Comments on: UPDATE: McClaren pays the price for England failure — your views

By: Dave x

Dave x — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 10:49:11 +0000

England not good enough this time, but getting rid of a McClaren is a step in the right direction with the next World Cup in mind. It’s time to let half the team go as well, bringing in a few players from outside the top six or seven clubs (and Spurs).

By: apex

apex — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 18:10:38 +0000

i hate him

By: scotty

scotty — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 15:41:13 +0000

guess you guy’s just got brought back down to earth,surely very few English fans really thought they were good enough.you need some Scottish passion in your players as well as the backing of the tartan army.for too long now you have had the rub of the green the genie is tired out

By: An England fan

An England fan — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 08:35:06 +0000

England need someone who will really clean house, shake things up and who will not be intimidated by the old rules and old ways. Germany had a similar situation in 2002 and lucked out with Juergen Klinsmann, who used up a lot of capital fighting the system and got a lot of enemies along the way. But it was exactly what Germany needed then and, I think, what England need now.

By: Paul Paynter

Paul Paynter — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 18:42:14 +0000

The FA and the next coach need to ask themselves why so many of our top players underperform or are injured on England duty. The egos in the squad need a disciplinarian - look at the success that flowed for Man Utd after Ferguson got rid of the drinkers and the gamblers. England need to do the same. Remember the Taylor refuelling comments on Gazza and the infamous dentist’s chair and plane wrecking exploits ten years ago. Some of those just departing the current England set-up presided over that infamous era when another golden generation could have won Euro 96 but didn’t….if the next England coach doesn’t address the issues of nutrition and other off-field behaviour he’ll be as much a fraud as other recent incumbents…

By: Karl Pitwon

Karl Pitwon — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 17:04:13 +0000

My self I am just so fed up with watching these over paid footballers, the whole football system is just so awash with punters out to make money, nothing to do with sport, or representing their Country. The manager gets the sack and is given £2,000,000 ……. for what , he laughing all the way to his retirement ……. oh well at least our magnificant footballers can put their feet up this summer, watch the Euro tournament without them, on the tele, and if they get bored with that they can accompany their lovely wifes out shopping

By: Kevin Fylan

Kevin Fylan — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 15:26:17 +0000

James, thanks for your interesting comment. You may want to check out this piece my colleague Mitch Phillips has just filed:
http://blogs.reuters.com/soccer/2007/11/ 22/we-cant-just-keep-blaming-the-manager -can-we/

By: James

James — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 15:19:03 +0000

Yes, McLaren should be sacked … but then half the England squad so go as well. The only one making any effort was (and I hate to say this) Beckham. He seemed like the only player in an English shirt who could be bothered.
In future, leave the superstars to their fast cars and let’s recruit English players who have the desire. And, as Kieran said above, look to the lower leagues as well. David Healey was a star for his country last year and he has only just got in the Premiership. I want to see players who are hungry and proud to represent and give their all for their country. You can keep the prima donnas who won’t risk an injury in case they miss out on a league match. Give me Joe “Run till I die” Bloggs from Accrington Stanley in an England shirt over Joe “Don’t mess my hairdo” Bloggs from Chelsea!

By: nick

nick — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 14:25:42 +0000

Unfortunately the reason that we have mediocre managers for the England job is that nobody wants this job.It is that simple!
Not only do good premiership managers not want the poison chalice but they contribute to it by ensuring their players are “injured”, don’t run themselves ragged or are otherwise too busy. After all, what is the point of having your best players damaged in an England match and unable to get points for your team on a Premiership fixture?
Oh by the way, did anyone notice Venables sitting next to McClaren last night? For all his suggestions on how to win every game when he was a tv pundit he seemed distinctly out of ideas last night!

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 14:18:28 +0000

I feel that Englands failure to reach Euro 2008 is merely the product of a badly run and outdated organization - the FA. While the Premier league have gone from strength the strength the FA have gone backwards and failed to keep up with modern day international football. I hope that now we have some time on our hands that the FA will have a major shake up all the way through it to make it leaner and better run organization. But alas, what I expect will happen is firing McClaren will shield what really needs to be done and allow the press and public to focus on McClaren as the scapegoat and allow the FA to continue to blunder there way through the management of our football.