Are the F.A. to blame? (The Worst Job in England?)

Member Name: Captain Kidd

Product:	The Worst Job in England?
Date:	10/10/00 (12 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Now is the time to rebuild properly before it really is too late

Disadvantages: A team in disarray

Well, the inevitable has happened. Keegan has quit.

To be honest, was this really such a shock to anyone? Alright, it was really, especially as there was no real pressure on him from the FA to go, but his timing could have been a whole lot better.

Anyone who has followed football for any amount of years could have told you (barring Newcastle supporters maybe) that he wasn't the right man for the job.

I'll be the first to admit that he did an absolutely fantastic job bringing Newcastle within inches of winning the Premiership a few years ago considering where they had come from, but that should tell you the whole story. At Newcastle, the emphasis was always on creative, flowing football, and to be honest, it was a joy to watch sometimes, but they were always lacking in real tactical awareness and defensive quality.

Unfortunately King Kev took this trait with him to the England camp and has ultimately failed. Club and international football are poles apart and comparisons should not be drawn about how well he did at Newcastle, Fulham etc; therefore he'll do well at international level. As far as this point is concerned, the F.A. should take some of the responsibilty in the whole thing by admitting that they didn't do their homework properly before appointing him as they should have taken his lack of tactical awareness into consideration.

I hear that Bobby Charlton has given his opinion that England shouldn't appoint a foreign coach as it would "damage national pride." What national pride? I wasn't aware that we had any left! It certainly didn't sound like it on Saturday. If Charlton thinks he could do any better, then by all means let him have a go, but a foreign coach (with official coaching credentials) shouldn't be dismissed out of hand.

If England can become a real force under a foreign coach, then who's going to care whether he's French, German, Italian or wha
tever? England winning is the only thing that matters. We all know that we have the players - Beckham, Scholes, Cole, Owen, Fowler, Heskey, Adams, Keown et al - they just need proper coaching.

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