Left field
The Reuters global sports blog
Could Pardew take Champions League spot and England job from Redknapp?
By Phil O’Connor
Unheralded and unpopular when he took over at Newcastle United, Alan Pardew has led them into the upper reaches of the English Premier League, and within touching distance of a Champions League place.
The question is whether he can beat Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Redknapp to fourth spot and the last Premier League place in football’s top club competition – and make himself a contender for the England manager’s job at the same time.
Pardew replaced Chris Hughton at the helm of Newcastle in December 2010. It wasn’t an easy task; Hughton, popular with players and fans alike, had brought the Geordies back to the Premier League on a shoestring following the ignominy of relegation.
Selling striker Andy Carroll didn’t help his cause, but this season has seen Pardew’s side climb almost unnoticed and return to the heights they enjoyed under Bobby Robson.
Between his team and a place in the Champions League is a Tottenham side managed by Redknapp, who was installed as favourite to succeed Fabio Capello as England manager from almost the moment the Italian resigned.
Since then, Tottenham’s form has suffered and the clamour for Redknapp has receded somewhat, but there is still a strong preference for an English manager from fans and the FA alike.
What can England achieve at Euro 2012?
Whoever takes over from Fabio Capello either as a caretaker manager or a long-term replacement faces the dauting task of living up to somewhat unrealistic hopes that England will land their first major trophy since the 1966 World Cup.
Let’s face it, the Three Lions have entered every tournament since, bar Euro 1996 on home soil, as one of the dark horses to bring the silverware back home but never as the top contenders among a plethora of more talented if not more resourceful nations taking centre stage either in European Championships or World Cups.
The Capello experiment failed for two reasons. One, as my colleague Mitch Phillips pointed out, was his inability to warm up to the English mindset and language. The other, in my humble opinion as an outsider, is that for all his impressive achievements with Real Madrid, Milan, Juventus and Roma, the 66-year old had never coached a national team during his illustrious career and lacked a certain verve.
There is precious little margin for error in international football and even more so for those who take the unforgiving job of coaching England. Many of Capello’s predecessors found the ever so thin line between success and failure too tough to navigate, amid cries from glory-hunting fans to bring the trophy “back home” to the birthplace of the game.
From the vast lands of eastern Europe, a region as alien to the English mentality as Capello’s largely incomprehensible attempts to address the players in an adopted language, an England triumph looks as unlikely as did in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, especially with Wayne Rooney out of their opening two games with suspension and John Terry’s involvement hanging in the balance all together after he was stripped of captaincy.
Then again, will one-game caretaker Stuart Pearce, whose penalty miss in the shootout against Germany in their epic 1990 World Cup semi-final denied England a chance of rekindling past glory, be given the opportunity for what would be a spectacular reprieve?
Is he the right man for the job on a long-term basis or should the FA roll out the red carpet for favourite Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham Hotspur manager, at the end of the season?
Interesting site about What to do in Ukraine during Euro 2012 :
http://nlru.blogspot.com/
Mumbling Capello never at home in England
Fabio Capello arrived in London four years ago with a sparkling CV but for all his club success he departed still barely able to speak English and with his adopted country frought with division and long shots for success at Euro 2012.
It is ironic that his tenure was effectively ended by an interview given in his native Italian, when he said he disagreed completely with the FA’s decision to strip John Terry of the England captaincy.
Capello, rich beyond dreams, with trophies and titles galore and looking forward to retirement as he turns 66 this year, felt undermined and betrayed. The FA seemingly felt the same way and England fans, unanimously if the phone-ins and social media are any indication, were left pleading for an English manager who they, and the players, can understand.
In these days of multinational Premier League players and managers it seems a petty point, and one that would no doubt have been conveniently overlooked if he had found success at the 2010 World Cup.
But Capello’s inability to master even the most basic vocabulary required for a manager’s post-match press conference eventually came to symbolise his failure to get to grips with the English game and mentality.
Vastly experienced in the political machinations of Serie A and La Liga, he nevertheless seemed out on a limb when forced to deal with the vast baggage that comes with the job of England manager and was regularly left completely bemused by questions from journalists with a multitude of agendas.
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Resident Left Field Expert
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