Et Tu Fabio . . .

Fabio saying goodbye to the FA?

Good Morning All!

Who'd be a manager? Supposedly the natural progression for a player who wants to remian in the game . . .it seems to me more trouble than it's worth! Perhaps the most fraught job in football is that of England manager.

We recently saw the resignation of Fabio Capello, a man who came into the job with an incredibly high reputation, his CV littered with success in Italy and in Spain. Yet success eluded him with supposedly the finest crop of players we've had since . . . well since probably the last time we did any good as a nation, and that was back in 1990.



Was this how Fabio's resignation meeting went?

Fabio, with hindsight, didn't quite get the English culture. The role of Captain of the side in this country is a role not to be disrespected in any way shape or form. Call us old fashioned, but the Captain is supposed to be the leader of the team, someone who is to be respected and looked up to. In Italy, the position is looked at in a slightly different but nonetheless crucually different way. Normally, the player who's Captain is normally the person with the most service to the club. I remember Zanetti at Inter Milan and before that Guiseppe Bergamo holding the Captain's armband. Fine players though they both were, they got the gig on experience alone.

The furore surrounding John Terry's alledged racism trial against Anton Ferdinand puts being his England career as Captain into some jepoardy. Yes Terry has to be proved guilty . . . that is the rule and quite rightly so, but comments muttered by some players have suggested that he's not the most popular player in the game . A Captain has to command respect. End of story. It'll be interesting to see who Stuart Pearce picks as Captain for the game against Holland next week.

I'm proud to be English. First and foremost I'm a Manchester United fan but I want my country to do well. England have been dining out on 1966 for WAY too long. It was 46 years since we won a trophy. The top brass at the FA can't have been pleased by the way things went in South Africa during the World Cup. I get the feeling that Fabio's bosses acted in a slightly Machiavellian way and waited for him to shoot himself in the foot before thinking that now was the right time to see if he'd buckle. Fabio's reaction the dismissal of John Terry was the final nail in his coffin. Constructive dismissal you might think but the truth of the matter is that England fans want a passionate English man in charge of the national team. We've tried the foreign experiment with Sven and now Fabio. Both were paid huge amounts of money to bring success to the England team. Both failed. Controversy surrounded both men during their tenure for different reasons. With Sven it was prediliction for being on the front pages for his dalliances with women and the embarrassment that caused that ultimately lead to him going. Now with Fabio misplaced loyalty to John Terry has seen him go. Fabio picks the team but the controversy surrounding the England team and the Chelsea centre back was too much.

'Urry Up 'Arry Cahm On!

It's time for a football man, a man who understands how English men work and can get the best out of them. At the risk of sounding like I'm following the pack, Harry Redknapp is now the best choice for the job. He's done amn incredible job at Tottenham. He's had his low moments but he's a good manager. 

What I like about him that beneath the jovial Cockney personna that surrounds him there's a man who's not afraid of making decisons and I just get the feeling that any player who plays for him knows who's in charge.

I hope for everyone's sake that a mutual agreement can be arranged. We need stability before we go to the European Championships. I hope that one day there'll be a generation of kids who can name the England team that won a trophy, instead of the boys of '66 being the only names football fans can name.

All together now . . .Banks, Cohen, Wilson, Stiles, Charlton(J), Moore (C), Ball, Peters, Charlton(R), Hunt, Hurst - did it!

Change is good but continuity is also good. Cry God for Harry, England and St.George!

Enjoy Your Football,

Ed

Wonder how Harry would look with Larry's basin cut?