When England lost 1-0 to Germany in the final match at old Wembley in 2000, Kevin Keegan had to walk a lonely 50 yards, with the furious abuse of fans ringing in his ears, before reaching the sanctuary of the dressing room.
He resigned as England manager minutes later.
Seven years on, after England’s 3-2 defeat by Croatia cost them a place at Euro 2008, we in the press box at the new Wembley saw Steve McClaren disappear from pitchside in seconds before emerging later to tell the media he had no intention of resigning.
McClaren was protected from the elements by his oversized umbrella* and protected from hearing the fans’ opinions by the design of the new stadium but the outcome was the same, with the FA merely waiting until morning to get him out.
Such a decision was probably inevitable after England’s failure to secure first or second place in a group featuring not especially tough opponents, and losing three qualifying matches for the first time in history.
Not everyone would agree that McClaren was the main culprit, though. Roy Keane, never a man to hold back his opinions, suggested some England players no longer cared about the international game. Keane said:
“I don’t think international football is that important to a lot of these players these days and club football has taken over, especially for a lot of top players involved in the Champions League. From the outside looking in, I tend to think there are too many egos in there, too many big heads.”
Is Keane right? Has the comfort zone just got a bit too comfortable? It seems doubtful.
Steven Gerrard was not at his best against Croatia but was it really because he lives a life of luxury with a glamorous wife? Wayne Bridge did not decide to boom his crosses six feet above the head of Shaun Wright-Phillips, the smallest man on the pitch, because he owns some nice cars. David Beckham did not give the ball away for the winning goal because he has become “Brand Beckham” with all the baggage that accompanies the position.
Does anyone imagine blundering goalkeeper Scott Carson went to bed thinking, “Oh well, at least I’ve pocketed a few thousand for turning up”?
So just what is wrong with the England team and why do these “world class” players so regularly fail to produce the goods when they swap a sponsored shirt for one bearing the three lions? If you have an idea, please let me know in the comments section. We can’t just keep blaming the manager, can we?
Mitch Phillips, head of Reuters UK sports reporting, was at Wembley on Wednesday
* Follow the link for a caption competition at Spurs Pies
PHOTO: Dario Simic (BOTTOM), Robert Kovac (R) and Stipe Pletikosa (L) watch as a shot from Bent just clears the crossbar during their Euro 2008 Group E qualifying soccer match at Wembley in London, November 21, 2007. REUTERS/Kieran Doherty
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10 comments so far
Actually, I think you can (blame the manager, I mean), and the FA which chose him and undermined him at the same time by making it public that he was not the first choice.
McClaren had no clear vision of how the team should play. He’s been clearly out-thought tactically on a number of occassions in the qulifying stages and he’s not been able to motivate his arguably more talented players against the opposition with enough regularity.
The whole rich pampered players argument holds little water. How many of the Italian players who won the last World Cup play in Champions League sides and are paid millionnaire salaries? It is fair to say, however, that it is also those players who tend to play a greater number of highly competitive names every season than their less ‘talented’ counterparts, but this probably only has a measurable effect during the competitions themselves, at the end of a long season.
- Posted by GonzaloNo Mitch, I think the players have been fully committed to the task and so has Macca. The cold truth is that England are simply not as good as their 50 million or so fans think they are and hence the pressure under which they cracked and under-performed, ultimately failing to do what they should have done: finished at least second in a group which was obviously tougher than it appeared to be at first. It is time England fans stopped overrating their own overpriced “world class” players and showed a bit more appreciation for smaller nations as well as foreigners who have made the Premnier League the best in the world.
- Posted by Red DevilWell, it goes so deep to English football’s culture that it’s almost impossible to address in a comment. The obsession with mud and guts, the refusal to look beyond 4-4-2, and the fact we’d been through this so many times before (remember 1953?) are only part of the story.
For anyone interested, I blather on about this at length on my blog Pitch Invasion.
- Posted by TomYou need Svennis.hahaha…just look at City now !!
Don’t blame us swed’s
The swedish soccer team whith ljungber, zlatan and many more are going for GOLD !!!!
/The swede
- Posted by ChrilleI think that England’s failure has been determined by a number of issues. Firstly, despite McClaren’s recent attempts to emphasise that he received the FA’s full backing, by publicly stating that he was not their first choice they immediately undermined him and so created a platform for people to voice their discontent at his appointment and create pressure before he had even started.
That said, McClaren’s tactics (or lack of) have left little to be desired and playing 4-5-1 at home in such an important match was not ‘brave’, as much of the media described it, it was plain stupid. Beckham being left on the bench was unexplainable given that he could put the ball on Crouch’s head from anywhere on the pitch.
My main problem with the England team is their consistent lack of passion. Wales and Scotland have not got the players or set-up that we have and yet they play with fire in their bellies… perhaps this is why. Are our players too pampered? I certainly believe that it should be a privilege to play for your country and being paid should be banned. If you were a player, would you need a cash incentive to win an International game or a World Cup? Surely you would do it for the pride of your nation or at least for your career?
McClaren was the wrong man and deserved to go, although feasible options for his replacement are worryingly sparse. The media often create too much pressure for our sides and for the youngsters, perhaps it is too much to handle. The argument that they are paid so much, so they can deal with it, is not correct. Money cannot calm nerves or keep you out of the papers. Money should not be a question, they should play for pride.
I’m sure the England players are as gutted as the fans, but lets face it, apart from Crouch you couldn’t tell the other night. At least they will all have nice big comfy couches and big wide screen televisions to watch next year’s tournament!
- Posted by NeilMitch,
- Posted by Julien PretotI really think they’re just not good enough except for a few of them.
Thruth is, their best years are now behind that generation. So no wonder they finish behind Russia and Croatia…
Same keane who had an attitude during world cup? retrospectively, he cared cout the team. no one could in this team
- Posted by njauJulien, I agree with your comment. I think the side is definitely good enough (bar a few i.e Wayne Bridge) and I also think Roy Keane has a point.
We can say that the players aren’t as good as we think, but we are lead to believe so when they perform week in week out for their club. On Wednesday, some players just had a bad day, for example Micah Richards. He has been outstanding for Man City this season and though he was rather poor, he still looked like he wanted to win it. The likes of Frank Lampard just didn’t seem bothered at all, none of the old passion that a national side needs. This is coming onto the point that Neil made; some players just don’t seem to realise that it is a honour to play for your country.
On McClaren, he had to go. Of course it wasn’t all his fault but we have to blame someone don’t we? He was second choice and didn’t have a good enough record to begin with, and so the players were never going to play for him. They will only play for a coach who they respect or fear. This is why I think Jose Mourinho would be perfect for the job, though i doubt he would take it.
Look at Sven at Man City now though. He was slated as England boss, but is now proving critics wrong. He has excelled expectations at City and has recognised real talent in the likes of Elano.
- Posted by Football Betting Boyfirstly what has mcclaren achieved as a manager? nowt. so why should we expect more of him as england manager? he’s a good guy, but not an especially talented manager, probably a better club coach.
- Posted by JKgoing forward we should recognise the fact that sven got the job done, we just would have preferred more tactical nouse at certain times and a little more entertainment on the pitch. english narrow mindedness and low quality tabloid journalism found a way to blame sven for simply not being english! we do need to grow up as a nation.
the next coach should be a leader and keen to play attractive football, because if we lose at least the ticket buyers will be entertained. bear in mind a good club manager is not necessarily going to be a good national manager.
the issue in english football needs to be addressed a grass roots level, school football all the way up. also if the premier league is full of overseas players, then what is stopping english players plying their trade in italy, spain, france, sweden, russia, germany, holland etc? jingoism, narrow mindedness, island culture and just lack of desire to expand horizons - english players should learn to travel better and ply their trade worldwide rather than bemoan the fact that better players from abroad are gracing our pitches week in week out.
the world is getting smaller, its time for the english mindset to expand.
Tha manager must take resonsibility for our lack of performance especially the final game where he decided to give a first cap to the goal-keeper and played a poorly thought out 4-5-1 formation. I also believe our premiership system has many issues which are now impacting the national side, how many of the forwards who played on Wednesday play regular first team football? We must start to look at the number of overseas players in our top flight clubs, while I enjoy seeing the best talent money can buy if we want a good national side we need to have more home grown players in the premiership.
- Posted by Andrew