As I write this England are currently preparing for a European Championship qualifier match against Wales at Wembley but unlike England games in the past I just can’t get myself excited or even vaguely interested for England matches anymore and in this blog I will explain where I think the English game is failing. When England played in Bulgaria on Friday night it was the launch of the new blue away kit.
However we had seen it before on David Haye when he launched the kit on the night of the biggest fight of his life as an Englishmen playing away (not John Terry style) in Europe. But like all things England related, it was a flop. David Haye, sporting this new kit, was embarrassingly beaten in a performance so bad it would curl anyone’s toes, even Hayes’s broken one.
Now as a big boxing fan and a keen supporter of David Haye that night, it made me straight away hate that kit and the memories that come with it. Anyway, forget all this getting a celebrity to launch the kit lark because ultimately it doesn’t matter, who cares what James Corden looks like in a triple XL England kit when we all know it will get seen at a quarter final of a major tournament and then never seen again.
Also, the constant media coverage that happens every time England play, every phone-in topic, every sports story on the news or every inch in every sports column is a detailed preview of the match, the predicted line up or whether Frank Lampards’ body language means he is happy with the manager or not. By the time the match comes around it all becomes too much. If we are on about the media as well, they have a big part to play in the downfall of English football.
Take England manager Fabio Capello and the sheer amount of crap he’s had to put up with by a media who have made him an Italian scapegoat since the failure in South Africa. I’m not Capellos’ fan for footballing reasons but the media will literally slate the bloke for anything; “why did he go there”, “why didn’t he go here”, “why did he say that” blah blah blah.
It’s getting to the point now where I wake up during international breaks and just expect to see “Capello eats babies” on the front of the Sun. It basically comes from the fact he’s not English which means he has to put up with flak all the time from presenters and pundits alike.
Bringing me on to another point; about the ‘need’ to have an English manager for the England job. Would it really make any difference if Harry Redknapp was England manager and we lost or drew a qualifier or two? No it wouldn’t, the press would be on his back quicker than Kerry Katona after her next melt down. I am a firm believer that the best man for the job should get the job. If we are going to talk about English managers as well out of the last 4 we’ve had a “Turnip” and the “Wally with the Brolly” – hardly a ringing success story is it.
Who knows whether Redknapp will be a good England manager or whether it will just give him a permanent twitch that will eventually make his face explode? I would vote the latter if the English media carry on with the same old attack mode after a few poor results. Maybe it is hard to play at Wembley if you feel you are under more pressure than a brain surgeon. While we are at it, can we get rid of those club Wembley tickets as well – if you are more concerned about what you are eating at half time then the start of the 2nd half, don’t go to football and go back to watching Saturday Kitchen repeats – you’re not wanted!
So anyway, I wouldn’t bother wasting the 90 minutes watching England anymore – it’s a pointless exercise, about as interesting as Rio Ferdinand’s twitter. I will not be excited for the European Championships in 2012 – think I might book myself a holiday or lock myself in a cupboard. Don’t bother telling me the result I’ll read it in Theo Walcott’s next book…
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The problem England will always have is the ‘We’re brilliant and everyone else isn’t that good really’ nonsense from the media. At the World Cup ‘nobody’ in the Germany team would get in the England team, yet ‘remarkably’ Germany gave England a spanking.
Spain, Germany and Holland seem the obvious favourites for the Euros, but there will still be BBC disbelief if one of them knocks England out before the final.
It would be a grave mistake to give the England job to Redknapp. As a Spurs fan, I believe the man has no tactical nouse whats so ever and will try to use the cover of the media at every turn to deflect his short comings and blame everyone else instead of himself at any failure. I dont think that he is capable of managing Englands expectations especially in bringing the youth forward instead, he will rely solely on the old dogs who have let us down so badly in the past after being hyped to the rafters by the likes of people like Redknapp aided and abetted by the media only to be shot down in flames after abject failure in major tournaments and ressurected again as soon as the fury has died down. It will be more of the same yet again. Any bets that Beckham will be brought back for one last swan song anyone.