|
It's February 28th and tonight England's first game under the auspices of Sven Goran Ericson is against Spain. Of course by the time you read this it will be old news and consigned to history. I hope England perform well and get a win, but I shall not be watching and I doubt if I will even bother to check the score. This is the start of a new era and as far as I can see a totally shameful and embarrassing one.
Now, I can hear you all crying "Xenophobe" but this is quite wrong. First of all Xenophobia is the hatred of foreigners and I don't hate foreigners (well maybe the French, but that's a whole new article). My objection is simply that an England coach should be English. We are told time and again that the coach/manager is integral to the team. That's why clubs all over the world fight like cat and dog to secure the services of "the best". If the coach is so important, and I believe he is, then surely there can be no pride if our national team wins with a foreign coach.
I have heard it likened to club managers but this is a quite different argument. It's been a long time since clubs only signed local players let alone coaches but I do find it mystifying that, say Chelsea fans can get so excited when most of the team have no regard whatsoever for their club. They are here, and I defy anyone to argue, only because the pay is good. They will be gone just as quickly when the money runs out. We didn't see many foreign players before Sky television and big name sponsorship came on the scene. Those were the days when supporters literally supported their team, now they are more correctly called fans.
Back at Aston Villa, if England win the credit will be Ericson's and so it will be if they qualify for the World Cup. He will have succeeded where Englishmen have failed. He has basically the same squad, give or take, and the infrastructure will be the same. Therefor the difference must be the coach and the credit must go to him. However, if England do not find success then the fault lies with the players and the FA structure. Many coaches have failed in these circumstances so it will be no surprise if Ericson also fails. Mr Ericson is in a 'no lose situation'.
We were told at the time of his appointment that he was the best available, and he may well be, but he is not English. The English football team should be led by an Englishman, we should succeed with our own resources and take pride in a national achievement, or fail and know we were just not good enough. If he is successful the embarssment will be crushing. Is there not one man in a nation of 50 million who can bring a major trophy home?
Of course other countries have foreign coaches but they are all, without exception, second division sides and no country has ever won a major competition with a non native coach. Can you ever imagine Germany, Italy, France, Brazil, Argentina or any number of proud footballing nations even considering having a foreign coach. They must be laughing up their sleeves.
Sooner or later Mr Ericson will either be sacked (even Sir Alf Ramsey was sacked in the end) or he will leave for a bigger pay packet elsewhere. Whatever the future holds I take no pride in his success and I accept no shame for his failure and having been given a five year contract, it seems the FA do not expect him to qualify for the next World cup either, even though he has more games than Keegan did when he took over.
Perhaps the problem lies with the FA selection committee, just don't get me started on (Scottish) Mr Crozier.
Dave Churchley
|
|
