OK, so maybe it’s a bit early to start the deathwatch, as England still have an outside shot at qualifying for Euro 2008, but I don’t fancy his chances if they miss out. William Hill has made out the odds on possible successors as follows:
“The Special One” :rolleyes: 11-2
Big Phil 6-1
Big Guus 7-1
Big Sam 8-1
Big Arsene 8-1
Big Curbs 10-1
Big Marcello 12-1
Big Fabio 16-1
In a perfect world, I’d argue for giving MON a crack at the job, but of course he’s tied up with Villa for now. Thoughts?
Robbie Bobson failed to qualify for Euro '84 when he took over, yet he lasted eight years in the job. Whatever you think of McLaren, I wouldn’t say the team has performed worse under him than under any other recent manager. Maybe he’s just not a lucky general.
As for his successor should Russia beat Israel or we don’t beat Croatia… does it matter? England have fundamental problems that we all know about and that aren’t going to go away soon.
Maclaren had hard lines against Russia I thought, the team played OK and were unlucky to lose. So despite being an oleaginous tit and totally unqualified for international management, I’d agree that England are not playing especially poorer under his charge.
Don’t think MON would be particularly good, he’s ok in the prem but I don’t think he knows how to coach class players - he’s an agricultural football merchant. The only thing he has going for him is that he could handle the pressure no problem, having coached in Glasgow and just generally having his shit together in a way that Maclaren does not. You say give him a crack at it, but didn’t he have a crack at it first time round? I thought he was interviewed.
I’d actually go for Maureen, if possible. His credentials cannot be impugned by anybody. The collective UK media would probably have a mass orgasm if he was appointed, given the amount of papers he would shift. Maybe they’re campaigning for him behind the scenes?
Not sure I’d agree with that assessment of the performance against Russia though, to be honest. Our last few games have certainly shown more promise, but that IMO is largely because McLaren had the good fortune to be forced by injury into thinking about his lineup for more than 30 seconds. While pleasantly surprised by his decision to keep Fatty on the bench after his return to fitness, I still find it hard to identify a single decision McLaren has made that was based on sound footballing reasoning, rather than on a misguided desire to “stamp his authority” on the team (see: Beckham) or on popular opinion (see: Beckham). I’m inclined to go with Hiddink’s assessment that he bottled it tactically in the second Russia match, aided and abetted by his players’ craven decision to stand off the Russians and sit deep once they went ahead.
His press conferences reminded me of nothing so much as Alan Latchley, in particular his hilarious assertion when asked about where the goals were going to come from that “one goal is the minimum”. In the end, rather than starting well and only latterly succumbing to the sort of selection-by-numbers that plagued the end of Sven’s tenure, McLaren started as Sven ended; with no idea how to shoehorn the Top 11 Players In The Country in to some sort of shape.
I agree that Mourinho would be absolutely hilarious as national coach, if for no other reason than that watching him deal with the allegedly back-stabbing John Terry would be absolutely magical. On the other hand, Fatty would instantly become undroppable. Whoever we end up with (and given our track record, it’ll probably be Sammy Lee), I’m sure we can rely on Barwick and Richards to stuff it all up again in the most ludicrous manner imaginable. How those two are still in their jobs is beyond me.
