David Beckham, there, placing a strong fourth. That's the David Beckham who has no coaching or managerial experience, and who didn't even seem like a great thinker or communicator as a player. Still, he looks good in a three-piece suit, and he gets angry when things go against England on the pitch. What could go wrong?
(I suppose the logic is that we tried a vastly experienced, decorated coaching legend with a great reputation in the game, and that didn't work, so now it's time to try something different...)
Steve McLaren is on the list, and somebody in the comments thread makes a plea for recalling Glenn Hoddle. As Danny Baker quipped to a caller making a similar argument after the Algeria game, "I hear Walter Winterbottom's available..."
In a way, Hodgson is another name from the past. He's been in the running for this job since the nineties - he was touted as a candidate after Glenn Hoddle's departure, and he made the FA's three-man shortlist to replace Keegan in 2000. He may well be the best of the candidates, but like David James in the No.1 jersey, he seems to have got there by outlasting all of his rivals, rather than through any tremendous effort of his own. What probably put the final gloss on Hodgson's CV from the FA's point of view was the relative success of his current spell with Fulham - managerial achievements abroad still seem to count for little over here.
Hoorah for neo-Victorian insularity!
Sorry - Hodgson will go down in history as the guy who urged his club to sell Roberto Carlos to Real for a song because the man couldn't defend. He shouldn't be allowed near a bench again, unless it's a park bench and he's holding a bag of pigeon feed.
ReplyDeleteWell, that seems to be a bizarre tendency nowadays. Dunga became brazil's coach with no experience at all. And being unpopular from the so called dunga-era of the 1990's and 1994, where, even if Brazil won the cup in 94, it did not convice brazilians who felt the team did not play brazilian enough.
ReplyDeleteMaradona was a similar path, with the difference that he is a semi-god to argentinian football fans. Even after the qualification difficulties and the 4-0 defeat, there is still plenty of public clamor for him to stay.
Now it's time for Beckham. Expect disastrous results.