I wouldn't read the papers this Thursday morning if I were you. I have, but I sort of have to for my job. The barely disguised glee, the combination of 'We told you so' and 'He should've gone ages ago', the smugness at having finally got their way is utterly sickening.
And why? Because much of the press believed Capello to be a bumbling incompetent. Which, objectively, he wasn't. Of course, the performances against Algeria and Germany at the World Cup were desperately poor, but what of the two near-flawless qualification campaigns? Balance those things out, and at worst you have a 'decent' tenure.
If anyone believes Capello resigned purely over the John Terry business, they are surely kidding themselves. This was a culmination of a couple of years of abuse, of being called a 'clown' and a 'donkey' (c. Shaun Custis and The Sun, August 2010), and of calamitous management by the FA. Capello thought 'f*ck this for a game of soldiers' and decided this was more trouble than it's worth. And to be worth more than £6million a year, that's an awful lot of trouble.
The primary problem is that the press, if one is to lump them into one fevered single hive-mind consciousness, are never satisfied with the England manager. Every boss in my lifetime has, at one point or another, been ridiculed beyond decency (and, in the interests of full disclosure, F365 isn't blameless in this department). Even Bobby Robson, the most successful manager since 1966, was basically hounded out of the job. Hounded out of the country, even.
And, as the predictably sensible and correct Matt Dickinson wrote in The Times, the cycle will now begin. Having decided they didn't like The Old Man, it was decided there must be a change, and The New Man will obviously be much, much better. The New Man, presumably Harry Redknapp, will be feted and greeted as a saviour, more so this time because most on Fleet Street back him anyway and everyone has decided that he will certainly be successful, with not a great deal of logic to back it up. The support of the press might be a good thing, because at least he will have some goodwill stored up, delaying the inevitable backlash when England don't spank Spain 5-0 in the Euro 2012 final.
This job breaks people in a way that few others do. Capello is the most decorated club manager of his generation, and he arrives in the England job, doesn't win the World Cup and the press think he is the problem? When Capello was appointed, I welcomed it, but with the caveat that if even he can't succeed/win something with England, we're in some trouble.
Of course, Capello was far from perfect. As most have said, his grasp of the English language was disappointing after four years, his reluctance to make even the simplest phone call without talking through Franco Baldini was frustrating, the late call to Paul Scholes was laughable and depending on your point of view, his stubbornness was either a weakness or a virtue.
However, these flaws were magnified and blown out of all sensible proportion by the press.
So, with all this in mind, why the hell would anyone take this job? Sure, if Capello's contract is anything to go by, they will be handsomely remunerated, but there are easier ways to earn money. And, as we've been hearing in the last couple of weeks, the anointed one doesn't care much for coin anyway.
If we are to assume it's Redknapp, why would he leave Spurs? I certainly wouldn't. To leave a club he has turned around, are playing the best football in the Premier League, with a young team, where he is largely loved by fans and club alike and will almost certainly be in the Champions League next season, for England? He'd either have to be the most committed patriot this country has ever seen or completely off his rocker.
This job is more trouble than it's worth. Don't do it Harry. Or anyone, really. For your own sake.
Nick Miller - he's not usually as angry as the last few entries on Twitter
Post Comment
