Venables (in Euro 96), England have always been badly managed.

I think I would add Glenn Hoddle to that list, but as is the FA they sack him for stupid words rather than football related matters. In the limited amount of games I saw England under Hodd they looked decent and filled me with high hopes and the promise of a bright future. Or was that in a previous life? heh heh.

Let's not forget too what a good job Joe Mercer did as caretaker one time, wish he could have got it full time.

Edited November 22, 2007 by USABlue

[McClarky]

When Sven left I was all in favour of having an English manager because as a leading country we should be managed by an Englishman. After the McLaren debacle I have to admit that I was wrong. There are no English managers who can do the job so we need to go foreign. Even if we had won last night I would have sacked McLaren and got someone else in the for the finals as the bloke was a joke and I don't see how Big Sam or Curbishley would have been any better. As for Martin O'Neil, people should remember that Irish isn't English and if we are going for a non-English manager then why would you pick O'Neill who has done nothing. Strachan has a better record at Celtic than him and I don't see anyone clammering for wee Gordon to get the job.

We need someone who has some tactical nouse, some experience and who speaks English. I'm sure there are loads of candidates.

[thenodrog]

I take your point and it's quite right but I think I read SGE has actually been paid off finally in recent months. Didn't he have to stop taking the FA's money when he found a new job?

The point being that unbelievably the same people are being charged with finding the next man. Will the penny never ever drop at Lancaster Gate?

Just a minute I've just had a thought that would explain it .......... Does the selection process involve writing all applicants names onto balls and picking them out of a black bag?