How does a stuttering shambles turn into a complete circus act? Just consult the England National football team, which has gone from being a rusted piece of heavy machinery to a complete trainwreck. The past week has not only re-emphasised a consistently failing organisation, but cast a new light upon the utter ridiculousness embodied in this turgid mess.
It was following much pressure that John Terry was alleviated from his captain duties last week. Whether or not you agree with this decision is beside the point though; what followed is a striking example of the miscommunication and chaotic management the England team suffers from. Fuzzy puppet Fabio Capello admitted he wasn’t consulted on Terry’s dismissal, nor did he agree with the decision. The FA today bit back by saying that with his words, Capello had committed an act that was in conflict with a contractual agreement. Even the coalition government radiates solidarity more effectively than this.
It’s difficult to understand why, given how drawn out the John Terry incident has become, the FA were not able to consult Capello on this matter before making a decision. Even if Capello had disagreed with the actions, this would have given both sides a chance to explain their position before showing a united front in the public. Instead, we now have the England manager saying that there are team decisions being made with which he is not entirely happy. How a governing body can allow this to happen truly boggles the mind.
The FA have illustrated for a long time that their ability to control the national football team is poor. Of course, the most visceral judgement we’ll make regarding this is our performance in the major tournaments, and over a long period of time this is a fair way of analysing their performance, but of course some managers just don’t fit and sometimes tournaments just don’t go your way. It has to be said though, their managerial choices are rushed and appear to be a constant bow to public pressure, but this isn’t the main issue as to why the FA is failing.
The largest problem is the stunning lack of foresight the FA has when making any sort of decision regarding the manager or the direction of the football team in general. For example, they fell for Capello’s trick to swindle a contract extension out of them before the World Cup. All Capello had to do was drum up some rumours about the possibility he would move, and the FA would gleefully bend over backwards to keep him at the helm. I’m not saying he did do that. Of course, I wouldn’t be allowed to say that. But either way, that extension probably made it financially impossible for Capello to be sacked straight after the World Cup, putting him in a position where there was no pressure to perform (clearly).
But even that doesn’t quite illustrate how poor the FA’s planning is. To try and explain my point, I have to really talk about the last 10 years of England’s history. During that time, we’ve had three different managers. When cuddly Swedish man Sven Goran-Eriksson was in charge, he kept the first eleven pretty much the same throughout his reign, with minor changes when players either retired or new young starlets burst onto the scene. As a man manager and tactician Sven was probably about average, but his focus and consistency with team selections allowed the team to perform moderately well.
It was during this time when England looked the most likely to win a tournament. After looking quite strong, we lost to Brazil at the World Cup 2002, who went on to win it. We then lost on the dreaded penalties to Portugal in Euro 2004, again after playing some decent football. In 2006 however, Sven’s preferred eleven was starting to look older and Sven himself had become embroiled in scandal. It was at this point the England team started to fall apart, and after a muted performance at the 2006 World Cup the team desperately needed a new direction. Sven was removed, and this was going to be a crucial appointment for the FA to make.
The FA went for bewildered ombrophobe Steve McClaren, who is unfortunately one of the most notorious disaster stories in English management history. It was a massive mistake to appoint somebody who had been a part of Sven’s management team, as this meant McClaren had taken a lot of influence from the Swede and maybe felt pressured to keep using the players that had been so integral in the previous years. As it was, McClaren employed the same ideas that had started to fail for Sven, and the deterioration of the England team this time was so dramatic, McClaren failed to even qualify for the European Championships.
This whole episode was more damaging than you might think. Not only had England embarrassingly failed to qualify for a major tournament, but the development of a team for the World Cup 2010 had been set back two years whilst McClaren fumblingly shuffled the old players around trying to find the best formula. What would have been more useful is if somebody younger, untouched by the old reign and with undeniable potential had taken the job, and had been told by the FA that they should use the Euro 2008 qualifiers as an opportunity to get a team playing well together. That way, England would have optimised their potential for the World Cup 2010, which to almost everyone, is the more important competition and should therefore be prioritised.
It may seem a bit rash, but there’s a lot to be said for team chemistry. You may think it’s a little ineffectual, but when you look at the major successes in international football, you usually find that those players have played in a similar eleven for a long time and have built up an understanding with each other. Just take Spain. That team has a core of players that know each other inside-out, and as a result Spain are one of the most flowing and competent teams on the planet.
England just never get the opportunity to make that fresh start though. We are far too preoccupied with the tournament at hand, that we never anticipate anything beyond it. Let’s be frank – we won’t win Euro 2012. We knew that from the moment our qualifying campaign started. So with this in mind, why didn’t we use this experience as an opportunity to plant the seeds of a new young side that would have to potential to challenge for future World Cups? Sure, we might not have qualified for Euro 2012, but so what? If it’s a team of youngsters learning the ropes the hard way, then we’d be all the better for it in the end.
So anyway, back to bashing the FA. Following the catastrophe that was Steve McClaren’s tenure, the FA decided they would give the national team a different approach and appointed Fabio Capello. This was a good idea, but they made the mistake of employing someone who was already 61, and therefore unlikely to see the team past a couple of tournaments. This also meant that Capello wanted to achieve results straight away, so once again we had a team of players who were hanging over from the last generation so we could achieve more comfortable victories in the qualifiers. The benefits weren’t felt though, as England once again whimpered out of the World Cup and the FA sheepishly tied up Capello’s contract for what would be two more wasted years.
Now we reach today, and what we see is an unmitigated disaster. Not only is the team struggling, but we now have the manager at odds with the FA. A precedent has now been set that the FA can make petty decisions regarding things such as captaincy. And finally, the most likely candidate for the England job once Capello has finished is facing a possible prison sentence. It’s a remarkable mess, and one I fear will only grow unless the FA mark out England’s intentions as a football team and make a decision that will pay dividends, perhaps not immediately, but over time.
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